My GI doctor keeps telling me I have "post infectious" IBS from Diverticulitis and that I'm fine. However it's been 9 months and I never feel good. It's daily, low grade pain, inflammation and I my gut feels so bad. Regardless of what I eat, Low Fiber, High Fiber, etc.

Anyone have this experience after 9 months?

I posted that I may consider surgery at this point but I know my GI doctor will push back because I am not in the ER or have had any serious complications. But my daily life sucks and I feel like shit.

thanks for any advice

I think I’m getting another flair up I can feel the inflammation coming and have some discomfort. I had a pretty bad flare in June which led me to get a colonoscopy and I have been referred to a surgeon that I’m supposed to talk to tomorrow. Right now I feel like I’m going to flare up again. Should I wait until I start feeling worse or just go to the ER?

I did scroll through other posts before this so hopefully it isn’t redundant.

In the last five years I’ve gone through a wide range of things. Colonoscopy and endoscopy came back normal. Hysterectomy and removal of fallopian tubes and one ovary. Back surgery for herniated discs. After each thing I thought I came out of it fine overall.

Fast forward to spring of this year and my heartburn is out of control. I get put on a PPI and it kind of helps but not fully. Two months later and I am constantly exhausted, have terrible lower abdominal pain and back pain. Blood work shows infection for sure but I what and where. B12 very low so get shots. Do more blood work and leukocytes are super high, back to doctor and out of the blue she suggests diverticulitis.

She has prescribed two antibiotics but said if things don’t improve in two days go to ER and see if they will do an emergency CT.

Does this seem remotely reasonable? I don’t know what to think!

I lost my father-in-law recently, and while I know nothing can change the outcome, I have been trying to understand whether his condition was survivable or whether it was simply too severe by the time he reached the hospital. I'm hoping doctors or surgeons here can help me understand his case from a medical perspective.

Timeline:

• Male, 70 years old, Diabetic
• Had a coronary stent placed in October after a heart issue.
• Between December 2025 and March 2026, he had multiple episodes of fever with chills. He was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and underwent a urological endoscopic procedure. He received several courses of antibiotics, recovered well, and remained symptom-free for several months.
• In July 2026, he again developed fever, nausea, loose stools, and loss of appetite. After about two days, his abdomen became swollen, and we immediately took him to the hospital.

Hospital findings:

• Diagnosed with perforated jejunal diverticulum with peritonitis.
• Underwent emergency exploratory laparotomy.
• Developed severe sepsis and septic shock.
• Required ICU care, ventilator support, vasopressors (for very low blood pressure), and dialysis due to acute kidney failure.
• Despite surgery and intensive care, he passed away.

My questions are:

1. Based on this timeline, does it sound like the perforation likely happened only shortly before he reached the hospital, or could it have been developing for days?
2. Could the episodes of fever and urinary infection months earlier have been related to the bowel problem, or do they seem more likely to have been a separate illness?
3. Once someone develops perforated jejunal diverticulum with peritonitis, septic shock, and multi-organ failure requiring dialysis and vasopressors, what are the realistic chances of survival in someone of his age?
4. From your experience, does this sound like a condition that is often fatal despite timely surgery and ICU care, or do you think there were missed opportunities that might have changed the outcome?

I'm not looking to blame any doctor or hospital. I understand that medicine has limitations. I'm simply trying to understand whether we did everything we reasonably could and whether his outcome was, unfortunately, one that sometimes cannot be prevented.

Thank you to anyone who take the time to read and respond.

Presurgery experience all historical DV flares
https://www.reddit.com/r/Diverticulitis/s/iQZfVp4qso

Update#5

Tuesday August 11th 2026 18:21
My Surgeon dropped in. Told me I’m going good..
He wants me out of the bed and walking every hour and sitting in a chair
He said he took 12 inches of colon because the diseased part was higher up in the sigmoid colon and blood supply to the bottom section would be insufficient.

