Diverticulitis - Anatomy, Symptoms & Treatment 

My husband developed a colo-rectal fistula from diverticulitis and he was scheduled for surgery. However, by the time the surgery was going to take place he had not had symptoms for months. I asked the docs, if it could have healed on its own, as I had put him on a soft diet and gave him aloe juice. They all said no, it could not heal. We finally insisted on another pet scan and low and behold, the fistula had healed over!!!!!! These anecdotal stories count!!!!

Thankyou for the clear info. I had no warning and straight into emergency. 17 days later came out of hospital with a stoma. Then 8 months later had a reversal opp. So about 14 months before I had recovered. Not an experience I would wish on anyone. Doctors and nurses were terrific. I was 77 at the time and otherwise in good health. Cheers from Australia.

I’m a simple man, when I see a Dr. Parker video posted 17 minutes ago, I watch.

I really appreciate all that I learn from your videos! Please keep them coming!

I just got diagnosed with diverticulitis and so glad I went to emerg and got a ct scan and have medication for treatment. Extremely painful in the lower left side and down the back and pressure in the rectum area. I hope to be doing better soon. Great video doc!

Thank you, Dr. Parker…excellent explanation for the lay-person to understand diverticulitis.

Thank you so much for this excellent video and information Dr Parker!!

Great explanation! I’m currently learning this in my basic nutrition course!

Fascinating.. you always make your videos so informative ... thankyou

Great video, clearly demonstrated and explained. Thanks!

Thank you so much for this clear and precise explanation of diverticulitis and the available treatments. Much appreciated

I was just released from the hospital today for having diverticulitis, thank you for a very informative video

Thank you for this video. I was diagnosed with it but no explanation given. This has given me a clear picture of my condition.

I love videos like this! I love to learn and see the visual as well. More please! 😂 Thank you!

Thank you for a clear explanation of this and the difference between the two

Thoroughly enjoyed breakdowns like these!! So excited to see and learn about more diagnoses!

Great video! Love the detailed anatomy review. That will definitely help patients understand this disease process better.

Thanks for the content! More please!

Great video! I definitely could have used this when I was nursing school. Now I get lots of patients with abdominal fistula and drains, etc. I don’t know how you do it! Thank you for helping these patients 👏🏻✨😁

I was a nurse in General Surgery... wish you were my lecturer to explain such like

love watching these videos doc! i wanna be a nurse practitioner or possibly a doctor when i grow up and u allow me to educate myself earlier!

Very good information and most of all really well and simple explanation . Thank you

Thanks for making this video, it's good for me sharing with folk to show them the condition (a lot of people haven't heard of it).

Im way too young to be looking this up . Prayers to you all

Outstanding video. Thx for sharing

Succinct explanation and dope anatomy simulation to explain diverticulosis, great revision for a med student on clinical placement. Cheers Dr Parker.

Oh look! Something non-Corona related! Great stuff doc 👏💪

Greatly appreciate your expertise!

Excellent video sir.. Thank you

Excellent job! Thanks

Very informative. Thank you.

Thanks Dr Parker excellent explanation .

Good use of graphics. Made this easy to understand.

Thank you for this!

Very excellent video!!!

Excellent video. 👍🏻

Best video !! I was just diagnosed with complex diverticulitis thank you !! I especially had a wow moment when you explained the fistula. My first stomach surgery they had found my large intestine looped through my fallopian tube. And then when they removed a tumour off my stomach when it was folded in half in the report they had thought I had a fistula. Thank you for making all those words make sense.

So much information! Thank you

Thanks for this video. Headed to see my GI guy soon to check this out.

Very educational and I'm going to get that app!

Thank you Dr. Parker for your video. Absolutely superb on this subject. I am a Dental Surgeon and have had a section of my descending / sigmoid colon removed following abscess formation. Your video explained more to me of the various types of diverticular disease than I was aware. One point however…I think twice mistakenly during your video you mentioned ‘ascending’ colon when you meant to say ‘descending’ and that could lead some people to become confused, e.g. Judy Carter’s comment. Overall, fantastic though. P.S. I still want to know how the two sections of colon were actually anastomosed? Maybe I should remain ignorant on that subject? :-)

Really like the video, would love to see more.

Super video. I’m 44 and have had this over three weeks. I’m in and out of hospital twice once for 10 days , they sent me home with my bloods at 110, the antibiotics they gave me didn’t work and I ended back in hospital with my bloods at 170. They put me on a new drip and got the bloods down to 140 in two hours and sent me home. I would love someone like yourself to review my case!

Thank you. Very interesting I am a gastroenterologist

I love these videos!

