Diverticular disease - any help welcome please

[tojow2]

My 78 year old husband was diagnosed with diverticular disease about a year ago via a colonoscopy - it's pan colonic which I assume means It covers the whole bowel. Over the last few months he is finding that practically anything he eats is giving him diarrhoea which leaves him feeling very weak and tired. His energy level and stamina is also much lower than it was. The hospital didn't seem to bothered by the diagnosis and just said some people don't have symptoms, some do! His GP has only been able to offer a disgusting orange flavoured drink which was supposed to help but made him feel much worse.

A high fibre diet doesn't help and we are running out of ideas - he is getting to the stage where he dreads eating. A friend who suffers from IBS says she uses Immodium but he is worried that long term use may do more harm then good.

If anyone has any advice we would be very grateful

Thank you

tojow2

[Marz]

I agree Immodium is not a good idea long term. Could be used for emergencies. I have been fortunate in not using it and have had Crohns for over 40 years.

Diet is important and roughage will antagonise the inflamed bits even more. I would go gluten free and see how that goes. Have you had his vitals tested - B12 - Iron - Ferritin - Folate - VitD. VitD is anti-inflammatory and a steroidal pre-hormone and on the Vitamin D council website they suggest 10,000IU's of D for Crohns - so it should work for your hubby too. I am betting he will be LOW in the aforementioned vitals as he will not be absorbing efficiently. Most B12 is absorbed in the Terminal Ileum.

Has he had his thyroid checked ? My hubby has suffered with Diverticulitis and a few years ago he was diagnosed with Hashimotos. There are so many receptors for T3 in the gut lining - second only to the brain ....so if T3 is low then things begin to go wrong in cells of the body.

Cooked rice my help to soothe the gut with mashed carrots.....

Please do not allow your Doc to say things are normal with the above tests - they need to be OPTIMAL....

[tojow2 in reply to Marz]

Marz, thank you - I'll pass your recommendations on and TRY to get him to discuss with his doc.

I'll let you know.

jotow2

[Marz in reply to tojow2]

I think you need to go with him with a list I sneaked the TSH test in with Hubby's PSA test !! Oh we live in Crete so things slightly different here ....

[shaws]

Ask GP to do a full thyroid function test as they usually only do a TSH which isn't reliable on its own. Your husband needs a TSH, T4, T3, Free T4 and Free T3. Have the blood test as early as possible and get a copy of the blood test and post on a new question for comments.

[Angel_of_the_North]

As well as gluten-free, try a low FODMAPS diet. Apparently more people with IBS-D are sensitive to fructans (a type of carbohydrate sugar) than gluten/gliadin.