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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Treatment For Severe Abdominal Pain While Having Diverticulitis

My husband is 46 and suffering from severe abdominal pain. He had a colonoscopy during May 2014, at the age of 44. He had three polyps removed. Nothing was cancerous, but the doctor felt that two polyps could have been problematic down the road. Shortly thereafter, in September of 2014, my husband had severe abdominal pain. He went to the ER and had a CAT Scan. The Cat Scan showed diverticulitis. He was prescribed Flagil + Levoquin. Those antibiotics seemed to help. However, in January 2015 he had another attack. Another trip to the ER + CAT Scan + the same antibiotics. This time around, he was on antibiotics for about a month. The pain took longer to subside. Because the second attack was taking so long to heal, his doctor recommended a sigmoidoscopy. The sigmoidoscopy did not show active diverticulitis, but did show diverticula. There also didn t seem to be any tall tale signs of Chrons during that sigmoidoscopy so no tissue sample was taken. Approximately 6 months later he then had another suspected attack, but never went to the ER. The doctor prescribed Bacrum and Flagil. He got somewhat better. He then had another suspected attack and had his third CT Scan. Unexpectedly, his third CT Scan did not show diverticulitis, but showed inflammation in the vertical portion leading down to his sigmoid, not just the sigmoid region only. The doctor prescribed Cipro. The Dr. was willing to forgo Flagil this time because my husband does not react well to it. This antibiotic seemed to help, but difficult to tell. My husband is now experiencing what feels like a 5th attack. One might say to just take an antibiotic to calm things down a bit and have the re-sectioning surgery. However, there is one thing that is bothering my husband. Ever since the first diverticulitis attack he has been experiencing upper colon pain (his left side), as well, and it s constant, unlike the diverticulitis attacks. My husband feels that the upper colon pain is an additional problem that has yet to be diagnosed. He is concerned that if part of his large intestine is removed to treat the diverticulitis then (1) we are not really looking at the whole picture (2) he is limiting his options for treating the upper colon pain later. Any recommendations on where he can go from there?
Wed, 30 Oct 2019
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hello,

Diverticulitis is treated using diet modifications, antibiotics, and possibly surgery. Mild diverticulitis infection may be treated with bed rest, stool softeners, a liquid diet, antibiotics to fight the infection, and possibly antispasmodic drugs.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Take care

Regards,
Dr AJEET SINGH, General & Family Physician
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Suggest Treatment For Severe Abdominal Pain While Having Diverticulitis

Hello, Diverticulitis is treated using diet modifications, antibiotics, and possibly surgery. Mild diverticulitis infection may be treated with bed rest, stool softeners, a liquid diet, antibiotics to fight the infection, and possibly antispasmodic drugs. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Take care Regards, Dr AJEET SINGH, General & Family Physician