This is a much higher quality video. I smell a Sony camera lol. Awesome video doc 👍🏼👍🏼

Excellent video Doc. I’m 57 but had my first bout of DV at 44. I had none of the typical triggers; I was/am fit, exercise regularly, eat well (but do eat red meat), drank plenty of fluids, and never had any “going” problems. I do have relatives who had it early so suspect there’s a genetic link. Currently on my second bout in 60 days and on Cipro & Metro (I really don’t want to take Cipro given the potential side effects and I hate destroying my biome). Surgery was recommended in ‘18 but I’ve been working on diet to delay. Very informative video for us sufferers so thank you.

Thank you Dr Parker

I've been to 2 GI docs trying to get some answers, long story short they seemed really intent on not explaining their thinking/logic and why we couldnt start with imaging leaving me a bit frustrated. anyways after watching your video you gave me hope theres some reasonable healthcare professionals in the field, if next GI doc i go to isnt up to par i'm making appointment with you even though theres significant travel involved. im so done with the pain, uncertainty, and feeling removed from my healthcare providers

Ahh some refreshing content.

Outstanding! Thank you so much for the excellent, detailed explanation!!!

Thank you very detailed🤗

Thank u doctor for this video great help bless u an ur team an family u all besafe

Thank you asI had bleeding ( bright red blood) several times. However, I did not understand the causes of ii. This video did help alot in gaining knowledge of the problems associated with it.

Love the content. Gen surg all the way.

Thanks for the video!! I am 50 year old male and diagnosed with acute diverticulitis!!

Many thanks for a great explanation. Can I ask one thing. Once you have been diagnosed with diverticula via colonoscopy are these diverticula permanent.

I had a bout with diverticulitis two years ago. Terrible pain and ended up going to the ER. I was given IV Toradol and it dramatically reduced the pain. CT scans followed, and the diagnosis was confirmed. After waiting several hours for additional lab results to come back, I was sent home with prescriptions for TMP-SMX, metronidazole and Percocet. I was also instructed to take the narcotics if needed, otherwise try Tylenol and Advil together for any pain. As it turns out, the TMP-SMX and metronidazole went a long way towards addressing both pain and inflammation, so I ended up not needing the narcotic medication I was prescribed. The next day, I was feeling tons better, and by the second day, more or less back to normal.

My doctor didn’t show me any of these when I was told I had it. This was very helpful to understanding wants wrong with me. The Doctor basically walked in and said “you have diverticulitis” then walked out, no explanation no nothing

More of these for the love of God.

Thank you for this insightful video, I am based in the UK, just over a year ago around Christmas my stomach felt bloated and I had a loss of appetite, my stools became black and smelly, then I started passing blood. My Dr recommended I see a specialist and an appointment was made, however, two days later I collapsed and haemorrhaged through my backside, my wife called an ambulance and I was rushed to hospital my BP also crashed they said. I was in hospital for four days, I have no idea what medication I was given, in hospital I had the camera down my throat but all was clear. I was released from hospital and booked in for the camera up the other end, I have to say I was stoic and watched the procedure via monitors, I was impressed how clean my 62 year old colon looked, it was spotless! However, the Dr said there where signs of Diverticulitis but no signs of a haemorrhage, to sum this up I really have not got to the bottom of this (pardon the pun) my GP hasn't really explained to me what happened it would be interesting on your thoughts.

So well done, making a video with down to earth explanations, that ordinary people can understand. My sister died because of this disease, constant infection, she was elderly and stitches did not hold time an again.

Finally someone explained these situations clearly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

That’s amazing! Love it the content info! 👍🏼

Thanks for an enlightening session on a poopy subject 😊

Thank you for sharing this. And you didnt even swear once!!! Lol🤣😂 I love watching all your videos and Instagram. Stay cool!! 🍻

You answer questions better than my own doctor ever do I watch your video and other video doctor do to understand my medical problems cause doctor I have don’t help to treat the problem they know I have digestive problems but they Never Gave me treatment so I just end up Suffering from my lssues that could have been taken care of

I appreciate very much if there are captions for deaf viewers !

Thank you Doctor for the explanation I just have my first diverticulitis 2 days ago and I thought I had problem in my ovaries but with a scan it showed diverticulitis, ☺️

You certainly have to watch what you eat with diverticulitis. My friend made me a pudding of yoghurt with blackberries in it. The seeds got into my colon and I had to go to hospital because because my doctor wouldn’t see me, even though I knew antibiotics would help. Strawberries are definitely a no and all seeded vegetables and foods.

(Thank you doctor I was diagnosed with mild diverticulitis but was not told what it was. You have helped me to fully understand.

Thx a lot.

