Surgery for divaticulitus

[Cimmy]

Hi all, I'm goin to see my consultant on 8th Nov, and it's looks like I'm going to have to have surgery for my severe divaticulitus , just wondering if anyone on here has had the surgery, they are going to remove the infected section of my bowel. How did the surgery help and do the benefits outweigh the negative of the surgery. Feeling quite stressed at the thought of it. But if it's my only option is it worth the risk. Thankyou in advance

[Kerry1971]

I had 1/3 of my large bowel removed last year for different reasons. My surgery was tricky lasting 5 hours and I was in hospital for 2 weeks. Once I got home I recovered quickly and was back at work 5 weeks after my surgery. I am now gluten, dairy and soya free as the rest of my bowel doesn't work well because I have STC. I have to also take Laxido daily too.

Best of luck with your surgery. Do you know how much of your bowel you are having removed?

[Cimmy in reply to Kerry1971]

Hi Kerry, thank you for your reply. I don't know how much will be taken away, I have a severe narrowing in the sigmoid part of the bowel, so I won't know until I see the consultant. I'm just worried about the recovery time and the procedure itself. I'm such a wimp and my pain thresehold is not so good. But I've suffered enough with this on a daily basis for a very long time. Just run out of options I think on the mantainence and medication of it

[Buffafly]

Hi, this is second hand info but I have diverticular disease with fortunately only one flare up needing hospital treatment, but suffered for years with 'IBS' so I can sympathise. My friend had very bad diverticulitis with frequent flareups and finally opted for an operation against her consultant's advice I have to say. He wanted to wait until the op had to be done as an emergency op. I think she said it took about 6 hours, she had a colostomy which was later reversed. She was quite poorly afterwards and had an infection later - I suspect she overdid it when she went home. However she is glad she went for it and is really enjoying life now. I have to say she was overweight before and is now becoming much more so so maybe you might need to watch that. I think pain management nowadays is so good you do not need to worry about that.

A few years ago I opted for a big spinal op, 8 hours surgery, max pain and predicted 18 month recovery. My QOL was so bad I couldn't wait for the day and though the few days after were pretty horrible I am thankful every day I was able to have it. You will know if you are ready to go for it! Best wishes 😃

[Neil119]

I have severe diverticular decease going that way - keep me informed on your progress - good luck

[Cimmy in reply to Neil119]

Thank you Neil, I will post once I have seen the consultant, can I ask what sort of symptoms you experience with your divaticulitus. I'm always in pain in the lower left of my stomach and always feel sick and unwell. I'm so fed up with it all, just want my life back

[Neil119 in reply to Cimmy]

I have colonic irrigation every morning at home using NHS treatment - goes well. Still in pain though for about 3 hours using toilet 4 times. After lunch - toilet and pass large pellets via some pain which then goes. Fun days as you can see. But I amstill here. Life was much more difficult before irrigation.

[Firinne]

I have had diverticulosis for about 15 years and diverticulitis attacks frequently, especially when first diagnosed. One year, I was almost permanently on antibiotics and actually begged my doctor at the time for an op. I really sympathise with those who suffer. My doctor was horrible, I was crying my eyes out when I left the surgery, she said an op was not a good idea, they would remove ALL my large bowel (which I now know to be false) and was generally against the idea and so I continued with the attacks and antibiotics, most years probably 3 or 4 bad attacks a year, each one taking a good month to properly resolve. I am pleased to say, all these years later, that I now am managing things quite well. I take Optibac Daily Wellbeing, Optibac for immune health and Optibac for travelling abroad - not all at once, I alternate them, taking one a day. What I do take daily is Optibac saccharomyces boulardii - one capsule opened and stirred into Greek yoghourt in the evening after a meal. My latest thing, which seems to have REALLY helped is grapefruit seed extract. 10 drops daily in a glass of water, increased to 15 drops in water 3 times a day for a few days at the first sign of 'twinges'. I haven't had a proper diverticulitis attack in nearly a year and am keeping my fingers crossed I have finally found a regime to suit me. (I am now 70 years old) Quite a lot to think about and not cheap. I know lots of people will say anything grapefruit related is a no-no with certain meds (I take levothyroxin, it doesn't seem to make any difference) but I got to the stage I was desperate. Whatever you decide - an operation or looking for probiotics etc. to help, I wish my fellow sufferers well.