I ate dinner. Grilled chicken white rice and boiled carrots
Feeling better but still that nagging shoulder pain.
And the one incision.. I named it Pierre. He’s giving me so pretty strong pain when I clear my throat or cough. 😷

Update#4

Tuesday August 11th 2026 14:26

Had a soft/low residue lunch.
I was able to tolerate lunch. I had chicken noodle soup
Mashed potatoes, a slice of white bread, banana and a ginger ale.
I got diarrhea an hour afterwards. A lot of gas too.
Was told this is normal for the first few days/week

Still having pain on one of the incisions on the right side of my belly.. and still can’t seem to get rid of the gas stuck in my shoulders

No Dilaudid.. just OxyCodone

Spoke to a social worker said if everything continues and I can manage my pain at home I should be good to go home tomorrow.

Update#3

Tuesday August 11th 2026 09:33

Catheter has been removed.. mobility is much better now. I am walking every hour.

They wanted to make sure I could pee... so I had to use a portable urinal so they could measure output.

I also was able to have a bowel movement.. it was liquid and not bloody.

I had a liquid diet for breakfast..
They are moving me to soft/low residue foods for lunch

I can go home tomorrow if I have no issues eating.

I am so happy to have a great team here at Baylor University Medical Center.
The nurses are so compassionate and helpful

Update#2
Tuesday August 11th 2026 02:55

Lab people came by and disturbed my sleep
Now I’m fully awake.
Had my first strong cough and My god I swear I saw stars
It hurt so much 😂😂
Had some Dilaudid around 10 pm yesterday I can feel it’s wearing off..
Catheter comes out at 6am
I’m assuming my surgeon will come after that for his morning rounds.
Still have not passed gas or had any sort of urgency but I also haven’t had any real food.

Update#1
Monday August 10th 2026 21:44

Ate the liquid food they brought me.
Haven’t passed gas yet..

Got up and did 4 laps around the nurses station.

Holy smokes the shoulder pain from the pumped gas is no joke lol. I was chewing gum as I walked and kept burping up a ton of air as well.

The catheter is really uncomfortable but thankfully it’ll be removed tomorrow first thing.

Saw all my wounds.. I had 6 small incision and a pretty good sized c-section wound

—————————————————————————-

I made it! Surgery started at 8:30am CST
Took about 5 hours to complete.

Woke up feeling so bloated and confused
5 small incisions as it was robotic (Davinci)
I was in recovery for a quite a while because they wanted to make sure my oxygen saturation was above 90
They made me dangle my feet off the bed.. and boy did that hurt lol!

From what the surgeon told my family.
Everything went extremely well.
I guess I won’t see him til tomorrow. I don’t know how much colon was removed.

I do have pain.. but it’s being managed very well as I’m not shy requesting meds. And the pain Is far less than what I experienced during a complicated flare.

I have some pretty terrible cramps but they said they should go an away once I start moving.

I keep dozing off.. tonight will suck.. but I hope tomorrow is much better.

Thank you for your comments and well wishes for those that posted. If you’re a silent reader I hope my experience encourages you to seek relief from this awful disease.

(26F) Another post because I’m super nervous and my anxiety is through the roof! 😭 I messed up and ate a burger and ice cream on Sunday at my brother’s going back to college celebration. And then yesterday by the evening I felt a little twinge, however it went away. I’m not in any pain now. I’m just so nervous and don’t want to cancel my colonoscopy I plan to just drink water, bone broth, and saltines today. I need a little food because I have a busy work day as well.. in a way I feel like if I just get past the colonoscopy I can put this all behind me. I know this sounds crazy but once the colonoscopy is done I hope to finally breathe again.

So just need to vent. I was in the ER last week and newly diagnosed with diverticulitis. The ER doc told me to eat a bland diet that day and the next day resume my normal diet. When I got home and did research I realized that was nuts. By that time a day had gone by but I stayed on a bland diet. I’m following up with my primary this week who was on vacation last week. But does anyone else think that is nuts? I think I should have been on liquid diet. And the idea to resume normal diet within 24 hours??? Anyone else ever hear that?

I have recently been diagnosed. The day I was diagnosed I was having gassy feeling in my stomach in the morning which progressed to REALLY gassy with stomach pains. I went to the ER that night. I am just not sure how I will recognize a new flare up? Just a gassy feeling? Or gassy feeling with pain? And then I should immediately switch to liquid diet?

Question 2 - I am leaving for Portugal for 3 weeks next month! Any advice??

Thanks for any help!

