Diverticulitis - Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

The colon is an excretory organ towards the abdominal part of the human body

. It is long convoluted tube-structure with muscular wall tissues that is helpful in the channeling and formation of the waste matter after digestion. Due to pressure from excessive waste matter often the colon walls form bulging sacs across their length from continuously pushing the feces towards the rectum. These bulging sacs are called diverticulum and diverticula in the plural. These bulging sacs are extremely common towards the end of the left part of the colon also known as sigmoid colon.

In medical terminology the condition of the formation of these bulging sacs of diverticula is called diverticulosis, while a rupture in the walls of diverticula due to continued pressure from waste matter is diverticulitis. The condition is always marked by infections around the place, where the rupture occurs. Often the condition of diverticulitis may go completely unnoticed because the condition is often accompanied by very few or no symptoms at all. However in certain cases there may be pain around the abdomen accompanied by fever, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal crams, colonic obstruction and the area may become extremely sensitive to pressure. In some other cases there may even be bleeding from the rupture and it is called diverticular bleeding.

The condition of diverticulitis is very commonly seen among patients in the age group of 60 and above in the United States. The condition is not found among kids because the walls of the colon are still strong in childhood. In fact, the condition is rarely seen in patients below the age group of 40. Again, due to food habits and lifestyle issues the disease is more common in the west and mostly in the United States, while men and women from Asia and Africa usually do not have to face the condition of a rupture in the diverticula. Diverticular disease is not difficult to diagnose nor is it difficult to treat.

Diagnosis for diverticular disease can be done through a variety of tests. For instance, Barium x-rays or barium enemas can be easily done to take pictures of the area, and the diverticula stand out as barium filled pouches against the wall of the colon. In some other cases medical examiners may prefer to obtain direct visualation by inserting tubes into the rectum. A short tube is called a sigmoidoscope and a longer tube is called a colonoscope and they both have image capture devices at their tip to make diagnosis easy. When the patient has continuous fever associated with the condition a CT Scan or ultrasound can be done to diagnose the condition by locating pus in the abdominal area.

Usually the condition of diverticulitis can be treated with little or no medication. A high fiber diet, avoiding nuts, corn or other seeds, and drinking adequate water can often be the solution for patients, who have mild cases of diverticular disease. For patients, who are suffering abdominal pain, cramps, or spasms, antispasmodic drugs like chlordiazepoxide, dicyclomine, atropine, scopolamine, hyosycamine, etc can be used. Even in severe cases of the disease oral antibiotics like ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, doxycycline, etc are more than sufficient to stop the progress of the condition. In very rare cases patients need to be hospitalized and in even rarer cases when there is an obstruction in the bowel surgery may become necessary.

Diverticulitis - Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

By: Rex Smith

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