General Chat

:-(

GP told me last week I have this.

He didn't give me much advice at all :-(

Anyone else have it? What should I avoid? What should I watch for?

Icky subject.

I imagine that what you have is diverticulosis not divertucolitis. The divertucolosis is pockets in the lining of the intestine where foecal matter can be trapped. Divertucolitis is when that matter becomes inflamed and infected and is a very painful condition requiring antibiotics.

OH was diagnosed with this about 15 or so years ago .............. and was told to avoid eating tomatoes, or anyhting with seeds in, such as strawberries, raspberries etc


Reason .......... the seeds could get trapped in the pockets, and lead to inflammation


He paid not the slightest bit of attention, and continued to eat them, but in moderation :-)


and he had no trouble

Thanks Margee..... I knew it was one of those words!

Thanks Sylvia... I love tomatoes, strawberries & raspberries! I've been taking note of what I eat & when I get discomfort, and it's not always when I eat any of them. I had raspberry yoghurt (with fruit in it, not just the blobby yoghurt) this morning, and I feel fine.

For the last month or so, I've been waking up during the night (between midnight & 3am) and have to rush to the loo, because I'm being sick :-( It's got to the stage now I keep a bucket next to the bed, because I often don't have enough time to make it to the bathroom! Too much information??? :-\

My eating habits have changed..... I'm finding it's better to "graze" during the day, rather than have 3 "big" meals....... but I think I'm eating more!

I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. :-(

I was diagnosed with it a couple of years ago & given the same advice about seeded fruit.
I also try to eat little & often & to be honest I don´t really feel like eating most of the time.
Have had the occasional flare up, needing antibiotics & like you, I feel tired & nauseous most of the time.
Hope you find a way of coping soon.
Seems we just have to live with it & adapt our eating habits.

I have it and had a colonoscopy 2 yrs ago and they discovered I had polyps and they removed them during the procedure.
I had another colonoscopy this year to check,but they were OK.

Only thing is that since my 2 nd time I have felt more bloated,not in much pain ,but discomfort .

I tend to eat more chicken and fish ,leaving out red meat which I love,but as my dad used to say....it doesn't love me!....

I never felt sick with it though,but now I eat only small meals.

Usually if it does flare up and become ..itis..it really affects the lower back....
The joys of getting old!!

:-(

i had a colonoscopy last year (very painful it was too), i also have diverticular disease. No one gave me a diet sheet so i had to look on the internet, now i avoid everything that has little seeds in it, also before the colonoscopy i had to go on a diet for 3 days.. i was not allowed to eat wheat products and i discoverd that my bloating stopped and i felt much better, so although the surgeon told me to eat lots of fibre i have, as much as i can stopped eating wheat products.I am a vegetarian so some times it hard to avoid seeds but i do my best, i don't want another bout of what i had before.. :-)

I believe we have stopped paying attention to what our bodies are trying to tell us, often because advertizers can shout louder.

Do as your body tells you, it knows what it needs.

I went grocery shopping this afternoon.

Winter is over, and I don't want to eat porridge in warm weather, so I spent some time in the cereal aisle, reading the labels! Some of them I didn't bother with, because I know they're full of sugar, but I was amazed at the weird stuff in cereal.. I couldn't pronounce some of the names. I ended up with a box of multi-grain-fruit n nut stuff. If I don't like it the birds will eat it.

Dinner? I had a small piece of chicken, lettuce, sugar-snap peas & half a tomato! I must start using smaller plates, because it didn't look like very much lol

:-)

I have porridge in the winter and rice Krispies in the summer. To fill my salads out instead of tomatoes i microwave some new potatoes or add an egg or a piece of goat's cheese.
:-)

Stella.
You have pretty much described how I feel......bloated & uncomfortable. I was a bit slow on the uptake where eating wheat was concerned, but since I have pretty well cut it out of my diet, I feel a lot better.Interesting about the back pain. I put it down to sitting on my bum all day when it´s hot
I had a colonoscopy 3 years ago. Like you I had to almost starve for 2 days beforehand & drink gallons of water. Here in Spain, they do them under a very light general anaesthetic, so no pain. Wonderful!!!
Noticed in our local supermarket that weetabix have now brought out a new version Which isn´t made of wheat. Can´t remember what it is made of....probably oats.
Haven´t tried it because I´m well stocked with cornflakes & rice crispies, but I´ll give it a go next time I need to stock up.
I miss bread though. Often crave a sandwich. :-( :-(

I was diagnosed 2 years ago. Was never told I couldn't eat things with seeds in - or to avoid anything.
I personally think each gut reacts differently to foods/situations.

