
Exercising, controlling your weight, and eating less red meat and more fiber may help. It's not clear yet if we can prevent diverticulosis or diverticulitis. People with more severe disease, such as an abscess (pocket of infection) or pus that needs drainage, often need hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics. Treatment is typically antibiotics for seven to 10 days. Your doctor will likely order a CT scan to look for active signs of inflammation. "Most people with diverticulitis will have pain in the left lower part of the abdomen, but no bleeding," says Dr. Typical symptoms of diverticulitis include lower abdominal pain, more often on the left side fever and change in bowel habits, either loose stools or constipation. Age, obesity, a lack of exercise, and a low-fiber diet are risk factors for the condition. It's not clear why or how diverticulitis develops. "The lifetime rate of diverticulitis is low, between 4% and 15% of those with diverticulosis," says Dr. But it's not as common as having diverticulosis. In some people, diverticula can get infected. "Even if bleeding stops on its own, you can still lose a considerable amount of blood, so you should see a doctor." Diverticulitis We don't know the cause of the diverticular bleeding, only that something injures a blood vessel in the pouch," Dr. "When bleeding does occur, it tends to be intense for a short period, but usually stops on its own. Staller says.ĭiverticulosis only causes symptoms if one of the diverticula bleeds or gets infected. They tend to cluster in the sigmoid colon, just above the rectum," Dr. "Between 40% and 60% of people have them, and they get more common as we age. Diverticulosisĭiverticulosis is the term used to describe the presence of diverticula - pouch-like structures that sometimes form in the muscular wall of the colon and bulge outward. Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. "Both conditions are common and usually don't cause any problems," says Dr.

The news may be puzzling, but don't worry. But with the good news came with a surprise finding: though you don't have symptoms, you do have diverticulosis and hemorrhoids. You received good news after your last colonoscopy: no cancer or precancerous polyps. But if things change, home remedies often help. In most cases, you won't know they're there.
