Ascending Diverticulitis Pain 2 Months After Attack

[suzanne_01]

I am a 36 year old female, 5'4'' 124 lbs,  that was admitted to the hospital with what my pcp thought was appendicitis. I had a CT scan and it turned out all my pain and high WBC's were due to ascending (right sided) diverticulitis. This happened 11.5.12 and I was given Flagyl and Bactrim DS and put on a liquid diet for 3 days and followed by a low residue diet. I have seen 2 different gastroenterologist's so far. The first one I saw 4 days after my attack and he told me he thought is was acute colitis. He said that he has never seen a white american female with right sided diverticulitis in his entire career...I then went and saw a second gastro and she said that I do have diverticulitis and to start a high fiber diet. I did the high fiber diet which caused me to have pain where my diverticulitis was, needless to say I stopped.

I have made another appt with another gastro that came highly recommended by a friend of the family who is a pathologist, but that is 2 weeks away. I have done my own personal research on ascending diverticulitis and there is not a whole lot of information for patients here in the US, esp at my age. The majority of research/studies have been done in Asiian countries. This was a horrible experience and I am worried since I still have pain over 2 months later. Nothing like it was, but there is still pain, especially when I push on my abdomen. Is it normal to have pain for this long after my initial attack?

[CalGal]

No, but I know a number of individuals who have suffered from 'normal' left-sided diverticulitis. Not fun!

[suzanne_01]

Thank you for that information, I will make sure to ask for that with my new gastro since I see him in one week. The CT report I had said diverticulitis/colitis. I have never experienced pain like that, I could not walk, move, cough etc...It was a nasty little surprise!

Have you suffered from diverticulitis?

[CalGal]

You may want to consider asking one of the present docs to run some blood work such as the Serology 7 or other to look at antibody levels indicating the presence of U.C. or Crohn's.

Was it clearly stated that you had 'diverticulitis?' Or could the wording be 'diverticulum?'

[suzanne_01]

No colonoscopy as of yet, but that is because they still think I have inflammation and don't want run the risk of perforating the inflamed area of the colon.

[CalGal]

Did you have a colonoscopy done? Have you had testing done for either Crohn's colitis or ulcerative colitis? A CT is 'decent' but it doesn't take a close look at the tissue, and that's something that should be done.