Help!
Hi, I lived with IBS, thanks to this program, for 20 years, but now I have diverticulitis, and I hemorrhaged. The docs tell me I'm not a candidate for surgery right now, and that there is no guarantee it won't make my symptoms worse...it'll just mean I won't perforate my colon. They don't think the disease is bad enough for warrant surgery yet. I'm starting to get some emotional symptoms back. Can anyone relate, or help me calm my fears about working and traveling w/ diverticulitis? I'm afraid I'll get sick on the road, or perforate my colon. These are not unrealistic fears, but I can't walk around being afraid of perforating all the time. I don't obsess as much as limit myself. I'm becoming slightly agoraphobic, avoiding anything that might stress me out and make my intestines clinch up, causing a spasm, which catches food, and then leads to infection and bleeding. Any thoughts? Thanks! Kathy
Kathy,
Calm down. I've had diverticulitis for 24 years. You can live and travel with it. I'm a truck driver. My Dr. once told me you can live with diverticulitis, but you'll never live without it. He strongly advised me not to have surgery for it, he said there were to many complications. He also told me to change my diet, start paying attention to the things I eat. Go on a high fiber diet. It's not as bad as you may think. Go to mayo clinic .com and search high fiber foods. Print out the list and then pick out some off the list that you like and add more of it to your diet everyday. Later you can pick out some that you've never eaten and try them, you may find some new things you like, I did. I still have flare ups now and again, but it's only because I sometimes forget to keep the fiber in my diet like I should. You will also need to drink LOTS of water, and cut down on alcohol use if you use it. You need to keep hydrated. As long as I keep hydrated and eat the high fiber diet daily, I can eat almost anything. There is also a fiber suppliment called Fibercon, it works well for me when I'm out traveling and can't always get the fiber I need to keep me feeling good. The secret is, you have to keep your lower intestine cleaned out, by using the high fiber. Look at it this way, now You have to eat healthier, that's not a bad thing. I hope this helps. If I can help, please just ask. You can also look up diverticulitis on the web, search digestive diseases, and diverticulosis. It will give you an explaination of what it is, symptoms,what are complications?, and so on. You should learn about what you have. Good luck. Stretch
Calm down. I've had diverticulitis for 24 years. You can live and travel with it. I'm a truck driver. My Dr. once told me you can live with diverticulitis, but you'll never live without it. He strongly advised me not to have surgery for it, he said there were to many complications. He also told me to change my diet, start paying attention to the things I eat. Go on a high fiber diet. It's not as bad as you may think. Go to mayo clinic .com and search high fiber foods. Print out the list and then pick out some off the list that you like and add more of it to your diet everyday. Later you can pick out some that you've never eaten and try them, you may find some new things you like, I did. I still have flare ups now and again, but it's only because I sometimes forget to keep the fiber in my diet like I should. You will also need to drink LOTS of water, and cut down on alcohol use if you use it. You need to keep hydrated. As long as I keep hydrated and eat the high fiber diet daily, I can eat almost anything. There is also a fiber suppliment called Fibercon, it works well for me when I'm out traveling and can't always get the fiber I need to keep me feeling good. The secret is, you have to keep your lower intestine cleaned out, by using the high fiber. Look at it this way, now You have to eat healthier, that's not a bad thing. I hope this helps. If I can help, please just ask. You can also look up diverticulitis on the web, search digestive diseases, and diverticulosis. It will give you an explaination of what it is, symptoms,what are complications?, and so on. You should learn about what you have. Good luck. Stretch
Thank you, Stretch. That helped a lot. Plus I've calmed myself down some by myself. I was just having a bad day. I do eat high fiber, but I was under a lot of stress at Christmas time, and I also probably wasn't drinking enough water because I was so busy. Then I had a few glasses of wine at a stressful party (I usually don't drink any more), and now that I read your post, it's probably that combination that produced my flare. Thanks again for calming me down!! You're the only person on any website who has had your history, and it helped me a lot, especially since the gastros were saying why not go ahead with the surgery. But you're right, my GP shook his head and said "you're not ready yet." Thanks for your common sense. Happy travels. I hope to be on the road again myself soon!
Kathy,
I just thought I'd tell you, my son got diverticulosis when he was just 22 years old, he is now 34 and has few problems, and my aunt at 84 years old also has it. No one in my family has had the operation. We all just try to eat right and we usually get along fine. Each of us seems to have certian things that set us off, mine is that cheap store bought pizza with the thin white crust, my aunt cannot eat corn. I was told by my Dr. years ago , that if I ate right, I would be OK. I think he was right. If I can ever help , I will, just ask. Good Luck and eat right. Stretch
I just thought I'd tell you, my son got diverticulosis when he was just 22 years old, he is now 34 and has few problems, and my aunt at 84 years old also has it. No one in my family has had the operation. We all just try to eat right and we usually get along fine. Each of us seems to have certian things that set us off, mine is that cheap store bought pizza with the thin white crust, my aunt cannot eat corn. I was told by my Dr. years ago , that if I ate right, I would be OK. I think he was right. If I can ever help , I will, just ask. Good Luck and eat right. Stretch