I see a lot of comments from people calling these drinks "crap" or saying to otherwise skip them. I'm open to that but my question is, if you skip protein shakes... where do you get your protein and nutrients?? There's only so much that broth and yogurt can offer. Open to any ideas and suggestions for the "full liquid" phase.
Hey all - One of the things I'm trying to learn about right now is what people's experiences are with the timing between eating the food they believe caused the diverticulitis and the first appearance of pain / symptoms.
Is it the type of thing for you where you eat something in the day, and later that night suddenly there's a flare up, or is it more like, 1-2 days later?
Thanks!
Despite the "no nuts no seeds no corn" debate, it seems that a lot of people still swear by chia seeds and flax seeds after recovering from a flare. My question is, how are these consumed? Do you soak the chia seeds until they bloom? Do you crush the flax seeds? Do you crush the chia seeds? Any info is appreciated since these items are high fiber with a lot of health benefits.
Hey all - Let me start by saying that I know the only true way to get an answer for this is to undergo an exam by a doctor, but I'm only just now learning about fibrosis and would love to be better educated.
Very short version of my story: I developed fissures about 4.5 years ago, they immediately ruined my life. I had terrible insurance and received terrible advice / instructions which caused them to get totally out of hand, made me lose my job, I lived every day in agony like many of you, bled every day, etc.
After about a year I got the fissures to a place where, while still awful and life-ruining, they at least seemed to resemble a more normal case of fissures. However, since that time (approx 3 years now), I've had what I'd call "random" issues. In other words, I'd sometimes split + bleed every day for 2 weeks, then other times not bleed at all for 3, 4, 5 weeks at a time, only to suddenly split every day again for weeks or months, with no apparent reason, then a day on day off etc. The bleeding felt very random, or rather, inexplicable.
But then, about 6 weeks ago, I may have finally figured out that this wasn't "randomness" but may actually be the result of a specific prescription medication that I only take "as needed." Ever since discontinuing use of this medication, I haven't bled once, and I'm going on nearly 7 weeks. Swelling has gone down a lot, pain has obviously gone down a ton, etc.
But then I learned about fibrosis. From what I've read, it sounds like I still have no real chance at ever getting back to normal, since dealing with the fissures for so long has likely created fibrosis that won't go away on its own.
Is my only hope to get a procedure done to remove the fibrosis? Any help is appreciated!
I only ask because I went about 10 years without diverticulitis and only recently bought a bag of sesame seed bagels that were absolutely covered in sesame seeds. I hadn't had a sesame seed bagel in years, maybe decades until now. They were delicious! But I remember getting a bit of, uh, "liquidy" bowel movements after eating them. Then roughly a week later, I'm in the ER with diverticulitis. I understand that correlation is not causation, but it's quite a coincidence.
I had diverticulitis twice about 10 years ago. No issues at all for about a decade, and dealing with it again right now, confirmed in the ER. I'm trying to understand what people do when they have what you call "flare ups" - Do you simply have your routine and deal with it at home, or do you go in for a scan / blood work every time it happens to make sure there isn't a perforation or abscess?
I'm trying to wrap my mind around the incredible risk of DV progressing to a complicated case, and what people look out for, or how they know it's just a simple flare up vs. something worse.
Maybe this is something, maybe it isn't. I was discharged from the ER on Sunday and told to stay on a clear liquid diet until the pain goes away. Like a lot of people I saw chicken broth and beef broth on the clear liquid diet list so I bought some cartons and had been sipping it. But last night I went to pour a bit into a glass and realized.... they aren't clear! I'm wondering if I bought some random type of broth that doesn't actually qualify for the clear liquid diet, and if perhaps that's why my condition hasn't approved much despite sticking to the diet + augmentin.
Hey all - Burner account here so that this isn't associated with my main account. I've tried reading through a bunch of search results on this sub but I'm just not finding the information I'm looking for. I'm also not seeking a diagnosis, I've already been diagnosed, just looking for links or anecdotes that can either confirm or refute my areas of confusion. Any help is deeply appreciated.
I'll type out the whole story below but here are my areas of confusion in advance:
I've been prescribed Augmentin. I've read replies from people that seem to say something like, "if the pain doesn't go away after 1 day on augmentin, it won't work at all, no matter how long you're on it." and other replies that seem to say, "It took 10 full days of augmentin for it to work" - Is there any truth to either of these? Is this discrepancy simply due to the fact that everyone is different, every human body is different, every infection is different?
Related to that, let's say I get to day 5 of augmentin (I've been prescribed a 5 day course) and my symptoms are all the same, no improvement. Would I be wise to contact a doctor to extend the course? (Mods, forgive me if this is too much like a medical question)
While my baseline pain is around a 2, I get a sudden, somewhat dramatic increase in pain in the dv area either right before the need for a bowel movement or when I have a bit of gas. I can't seem to find ANY anecdotes where people describe something similar, so I'm concerned that something else is happening there.
While I went to the ER yesterday and received the diagnosis, on Saturday I did not yet know for sure that it was diverticulitis. However, in an effort to prepare for it being that, I only ate half a banana and some apple sauce that day. Then yesterday (Sunday) I only had clear liquid diet items like chicken broth, ensure clear, tons of water, etc. Today I've also only had clear liquid diet items like pedialyte, beef broth, ensure clear. That makes about 3 days of (close to) no real food. I had a virtual appointment with a doctor today who said I should immediately begin a "full liquid" diet tomorrow, even though there is still pain. I have no idea if I should push it one more day or not since there is still pain.
Quick history - About 10 years ago around age 30 I was diagnosed with diverticulitis and a microperforation. Pain / nausea really wasn't that bad at all (I know I was lucky for this) - took some antibiotics and it cleared up no problem. A short while later, the pain came back, and if I recall correctly, I took another round of antibiotics and it cleared right up. The issue seemed to be fully gone for about a DECADE.... until last week.
I (M41) began experiencing some intestinal discomfort late Thursday night. Didn't think anything of it, sort of felt like when I eat some low quality fast food. But the next day, Friday, around 1pm, the pain ramped up in a big way, especially on the left side, and the diarrhea started. Had maybe 4 trips to the restroom with diarrhea on Friday. Saturday was similar, pain would cool down a bit... then ramp up.... then diarrhea. That pattern repeated another 2 or 3 times.
Sunday morning I knew it would be weeks before I got in to see a doctor so I went to the local ER. While I had no fever, they said my white blood count was a little high, as well as (something I forgot) that indicated possible infection. So they did an MRI (CT was out of service) and determined it was diverticulitis. They said no signs of perforation or abscess. Sent me home with a 5 day course of augmentin.
As stated above, I've been on a clear liquid diet since yesterday and while the pain certainly hasn't gotten worse, it hasn't really gotten better either. All I know is that this experience is very, very different than the times when I was 30/31, which I suppose might be in part due to my aging body.