Chronic Diverticulitis – What You Need to Know

 Laymen often confuse diverticulitis with diverticulosis. Although the two medical conditions are closely related, they are different and have separate sets of characteristics, as well as symptoms and cures. Diverticulitis is the more severe form and is the progressed state of diverticulosis. The latter pertains to the mere formation of diverticula, which are small pouches found in the intestinal walls, and is generally considered a benign condition; on the other hand, the former involves the inflammation or infection of the said diverticula. Diverticulitis may be chronic or acute. This article helps you understand the condition better.

Diverticulosis is tricky to determine, much more diverticulitis. Patients who have the disease are often left in the dark for a long time before finally consulting a health professional or gastroenterologist who can give them the right diagnosis. This is because the formation and development of diverticula is normally painless and manifests very few symptoms, if any at all. The symptoms of diverticulosis, the benign condition, include cramps that occur on the left side of your abdomen but subside when you remove your bowels or just pass gas, and blood on the stool in some cases. Because such symptoms are also indicative of some other medical condition, diverticulosis is sometimes misdiagnosed.

Diverticulitis, on the other hand, manifest more serious symptom, usually likened to the pain felt in appendicitis. The difference is that the location of the pain differs from time to time. This is because there already forms a small abscess in the one of the pouches – or even more – and a perforation of your bowel or a massive infection is contracted or begins to spread. This perforation or infection typically subsides in chronic type of the condition, but reappears and never goes away entirely. When diverticulitis inflames, bowel obstruction is likely to take place. Symptoms of this include diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, abdominal distention, and stools relieved as thin sheets. If left ignored and untreated, serious complications can arise. This is the reason why chronic diverticulitis needs to be taken seriously and treated as soon as possible.

The complications that can develop are many. For one, if abscesses grow all around the infected diverticula and penetrate your intestinal wall, peritonitis may develop. Peritonitis has the potential to be life-threatening, so immediate treatment is required at all cost. In some cases, scarring takes place, which then leads to a blockage or stricture of your intestine. When only one infected small patch or diverticulum develops, it still shouldn’t be taken for granted because this diverticulum may reach out to a nearby organ and spread the infection through the formulation of a connecting fistula. Naturally, when any of the important bodily organs is attacked, damage to the entire system will be felt. In chronic diverticulitis, this dangerous connection to an organ usually develops between the bladder and the large intestine, which results in the spreading of the infection to the kidneys located nearby.

There are many doctors that specialize in gastroenterology and the many medical conditions, like chronic diverticulitis, included in the field. See a doctor right away if you feel any of the symptoms mentioned in this article.