Diverticular Health Video

Video Transcript

JUSTIN C. K. DAVIS, MD: Hi. I am Dr. Justin Davis and today we will be talking about diverticular disease. Well, that is quite a long word, diverticular. So, what exactly is diverticulosis? Well, that is the process by which when your large intestinal walls become weakened, you form small pouches known as diverticuli or singular diverticula. And while this is very common, probably 50% of Americans over the age of 60 will have at least one, if not multiple, diverticuli. It becomes a problem when you develop an infection or inflammation of these diverticuli which is known as diverticulitis. This is a disease that is particularly prevalent in developed countries with low-fiber diets and also in older people; the reason being that without proper fiber to keep your large intestine muscular walls healthy and as you age, it naturally occurs as well, the muscles will weaken and you can imagine almost like a balloon forming off of the colon; this is what a diverticula looks like. So it is less common most people will go through life without having a problem with this diverticuli and may never know that they have them but occasionally, you will develop an infection again called diverticulitis where either something becomes caught in the diverticula or an infection invades it and causes inflammation and an infection of it causing diverticulitis. The symptoms of these are usually abdominal pain, bloating, fevers, sometimes there will be blood from the rectum. It can be very uncomfortable when you have an actual abdominal infection and in certain cases, your abdomen may even become very rigid and tender to the touch. If any of these occurs, it is always very important to see a physician right away as it can be a sign for many different diseases and if untreated can be very serious or even life-threatening. So, the treatment for diverticulitis usually is resting the bowels, meaning no eating; antibiotics if there is an infection to cure the infection; and pain medicine for the pain that the symptoms may be causing. In certain cases, when the infection is too bad or it is extreme or perhaps the bowels have ruptured or it is not going away or it is a recurrent problem, then you may need a surgical cure when someone will go in and surgically actually remove the diverticula and repair the colon so that they no longer exist. So, how can you avoid this? Well, the best way is to maintain a healthy diet with high-fiber content so that your bowels stay healthy and have regular good bowel movements. If you do this, then you are much less likely to develop diverticula and even if you do much less likely to have an infections. When you do develop diverticulitis or afterward, your physician may counsel you on certain foods not to eat that may be more likely to get stuck when there are diverticula. So, as a review, if you feel like you are having extreme bowel changes or pain in the abdomen, blood in the stool, this may or may not be diverticulitis but it is always very important to let your physician know right away if you are having any of these symptoms.