What Is Diverticulitis?

Video Transcript

"Diverticular outpouchings of any hollow viscious or organ can be anywhere in the body. Most likely it's in the large intestine, particularly the lower part of the sigmoid colon right before the colon becomes rectum. The outpouchings resemble our appendix which is also sort of diverticuli. Diverticulitis is a condition which these outpouchings become infected and swollen, inflamed and cause a lot of abdominal pain. They usually require antibiotic treatment and in the severe cases cause person to need surgery to prevent perforation. These outpouchings of the large intestine can become so infected that they swell and rupture just like an appendix can. And so, in those cases preemptive surgery prevents a lot of problems in which patient may end up having have colostomy and some things like that versus just being able to have the section about resected and put back together without having to go through the trauma of having a colostomy and later rejoining of the gap which requires secondary surgery. You can help prevent diverticulitis or less in its occurrence by eating a high fiber diet , drinking lots of fluids so you don't have chronic constipation. There used to be sayings that you need to avoid eating small seeds because the seeds will get down in the lumen of the small outpouchings off the gut but this has proven not to be necessarily true through research. So, the primary ways to aid your body in keeping diverticulitis under control if you the condition of the outpouchings called diverticulosis is to maintain a high fiber diet and drink lots of fluid."