Preventing Diverticulitis

Diverticulitis is a digestive disease that affects the colon or the large intestine. It follows the incidence of an asymptomatic disease called diverticulosis. Diverticulosis causes the formation of pouches called diverticula on the outer surface of the colon. When these pouches are very large, they causes food and fecal matter to be stuck inside them; thereby, causing acute abdominal pain and the inflammation or infection of these pouches. This usually results due to increased intraluminal colonic pressure because, it is that part of the colon that is smallest in diameter.

A lack of non-soluble dietary fiber named roughage can also cause people to suffer from colonic diverticulitis. One of the commonly assumed and in fact, medically proven reasons for this is that there are blocks of feces or undigested food particles, which cause the mechanical blockage of the diverticulum and thereby lead to its infection. It is possible that the development of diverticulae is due to hereditary factors as well. The most common symptom is abdominal pain. One may also notice tenderness of the left hand side of the abdomen. However, if infection takes hold, then the patient may also suffer from nausea, fever, cramps, and constipation as well. Usually, the patient just starts with mild pains, which may then increases to nausea and severe cramps. In some cases, the pain may also be there on the right hand side of the abdomen. Now this would not be a case of Diverticulitis, but would be a case of appendicitis. However, to confirm it, you would have to undergo a CT scan.

Medical studies have proved that there is no direct connection between Diverticulitis and the consumption of alcohol. However, alcohol can certainly worsen the symptoms. Therefore, it is suggested that alcohol should be avoided in cases of Diverticulitis. Alcohol is a toxin and when the colon or the bowel is inflamed, it can cause the thinning of the bowel and thereby lead to bleeding. The treatment of this disease involves the use of heavy antibiotic to reduce the infection. If this does not end up giving the sufferer any relief then there is no other option but surgical intervention, to remove the development of diverticulae. One of the measures of diverticulitis relief that you can use at home is the use of ginger in high concentrations. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory that has always been used for treating gastrointestinal problems. Dietary restriction is also a good idea, perhaps even fasting or switching to a liquid diet to cleanse the colon completely of fecal fragments would help in containing this condition.