How can you tell when you have diverticulitis? Of course, this is one of the most distressing aspects of this condition you cannot tell. Only a physician can determine whether the symptoms you're experiencing are being caused by diverticulitis or another medical condition that presents with similar symptoms.
Diverticulitis happens when small pouches known as diverticula develop in the colon, which is the section of the large intestine that runs from the cecum to the rectum, become infected and inflamed. These poucheswhich are singularly known as a diverticulum and collectively called diverticulaoccur as we grow older and are probably caused by eating a diet low in fiber. Low fiber diets can cause constipation, which causes the muscles to strain to move stool. In turn, straining increases pressure in the colon which creates these pouches.
Diverticula bulge outward through weak spots the colon in much the same way that an inner tube sticks out through worn areas of tread in a tire. When they become infected or inflamed, diverticulitis ensues.
Diverticulitis often feels much like appendicitis, except that the pain usually occurs in the lower left side of abdomen, at least in Western people. Though pain in the lower right side of the abdomen is more common with appendicitis, Asians and Africans often experience pain in their lower right abdomens when they have diverticulitis.
Though pain from diverticulitis is usually severe and begins suddenly, the first manifestation can be a mild pain that becomes worse over several days and fluctuates in intensity.
Additional symptoms are abdominal tenderness, fever, nausea, and constipation or diarrhea.
Less common signs and symptoms of diverticulitis include vomiting, bloating, bleeding from the rectum, frequent urination, difficulty or pain during urination and abdominal tenderness when wearing a belt or bending over.
Tests or procedures doctors use to help detect diverticulitis include x-rays performed after taking a barium or gastrogaffin enema, a sigmoidoscopy or a colonoscopy.
A sigmoidoscopy is a minimally invasive medical test that examines the part of the large intestine called the sigmoid, which extends from the rectum to the last part of the colon, using an endoscope, which is a rigid or flexible tube attached to a light source typically directed by a fiber optic system outside of the patient's body. The physician inserts the tube through the rectum and pushes it to the area being checked. When extended to include the entire colon, the procedure is called a colonoscopy.
Diverticulitis develops following diverticulosis, which is the condition of having the bulging pouches known as diverticula. Unfortunately, as people with diverticulosis rarely experience any signs or symptoms, the painful symptoms of diverticulitis come as a big shock.
Diverticula themselves are not dangerous, but diverticulosis can sometimes cause unexplained painful cramps, diarrhea or other bowel movement disturbances, and blood in the stool. The narrow opening of a diverticulum can bleed, sometimes heavily, into the intestine and out through the rectum. Bleeding may also result when stool gets wedged in the diverticulum and damages a blood vessel.
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