Nice video. Great explanation and useful revision for me. Just a little mistake I picked up: at 10:37 you say 'ascending colon' but I believe you mean 'descending colon'?

Can you do one on anterior interosseous syndrome?

Thank you from nz xx

Read the transcript to what your saying ? Thanks for sharing

He’s back!!!!!!! Yay. Something different.

Love the video. Why are the diverticula not treatable with some sort of surgery, by being backed up with more tissue or something that repairs those locations?

Thank you. So helpful

I appreciate the information you shared. This is so frustrating for so many people, because of so much misinformation or rather all information is different from everyone. So what is your consensus on coffee being a component for a flare up? or rather not coffee itself but CAFFEINE? and what about dairy? is it possible for that to be a component for a flare up? MY flare ups for diverticulitis are always on the right side with pain...I dont eat seeds or corn....i eat alot of salads and typically have baked chicken, peel and apple and chop up on it, goat cheese, and pecans. Love carne asada tacos...typically eat one meal a day. I do have comfort morning and evening drinks like coffee with heated milk, Chai, but when i think about flare ups and what I had... its hard and coffee and dairy are always in the mix. I take alot of magnesium daily, along with many other supplements. Wich brings me to another question!!! OK...because I take so many supplements, I often wonder with the diverticulosis pockets could any of those supplements get lodged in the pockets causing an infection ?? tthank you for your time and thoughts you may share .

Does ct imaging sometimes misdiagnose diverticulosis when one just had abdominal surgery for adhesions?

I'm going through this now....the pain is awful. Still waiting to see what my next steps are but I can not live with this pain everyday.

Just had 2 bleeds in one week. They couldn't stop the bleeding. Almost needed to too have my colon out. Am scared because I have severe diverticula' disease. Am reading everything I can. Thank you for this video.

Thank you. The seeds and nuts have to be avoided just because they are hard? what if they boiled and cooked thoroughly to become soft would that be okay to eat? I'm just curious. Thank you again.

I had diverticulitis once in about 2010, after I had some corn on the cob, which I love but I stopped eating it and never had any problems or symptoms ever again.

Welcome back Buck!!!!!

Thank you for this very well done and informative video. I wonder if you can help me. I had basically a full hysterectomy over two operations. After the first one there was a new abdominal pain in my lower left. I have tried for over 3 years to find the source of this pain but nothing. Please advise what the best test would be to check for diverticulitis or anything related. Again thank you for this excellent information presented so clearly.

I think I had a diverticulitis attack recently. Last colonoscopy was five years ago and showed three diverticulum. I the worst pain in lower across lower abdomen. It even bothered me to move and walk. Like I had a painful weight in my belly. Better now, still very sore but doesn't bother me to move around like it did. I think I will address this with PCP when I go for next physical.

Thank you I'm a bit concerned 😟 😨, when home with antibiotics it went away but it came back my pain is in my right side.

Is this going to be a series?

Right now I’m having a lot of pain in lower colon, no blood, but lots of pain. I am going to try a laxative to move it out. Hopefully that gives me some relief. Also I found it interesting that you said as the stool travels down into the large vowel it looses a lot of water and becomes hard. That’s could also be a problem for me. I’m 69 and have a lot of issues with my bowels which I hate, I also have a hernia close to my bellybutton which protrudes . 😧

I had diverticulitis every so often, but since I stopped eating gluten I havent had it again.whew...thank you God

How you get diagnose?

If surgery needed how long would it take to heal

Can you keep from getting it again?

I had 6" of my bowels removed because of reoccurring diverticulitis attacks in 2000. I'm experiencing frequent constipation for the past few months. I'm worried that I may need further surgery as laxatives are not relieving the issue. What should I expect? Is this surgery as invasive as the actual bowel removal? Which was horrendous. Thank You

But after the surgery how long to recover

I might have this! I've been in weird lower belly pain for some weeks now, mostly on the right side. Usually strickes at night. I went on a hunt initially: I thought it was caused by my ovaries (no problem there). Then my gynecologist sent me to have my kidneys and bladder checked (nothing there either). Because a lot of gas showed up in my scan, I was sent to a gastroenterologist to check my colon. It might be this. So unpleasant when one doesn't know where to start. 😔

Dr. Parker, What can we do to prevent this issue from happening? Also, what are things that most often cause this: constipation? genetics?

What about focal wall thickening with surrounding fat stranding 2 bouts of inflammation in 3 months one hospitalization same radiologist read my previous from December CT said this time CT March I should have colonoscopy to rule out underlying metastatic disease I had labs 🧪 CEA 1.1 and CA125 16.1 both WNL for over 50 and menopause