Diverticulosis and IBS
#300992 - 02/28/07 03:25 PM
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Digby
Reged: 07/31/04
Posts: 453
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I have diverticulosis and IBS-D. Dietary advice for diverticulosis is high fiber, especially bran. Yikes! How can I follow the IBS diet and protect myself from getting diverticulitis? (I've had surgery for it once, and don't want to undergo that again!)
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How quickly would you get diverticulitis if you eat less IF? I'm not familiar with this disease...
Maybe once you stabilize, you would be able to eat more IF. Do you think the time till stabilization might be a problem?
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The theory is that you want to keep things moving through the colon so nothing gets stuck in the little pouches (the diverticula) and get infected. This happened to me once, and my cecum ruptured. I didn't even know at the time that I have diverticulosis. However, since I am predominanently D, things are moving through nicely. A little too nicely at times!
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Ouch... too nicely.
Well, I really don't know. I hope someone helps you out. Seems like you need to be D to not get diverticulitis, D is a primary symptom of IBS...
Maybe if you are just slightly D and mostly stable (IBS stable) that would do the trick? I really don't know. DId you ask your doctor about this?
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Just like you, I have diverticulosis and IBS. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with diverticulosis of the cecum. I have pain around my belly button everyday, sometimes excruciating and at other times manageable. Recently, the pains wake me up early in the mornings. After bowel movements, during daytime they don't bother me that much. I don't know if you have similar symptoms? And did the surgery help you in any ways?
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++ How can I follow the IBS diet and protect myself from getting diverticulitis? ++
You only do "Break the Cycle" (soluble fiber-SF-only) for 2-3 days at the most (which is Heather's recommendation for everybody). After that period of time, you start gradually adding back in as much insoluble fiber (IF) as you can safely handle. Even with my D, I'm eating quite a bit of IF these days in the form of whole wheat, steamed veggies, apples with peel, etc. You should be able to handle a lot more IF after you have ID'ed and eliminated your D trigger foods.
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Whole Wheat and apples with peels! Ah, heaven. Could you share how you incorporated these foods into your diet safely? Many thanks.
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For example: eat an apple with pretzels for a snack. The pretzels are your SF cushion.
For the whole wheat, an example is that I just eat whole wheat bread with turkey breast and a little scrape of Smart Balance mayo. I also am able to eat cereals that are higher in IF, such as Frosted Mini Wheats.
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Like you, I had diverticulitis in the cecum. In my case the cecum ruptured due to the infection, so I had to have it removed. Luckily, it was contained and didn't spread the infection throughout my colon. My symptoms were a constant pain in that area (lower right abdomen) for over 24 hours, so I thought I should get it checked, thinking it was an appendicitis. The doctors thought so too; they could feel that something was swollen. Frankly, I think all their poking ruptured it - ha! So, yes, the surgery helped.
I still have a few diverticula, so I need to be careful to avoid small seedy things, and eat enough fiber to keep things moving through.
Could your pain be gas? It's hard to tell the difference!
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Digby - meant to add that I'm also taking 2 tsp. of acacia 3x a day.
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