Living with diverticulitis: How do I keep it from coming back?

Coppee
My first diverticulitis attack was 12 years ago. I ended up going by ambulance to the hospital bleeding profusely from my behind. Awful experience. I ended up needing blood transfusions couldn’t
raise my head due to losing so much blood. Spent four days in the hospital and they did a colonoscopy on me when I was there which was not fun. They came to the conclusion that I must’ve had a thin area in my colon due to diverticulitis.
Since then I had only had I think two or three attacks through the years and was put on Cipro and Flagyl each time. Nasty medicines. Made me so sick each time.
Then I was fine up until February 2022 and then I had nonstop flareups for three months with taking that nasty medicine each time. So after five trips to the ER and double medication‘s since the middle of February I pushed to get my colonoscopy moved up in April which showed a diverticulitis that was resolving. I continued having flare ups until I set up a sigmoidectomy at the beginning of June. My surgeon said that I had a smoldering area of diverticulitis in my sigmoid colon. After my surgery they did a pathology report on what they took out and said it was still infected and trying to abscess but there was no cancer. I can’t believe after all those antibiotics and pain and ER visits that nothing was resolving. Very frustrating. I am about 4 1/2 weeks post op for my surgery. I have my good days and my bad days but I am so happy that I had the surgery. It was totally the right thing to do. It never would’ve gone away and I would’ve just kept getting sicker from all the medications they were giving me. I didn’t want things to get so bad that I had to have emergency treatment. But for what I have heard is that they never know for sure if you will have a colostomy bag until they actually get in there. As long as they have two good pieces of area to stitch up they would not have to do a colostomy bag. When I went into my surgery my surgeon did not know for sure if I would need one or not. I was lucky and I did not need one. But if you do from what I’ve heard most of the time they are reversible. It never hurts to get a second opinion if you have the time. But if you are dealing with a lot of pain I would try to get things done as soon as possible.
Good Luck with this.

Coppee
My first diverticulitis attack was 12 years ago. I ended up going by ambulance to the hospital bleeding profusely from my behind. Awful experience. I ended up needing blood transfusions couldn’t
raise my head due to losing so much blood. Spent four days in the hospital and they did a colonoscopy on me when I was there which was not fun. They came to the conclusion that I must’ve had a thin area in my colon due to diverticulitis.
Since then I had only had I think two or three attacks through the years and was put on Cipro and Flagyl each time. Nasty medicines. Made me so sick each time.
Then I was fine up until February 2022 and then I had nonstop flareups for three months with taking that nasty medicine each time. So after five trips to the ER and double medication‘s since the middle of February I pushed to get my colonoscopy moved up in April which showed a diverticulitis that was resolving. I continued having flare ups until I set up a sigmoidectomy at the beginning of June. My surgeon said that I had a smoldering area of diverticulitis in my sigmoid colon. After my surgery they did a pathology report on what they took out and said it was still infected and trying to abscess but there was no cancer. I can’t believe after all those antibiotics and pain and ER visits that nothing was resolving. Very frustrating. I am about 4 1/2 weeks post op for my surgery. I have my good days and my bad days but I am so happy that I had the surgery. It was totally the right thing to do. It never would’ve gone away and I would’ve just kept getting sicker from all the medications they were giving me. I didn’t want things to get so bad that I had to have emergency treatment. But for what I have heard is that they never know for sure if you will have a colostomy bag until they actually get in there. As long as they have two good pieces of area to stitch up they would not have to do a colostomy bag. When I went into my surgery my surgeon did not know for sure if I would need one or not. I was lucky and I did not need one. But if you do from what I’ve heard most of the time they are reversible. It never hurts to get a second opinion if you have the time. But if you are dealing with a lot of pain I would try to get things done as soon as possible.
Good Luck with this.

Is it really necessary to take Flagyl 500mg 3 times a day and Cipro 2 times a day?
I went on a liquid diet for three days and was feeling somewhat better, but now SICK from the meds.
I read that new guidelines are not so difficult.
Any thoughts?
Mcmaya

Is it really necessary to take Flagyl 500mg 3 times a day and Cipro 2 times a day?
I went on a liquid diet for three days and was feeling somewhat better, but now SICK from the meds.
I read that new guidelines are not so difficult.
Any thoughts?
Mcmaya

Mcmaya
That is the protocol that is mostly used Flagyl 450 MG three times a day and Cipro 450 MG two times a day. I have been on that so many times and can barely function while taking it. It’s like they are trying to kill you in the process of getting rid of the diverticulitis flareup. Every time I have to go on the antibiotics to treat the diverticulitis can barely stand it. Hope you can get rid of the flareups without having to take this crap.

miralax never helped me. 2 stool softners with 'a gentle laxative' (equate)never did either. I just don't know what else. Colace? Maybe diverticulitis makes it hard to go. I am a water drinker, too. Rx I'm on says loss of appetite, metallic taste, nausea.