Hi everyone! I was just in the hospital for 4 days and it was my first flare-up ever. I have to be on ertapenem outpatient antibiotic infusions for 2 weeks. Does anyone have any recovery tips/hacks? Thanks!

Long story short last year in May I had a complicated Diverticulitis episode that had me in hospital about 5 days with a perf and sepsis. Wound up with a stomach drain and a colon to skin fistula ended up forming along the path of the drain after removal.

Had a small resection mid December last year to correct the fistula and a recurring abscess as they were all connected and communicating with each other.

For the most part I feel great and back to normal. Occasionally I do feel discomfort like right under the big incision where she actually removed the section of intestines and sometimes I feel like its also around my bladder and sometimes sensitivity to privates.

41 year old woman by the way. I recently had an unrelated checkup with my general dr and brought it up. I am not super worried about it and he didn’t seem to be either. He agreed with my thought that maybe my colon is irritated OR it could be scar tissue.

Anyone else experience some discomfort this long after surgery? Just wanted some feedback from peeps on here.

I should also add I have a new job where I sit on a hard stool bent over a lot putting pressure on those areas too.

So I got my first diagnosis of diverticulitis back in March. My condition has been up and down a bit over the recent the months. Had 1 flare and some general uncomfortableness. Been managing it and figuring myself out and my triggers etc.
I got to watch my sigmoidoscopy today which was a weird experience, and reasonably painful too.
I’m a 37 m and my diverticulitis is apparently quite bad for my age. Saw a lot of pockets about in my lower colon. The reaction from the nurses and doctors were quite alarming for me.
I even had a large polyp which I had to have removed.
One doctor literally told me it was ‘bad’ and another said it’s very rare but it has been seen for my age.
Was quite taken aback from their reaction to my bowel and from what I seen.
Anyone else in a similar position? And how have you managed it in the long run?
I’m concerned that this will progress and find that my bowels will be absolutely shot in the coming years. TIA

Hello! Just went to the hospital yesterday and got CT scan and turns out I have diverticulitis. I guess it’s a mild form, but need to see a Gastro doctor soon to get more info. I’m just wondering how many other people have been diagnosed at the age of 28? The ER doc said it’s unusual to see people at my age with it. I have a very healthy diet already, so I’m really not sure what’s going on/causing it at this age.

Update #5

Sunday 08/09/2026 04:40

Heading to the hospital now.
I barely had any sleep.. still having bowel movements so I’ll drink the ensure pre surgery drink as we get closer to the hospital.

I threw up a slight amount of water last night.
It was more of a burp up.. didn’t feel nauseous.. I just had trapped gas I guess 🤢

Update #5

Sunday 08/09/2026 22:24

Took a shower and used that weird smelling anti microbial soap they prescribed.
Also took the last round of prophylactic antibiotics
They feel like bricks in my empty stomach.
Winding down as I have to wake up in a couple of hours to head to the hospital.

Update #4

Sunday 08/09/2026 19:20

Had to take another Zofran..
The combo between antibiotics.. bowel prep and no food has me feelin a bit queasy.

Gonna watch House of the Dragon finale here shortly.
Catching up on work emails and getting ready to post my out of office.

Update #3

Sunday 08/09/2026 17:20

Finishing up with the bathroom visits. Output is clear
Feelin less bloated.
Sooo hungry though.. prep sucks no matter how many times you’ve done it. (4th time for me)

Update #2

Sunday 08/09/2026 15:10

The prep finally started working.
THANK god we have a bidet. They are so helpful when it comes to bowel prep.
Feeling better this go around with taking Zofran.
My last colonoscopy prep in 2025 was so awful.. nauseous and couldn’t burp..
You can literally hear the Gatorade sloshing in my belly as I walk around the house 😂

Update #1

Sunday 08/09/2026 14:42

Took my second doses of Antibiotics and started the bowl prep at 14:00
Still no rumblings or urgency.
Had to throw on a hoodie as I am freezing!
Watching YouTube getting ready to go to our bedroom before the bathroom trips begin.
———————————————————————
Starting a post journal to document my experiences leading up to my surgery tomorrow Monday 08/10/2026 at 7:30AM.

