During a flare-up ofdiverticulitis, you may wonder whether diverticulitis can go away.
The condition may be treated at home with conservative methods or in the hospital for more complicated cases.
In some cases, these pouches can become inflamed or infected and cause symptoms such asabdominal pain.
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When this happens, it is called diverticulitis.
Some of the options will depend on the seriousness of the condition.
For diverticulitis without any complications, the treatment might include rest and changes to lifestyle and diet.
Antibiotics
In recent years, theres been a change in the role of antibiotics in treating diverticulitis.
It was thought that diverticulitis could be because of a bacterial infection and thatantibioticswould help flush the infection.
Treating with antibiotics didnt shorten hospital stays, improve symptoms, or prevent diverticulitis from coming back.
The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) recommends that antibiotics be used in more complicated cases.
Lifestyle Changes
Diverticular disease is tied to genetics and lifestyle.
Its thought that eating more fiber, stopping smoking, and getting regular exercise can ward off diverticular disease.
Preventing diverticulitis may be difficult, though, since most people dont know they have it.
After that, the treatment used will depend on certain factors.
When symptoms improve, more foods can be added back in untilfibercan be tolerated again.
Probiotics havent been proven to help inpreventing diverticulitisand are not recommended by the AGA.
Does Diverticular Disease Go Away?
However, there is a risk (about 15% at five years) of diverticular disease coming back.
When Does Diverticulitis Not Go Away?
In some cases, a flare-up of diverticulitis might not improve.
If symptoms arent getting better, its important to discuss them with a healthcare provider.
A different throw in of treatment may be needed.
Those people were put on antibiotics in a hospital, did well, and didnt need surgery.
While having a flare-up of diverticulitis, its important to keep track of symptoms.
If things are getting worse, its time to bring that up with your healthcare provider.
Treatment might need to be stepped up so that get the flare-up under control.
Getting more treatment could involve starting antibiotics and/or being admitted to the hospital.
It could also includeresection surgeryto remove the part of the colon that is affected.
Whether to have surgery and when is a topic of active discussion and study.
A healthcare provider might suggest surgery when diverticulitis is complicated.
The surgery used might be a resection, in which the affected part of the colon is removed.
Diverticulitis thats not getting better may lead to a decision to hospital treatment with antibiotics or with surgery.
This should be a joint decision between the healthcare provider and the patient.
Treatment decisions are based on whether the flare-up is considered complicated or uncomplicated.
Tylenol (acetaminophen) is usually recommended for pain relief.
Cases in which people have other medical conditions or are immunocompromised usually are considered complicated.
In these cases, hospitalization might be recommended.
Treatment might include antibiotics, fluids, and pain medications.
Any complications will also need to be treated.
Whats recommended will depend on how sick the person is and the specific complication.
In some cases, resection or colostomy surgery may be recommended.
People should follow up with their healthcare provider about a week after symptoms start.
It may be difficult to prevent another flare-up.
Quality of life might be significantly lowered with diverticulitis that becomes chronic.
With repeated flare-ups, surgery might be considered.
When diverticulitis has healed enough, acolonoscopy will likely be recommended.
This is to have a look at the colon and see which areas might have diverticula.
The studies that have been done focus on using surgery as a treatment.
Its important to contact a healthcare provider right away about new abdominal pain for treatment and advice.
Taking the time to rest and recover from diverticulitis is going to be a key part of recovery.
Resting, following a liquid diet, and lowering stress levels may help in coping.
Moving the diet back to more solid foods might cause some anxiety.
Having regular check-ins about progress is also going to be reassuring during the recovery period.
How to Prevent Recurrent Diverticulitis
It may be difficult to prevent diverticulitis flare-ups or chronic diverticulitis.
Using antibiotics to treat uncomplicated diverticulitis has not been shown to prevent another flare-up or shorten healing time.
For that reason, antibiotics might not always be recommended to treat diverticulitis.
Different drugs have been tested to see if they might be helpful in treating or preventing diverticulitis flare-ups.
Theres no evidence that antibiotics, Asacol (mesalamine), orprobioticsare helpful in treating or preventing diverticulitis.
There is not much in the way of hard evidence behind the recommendations to prevent diverticulitis.
Having a diverticulum carries a risk of developing an inflammatory condition called diverticulitis.
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