[Buffafly in reply to Firinne]

Hi Firinne, I am hoping not to have a repeat of diverticulitis and I looked up the Grapefruit seed extract which seems to have science behind its use. However there were warnings about avoiding products with additives in - what do you take?

[Firinne in reply to Buffafly]

Hi Buffafly - I take Higher Nature Citricidal Grapefruit seed extract. They deliver direct to Spain (where I live) from the UK. (I also sometimes order some of their supplements such as B vits, flaxseed oil) I have read conflicting reports about gse - some say the microbial effect is from a chemical added in the process, benzethonium chloride. This link explains that a chemical reaction in the manufacturing process produces diphenol hydroxybenzene which has a similar chemical composition to benzethonium chloride.

organicconsumers.org/news/t...

To be honest, I don't really care - as long as my bowels stay calm and work as they should, after all the years of pain and worry - I am happy! The way I see it, with all the contaminants in the air and soil these days, I will risk it

Like most of us, I have Googled and researched expensively, as my doctor(s) over the years have been very little help. I stumbled across grapefruit seed extract from reviews on earthclinic, did some more research and decided to give it a try.

[Firinne in reply to Firinne]

Sorry, I meant researched extensively lol. (Although expensively too, at times. so maybe a Freudian slip. Grapefruit seed extract is not expensive, though)

[Buffafly in reply to Firinne]

Thank you!

[Firinne in reply to Buffafly]

Good luck! I will also say (and this is just my logic, so quite possibly fallible ) - if gse does keep the bad bacteria at bay, it may also have an effect on the good stuff, which is why I like to also take probiotics. I have read that actually it doesn't have much effect on the likes of lactobacillus etc but I am a belt and braces type of person. I make sure I take gse and probiotics several hours apart.

[Hidden]

Hi Cimmy. I just wanted to let you know not to be scared if you do have the surgery. I just had 13 inches removed four days ago, and I can't tell you how well I am doing. I am shocked that I can walk around, and am eating soft foods like mashed potatoes, and I even had some baked salmon this afternoon. Let me tell you how it went. I had had this diverticulitis or smoldering infection as I like to call it for the past 8 years. I could control it with antibiotics, and a clear liquid diet during a flare-up, but suddenly I became allergic to penicillin, and that was that...My doctor referred me to a colorectal surgeon (believe me I fought it all the way not to get to the slice and dice stage) but the last flare-up was really bad, and they were afraid I would end up in the ER.... I was put on clydamiacin and it helped but didn't kick it out completely, so they left me on it and scheduled me for surgery on May 24th. I was scared to death, (I am on my own as my husband of 40 years passed away last year) and worried that I wouldn't be able to take care of myself, and my dogs afterwards, but because I was put on Clyndamiacin four weeks ago and I stuck to my clear liquid diet, my bowel was able to settle down, and the procedure went smoothly. My surgeon (a woman) did it via assisted robot, and I have 5 small incisions, which only one incision is actually sore right now, but very manageable pain wise. I don't much remember the first day after surgery, as I slept off the day, but the second day I was up and walking the halls with a nurse. They sent me home the third day, and I am getting up and walking about the house several times a day, but taking it easy because of the sore incision, and I am eating fine. I did throw up twice the second day which was due to the anesthesia but after it wore off it didnt happen again. Oh, one thing my surgeon discovered was that my left ovary and fallopian tube had got tangled around the infected bowel section, and she told me she got that all sorted, and that was one of the reasons I felt like I was in severe labor when I had a flare-up of diverticulitis. Just wanted to let you know how my surgery went, and to tell you that I wish I had done it ten years ago. I wish you well, and hope you have a great outcome.