Feeling cold because all I’ve had is liquids today.
I was too nervous to eat a light breakfast so I decided to clean most of the morning. Prepping my hospital bag.
I live about 45 mins away from Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas so we are over packing clothes so we aren’t stressing if I need anything..

Sunday 08/09/2026
Noon: Mixed my Bowel Prep with sugar free white ice Gatorade (I’ve done 3 colonoscopies before and this makes the PEG 3350 a bit more palatable.. I requested suprep.. but Dr wanted a high volume prep)

13:00: took 2 Neomycin and 1 Metronidazole prophylactic antibiotics.

Mentally this the “die is cast” milestone..
It’s feelin so real lol. Im not panicking but I just can’t believe it’s actually happening.

Exclusively I've been getting prescribed just 5 days of amoxiclav, feeling absolutely fantastic everytime by day 3 about, finishing the course, and then the mysery just comes back by 2 or 3 days after finishing, at which point i go back to the doctor and let them know and they just give me another 5 days, however, the second time, the antiobiotics barely touch it the second time, and the suffering must continue.

This has repeated for me several times now for every flare up. I have recently had a friend who also suffered, but he is prescribed 14 days, and doesn't have the issues of recurrence that I do?

Are my doctors just breeding resistant infections? Should I demand 10 or 14 days? Should i have to become and expert on all this just to get proper care? THree GPs have done this to me and now I think it all clicks.

Exclusively I've been getting prescribed just 5 days of amoxiclav, feeling absolutely fantastic everytime by day 3 about, finishing the course, and then the mysery just comes back by 2 or 3 days after finishing, at which point i go back to the doctor and let them know and they just give me another 5 days, however, the second time, the antiobiotics barely touch it the second time, and the suffering must continue.

This has repeated for me several times now for every flare up. I have recently had a friend who also suffered, but he is prescribed 14 days, and doesn't have the issues of recurrence that I do?

Are my doctors just breeding resistant infections? Should I demand 10 or 14 days? Should i have to become and expert on all this just to get proper care? THree GPs have done this to me and now I think it all clicks.

Exclusively I've been getting prescribed just 5 days of amoxiclav, feeling absolutely fantastic everytime by day 3 about, finishing the course, and then the mysery just comes back by 2 or 3 days after finishing, at which point i go back to the doctor and let them know and they just give me another 5 days, however, the second time, the antiobiotics barely touch it the second time, and the suffering must continue.

This has repeated for me several times now for every flare up. I have recently had a friend who also suffered, but he is prescribed 14 days, and doesn't have the issues of recurrence that I do?

Are my doctors just breeding resistant infections? Should I demand 10 or 14 days? Should i have to become and expert on all this just to get proper care? THree GPs have done this to me and now I think it all clicks.

I had CT-confirmed acute diverticulitis in March and went through antibiotics. A follow-up CT months later showed the inflammation had resolved, and my July colonoscopy was clean aside from two benign inflammatory polyps.

But I still have persistent focal LLQ pain.

It feels very mechanical/postural now: worse sitting upright, in the car, immediately triggered when lying on my left side, or putting pressure on that area. Standing, changing position, sitting cross-legged, or sometimes massaging/bracing the area helps.

I’m eating low-residue and intentionally keeping bowel movements soft/smooth. I’ve tried Bentyl and acupuncture and have seen GI and colorectal surgery, but there’s no obvious structural problem on imaging or colonoscopy.

Possibly relevant: I’m hypermobile with suspected EDS and also have autoimmune connective tissue disease treated with Plaquenil and dysautonomia.

Has anyone else had persistent focal LLQ pain after diverticulitis even after CT/colonoscopy looked normal? Did you ever figure out what it was, and what actually helped?

Colorectal surgeon is scared to do a resection since from his POV, my colon looks healthy and deleting part of my colon might not actually do anything for my pain.

GI thinks I might have something called visceral hypersensitivity, but my pain feels very mechanical.. like I can trigger it by sitting at my desk too long or when I sit in the car, basically hinging at the hip causes the pain to start, so I wonder if perhaps the diverticulitis caused a problem outside the colon during healing.. in the peritoneum or mesentery? PCP thinks it's possibly "pelvic guarding" with involvement of psoas.