I can't eat beetroot or, strangely, purple carrots. Also have to avoid too much 'soluble' fibre, like porridge, though I'm okay with breakfast bars.
The above don't cause flare ups - just give my innards a thorough clear out!

My 'flare ups' happen when I get stressed. 2 years ago I started suffering from work related stress. Work - even occupational health have absolutely no concept of what diverticular disease is, or how it affects people.

One OH nurse suggested I took extra strong painkillers to hide the pain, and got myself to work!!

They're so sympathetic that I'm not allowed any sick leave that is diverticular - they don't believe my doctor that it - along with the arrhythmia and gastritis are stress induced.

3 weeks ago, I had a terrible pain in my guts - a week after an absence management meeting where the minutes were taken by the same person accusing me of too much sick leave, so the results of that were fair weren't they?
I had the pain and was being sick in the morning. I went to work, but made an appointment with my GP on Friday - hoping for antibiotics. He thought it was appendicitis, sent me to the hospital for a scan - they kept me in (with no food) overnight! :-S :-S
THEN I got diahorrea & vomiting.
Went back to work on the Wednesday, still with the pain, but the vomiting had gone - until this morning. Told work it would be prudent for me to stay at home only on liquids, as I don't want another night in hospital!!

Wisechild, i have gone back to eating white bread only..i seem to be ok with that

. I could have had a light anaesthetic if i had some one with me at home overnight, but since there was and still is no-one i had to have it done without.. i will never, ever put myself through that again.
Why not try a small sandwich with white bread and see how you go on?

I quite like ricecakes but they get boring after a while,

:-D

I've realised I can't eat bread that has gone through the Chorleywood process. It causes bloating, pain and nausea. I found out why when I read this:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-shocking-truth-about-bread-413156.html

I don't have a problem with wheat.

My brother is coeliac (spelling?), when he was diagnosed his GP said family should be tested. I was tested, and got the all clear. My GP did the test (he also worked one day a week at the clinic where I had the test done), and gave me a full anasthetic, so I didn't feel a thing. Tjat was over 10 years ago, I hope my insides haven't changed since then.

I don't like white bread, or even plain brown bread (too sweet), much prefer a multi-grain, or pumpernickel (the black one) and I also eat rice cakes (DH refuses to eat them, he says they're made of polystyrene).

I'm seeing my naturopath next Tuesday, he's view on all this will be interesting. :-)

i was tested for Celiac when i had my colonoscopy... celiacs are not allergic to wheat, only gluten.

Very interesting article Maggie. I remember when "pan" loaves first came out in UK (about 1960?). I hated them! Much preferred the old fashioned "high-top" loaves with the dark brown, almost black, crust. The best white bread I've ever had was in Germany.. if you bought it for breakfast it was hard as a rock by lunchtime ~ no preservatives. The worst had to be US bread, so sweet it was like cake.

I knew about the feathers (the hard bit ~ probably the quill?) but I also believe some bakers use plaster of paris too! Yuck.

I tried my brother's gluten-free bread, it was awful! Very stodgy.

Stella.
Yes, bog standard white sliced (which I hate) tolerated in small doses. Local baguettes even white ones, complete no no.
Daren´t risk getting the runs because I have the additional problem of fragile capilleries in my bowel & if they burst, I haemorrage anything up to a pint of blood, then end up having to take iron pills for 3 months or more.
All made 100% worse by stress

Oh dear, life is not being very kind to you at the moment...x

Wisechild, I've occasionally get bleeding. My first thought was - how to tell work? :-(

In the end, I just went for:
'Won't be in today, profuse diverticular bleeding'.
Fortunately, no-one suggested I was having a period!

Of course, having no idea of the situation, and, apparently unable to 'google' it, they didn't believe me. My sister suggested I went into work and bled all over the chair :-D

When I had my 'back to work' interview, just told my line manager straight - it shows itself as heavy rectal bleeding - I never know how long it's going to go on for.
She was grossed out, but I still don't think she believed me.

They are under the impression it's all to do with my diet. I'm sure they believe that, because I live on my own, I don't bother/know how to cook from scratch. Apparently it's nothing to do with stress.