New Protocol for Diverticulitis

It's baaaaaack!  On Sunday morning, I woke up with the standard symptoms of diverticulitis, and the same familiar sensations that I've had so many times before.  The pain was severe, and I spent most of the day in bed.  I considered going to Quick Care, but frankly I am tired of paying 200 a pop for a doctor to tell me what I already know, and my regular doc isn't in on Sundays.  I thought it might be best to wait until I could get in to see him, since he has only seen the reports from the Quick Care and seems skeptical that the diagnosis is correct if he didn't diagnose it himself.

On Sunday, I took Tylenol for the pain, and then I decided to try something new:  I took a strong pro-biotic.  Not the kind you find in the drug store - I took the live kind that you buy at the health food store and have to store in the refrigerator.  I bought a very strong variety.  The label said to take 1 per day.  I decided to take 1 every 8 hours, for a total of 3 times per day.

I also went on a modified version of the SCC diet.  It was more like Paleo with some exceptions for things like the rice flour that was added to the antibiotic.  But I stopped all breads, beans and lentils, pasta, and starchy vegetables.

I continued to monitor my temperature, but the fever came and went.  I didn't want to go into the doctor's office without a fever, because the doc has already said that he can't diagnose diverticulitis without an elevated temperature.  Each day in the afternoon after work, I didn't have a fever, possibly because I was taking Tylenol for the pain.

I continued to feel some pain after that, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't sleep, and by Wednesday, the only remaining pain was a tender and sore feeling in the abdominal, which is understandable after days of strong spasms.

By Thursday, my body was starting to release the infection.  I'm not going to describe that in any more detail than that.  I did need to take some time off from work.

I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be able to eat normally by Christmas.

I've been thinking about what triggered it.  The Friday before, I had a huge, devastating blow in my personal life involving a family member.  The next day, I spent a good part of the day cooking, and I remember that my entire body was starting to hurt - all the muscle and joints hurt like I had the flu, even though I had no other flu symptoms.  It felt like what I imagine a full body autoimmune disease would feel like.  Also, in the weeks leading up to the flare, we had been moving to a more plant based diet, and I had been eating more legumes than normal, and had also introduced some meat substitutes like the Impossible Burger.  I think the dietary changes and stress triggered it, but I still want to be able to eat a plant based diet, so I'm hoping that if I continue the pro-biotic, I may have a good result.

Protocols for a Diverticulitis flare

To be clear, this is my personal strategy for dealing with my gastrointestinal issues.  This is not intended as advise for anyone else.

When going to the doctor, remember to ask for Dicyclomine with the antibiotics.  Consider bringing an old bottle to show the doctor.

Directly after visiting the doctor, while picking up the prescriptions, obtain the following items if they aren't on hand:

OTC pain relievers
MiroLAX if needed
plenty of fluids with no sugar, sugar alcohols or milk
apple sauce with no sugar added
deglycyrrhizinated licorice  (not SCD legal)
slippery elm  (not SCD legal)
marshmallow root  (not SCD legal)
5 HTP
probiotics to be taken at the end of the course of antibiotics


Pull out the SCD books, particularly Ending the Vicious Cycle.

Diverticulitis Flare 03/23/2019

Yesterday I went to urgent care with a low grade fever, abdominal pain, and intestinal spasms.  The doctor put me on Cefdinir 300 mg and Metronidazole 500 mg.  He did not offer Dicyclomine for the pain and spasms, and I was in so much pain that I forgot to ask, but I have some on hand from a prior flare.

What was interesting to me is that the doctor told me to take the antibiotics with food and did not prescribe a clear fluid diet for the next few days.  I'm going to stick with fresh fruits and cooked non starchy vegetables with lots of clear fluids for the next few days.

I don't remember when the last flare happened, but it's been at least 3 years.  It's probably in my medical records but they aren't accessible right now.  And yes, the Dicyclomine is expired, but it's still working.  That stuff is like gold when you are in so much pain that you can't think or breathe.

I do remember that I went on the SC diet for a prolonged period, (I think it was about 3 months,) and then I eased off the diet.  I think the SC diet was pretty effective, because the infection was coming back regularly up until then.

It's been so long that I have forgotten the protocols that worked for me the last time.  I'm going to create a separate blog post, name it "protocols," so that I have something to refer to next time this happens.

Last week, I went on the Nutrisystem diet in order to lose some weight, and I'm wondering if that was a contributing factor.  There are a lot of sugar alcohols in their food.  I've been drinking plenty of water and taking in enough fiber.  I have been taking Motrin and Advil, so perhaps that was a contributing factor.  At this point I have no idea.  I'm going to be going back on the SC diet for a while now, to keep this from flaring again.

But for now, I'm going to spend the day in bed.