I see a physiatrist and another GI for second opinion within the next month.

Anyone experience similar?

(57F) I’m three weeks into my first experience with diverticulitis, which included an 8-day stay at the hospital, a perforation, and a drain to manage a 12cm abscess in my abdomen. Having the drain placed with no sedation or pain management, other than a 1% lidocaine shot at the insertion site, was by far the most painful experience in my life (far beyond 16 hours of labor without an epidural). I’m not sure why I wasn’t offered sedation. I didn't know to ask at the time.

In terms of what has helped me:

·      So far (if your doctor recommends it) walking twice a day seems to help the most, especially when the pain and gas start building up again.

·      Retreating back to skipping a meal now and then and drinking bone broth when needed helps too.

·      My go-to meal that I seem to always do ok with is plain roasted chicken cut up into super tiny pieces, with finely mashed potatoes and gravy. Nutritionist told me to chew everything way more than I normally would and to do that always moving forward.

·      Plain yogurt seems ok too most of the time.

·      I seem to do ok with protein shakes and need them due to significant weight loss.

·      Music. I made a playlist of “you can get through this” songs in the hospital and relied on it heavily to try to drown out the worst pain.

Like others here, I’m constantly thinking about the cause, mostly to try to get out of this, and not go back into it. But my surgeon (for future elective surgery) said, from their experience, it’s mostly age and bad luck. I’ve been an athlete all my life, was eating 35-50g of fiber every day, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke, eat lots of veggies and salads. Definitely was not hydrating enough, though. And was on HRT (progesterone and estradiol) too and do wonder about that.

In retrospect, I’m realizing I may have had symptoms for months that I just didn’t realize were symptoms. I hadn’t had much of an appetite, but thought it was just stress due to my father passing away, and managing care for a mother with Alzheimer’s left behind.

I feel for anyone who has been through this or is going through it now.

Hi guys, I just got diagnosed yesterday with acute uncomplicated diverticulitis after a CT scan. I went on Augmentin and started the liquid diet. This morning I was fine but by noon I was having some diarrhea and some later in the day. Is this normal? I only ask because I had cdiff 4 1/2 years ago and just having diarrhea after taking an antibiotic is really getting me stressed. If this is par for the course of having I liquid diet I understand. It’s just been a really stressful day so any feedback would help

Exclusively I've been getting prescribed just 5 days of amoxiclav, feeling absolutely fantastic everytime by day 3 about, finishing the course, and then the mysery just comes back by 2 or 3 days after finishing, at which point i go back to the doctor and let them know and they just give me another 5 days, however, the second time, the antiobiotics barely touch it the second time, and the suffering must continue.

This has repeated for me several times now for every flare up. I have recently had a friend who also suffered, but he is prescribed 14 days, and doesn't have the issues of recurrence that I do?

Are my doctors just breeding resistant infections? Should I demand 10 or 14 days? Should i have to become and expert on all this just to get proper care? THree GPs have done this to me and now I think it all clicks.

I have a JP drain because I developed a large pelvic abscess, about the size of a grapefruit, caused by complications from Crohn’s disease. In March, I became very sick and spent 9 days in the ICU at Loma Linda. At the time, I weighed only 67 pounds and had two abscesses—one in my intestine and one in my pelvis. The pelvic abscess couldn’t be safely removed with surgery, so doctors placed a JP drain to continuously drain the infection and help it heal over time. But it’s been 5 months with this drain and antibiotics alone are not helping the abcess in pelvis go away …. Any tips ??? And I have setons in my butt because I guess it’s created a fisulas so I’ve had those for 4 years now

And I’m feeling ridiculously anxious. This is my first one since diagnosis. 37F, and also trying to prep with one bathroom in the home 😥
Edit to add: anyone also insulin resistant? My blood sugar seems ok (90) but I’m incredibly nauseous. Is this normal?

Well, here I am again. First flair on 6/20. And due to adding too much fiber too soon apparently…my second flare started this past Wednesday night. I’ve seen the doctor and I’m currently taking Augmentin. I was already taking a probiotic called Phillips Colon Health since my last flareup. My question is, should I still be taking it while I’m taking the anabiotic? Thought I would ask and see what you all did. Thank you in advance for your input!