Diverticulitis Symptoms

Imagine experiencing an attack of appendicitis – only the pain is in the lower left side of your abdomen and not the lower right. That’s what an attack of diverticulitis feels like.

The pain, for most people, appears suddenly and severely. But, that doesn’t always apply to everyone. Some individuals discover that their particular case – especially if it’s mild -- gradually emerges with the severity slowly growing over several days. It may even be the severity will fluctuate over these days.

Accompanying these symptoms, you may also experience:

· Abdominal tenderness

· Fever

· Chills

· Nausea

· Constipation or diarrhea

These are the most common of the symptoms of diverticulitis. There are several more, less common symptoms that may also indicate the presence of this disease. If you experience any of the following, you may have developed this digestive disorder:

· Tenderness in your abdomen when wearing a belt or when you bend over

· Vomiting

· Difficulty in urinating

· Painful urination

· Frequent urination

· Bleeding from your rectum

· Bloating

And then there are the complications

Complications to diverticulitis are rare – but they do happen! And when they do, they can be quite serious. In some cases, an infected or inflamed pouch ruptures. When this occurs, intestinal waste is spilled into your abdominal cavity. And this can very easily lead to a condition called peritonitis. It’s called this because the leakage causes an inflammation of your peritoneum – or your abdominal cavity. This condition requires – indeed demands – immediate medical care.

Other complications that occasionally arise from diverticulitis may include bleeding or a blockage in your colon or small intestine. The bleeding may either appear as a rush of blood from the rectum or it might show up as dark, mahogany-colored stools. This later event occurs when the bleeding originates from a diverticulum in the right colon

Yet, still another complication may be the creation of an abscess or a fistula. A fistula is an abnormal passage that emerges connecting several sections of your digestive area. The fistula may connect different parts of your intestine, it may unite your intestine with your bladder or with your vagina, or it may even join your intestine and abdominal wall.

If the fistula is infected, it may require draining. Usually this procedure is not painful, but it may cause irritation to the skin around it. If the opening of the fistula seals before it’s treated, an abscess may develop behind it.

There’s absolutely no evidence that the presence of diverticular disease actually increases your risk of developing rectal or colon cancer. But it can make cancer more difficult to diagnose. For this reason, your physician may recommend a colonoscopy. This is usually done following a bout of diverticulitis.

A colonoscopy examines your entire colon and rectum for abnormalities. It does this using a long, flexible tube with a tiny video camera attached.