Acute diverticulitis is a very serious condition, one that needs to be attended to immediately and diagnosed, not just by your family physician, but also by a specialist.
It is not unusual for acute diverticulitis to be easily misdiagnosed as it normally presents with a multitude of different symptoms.
It is imperative that your family doctor and the specialists that he works with, work together with each other in order to arrive at the correct diagnosis and treatment for you.
This will ensure a speedy diagnosis and more importantly a much quicker recovery.
This can be a life threatening condition, but with correct diagnosis and treatment with your doctors and full participation on your part, acute diverticulitis is a very manageable condition.
Understanding what acute diverticulitis is and all the treatment options available, will help you to cope with this disease.
It will help you to participate with your doctor in coming up with a comprehensive treatment plan, one that also includes dietary changes, in order to effect a speedy recovery coupled with a long term plan to address this condition.
Diverticulitis usually means that you have herniations in the wall of the colon and these herniations will then create small pockets.
Diverticulum is basically described as a sac that is pushing outward where the colon wall is.
Think of it in terms of a tire tube which as it gets weaker in some sports starts to then bulge out.
As one gets older pressure in the large intestine can result in the formation of pockets of tissue also known as sacs.
These can be seen throughout the colon but are most common on the left side in the area known as the sigmoid colon.
When one of these pockets becomes inflamed or infected, you are very likely to be faced with a diagnosis of acute diverticulitis.
Some cases of diverticulitis involve inflammation near the diverticula and only be seen in the colon area.
It is also possible that it may be in the pelvic area and be abscessed or it could be a general inflammation of the abdominal cavity which would then involve peritonitis which is a form of diverticulitis that is more dangerous.
Diverticulitis is known as a herniation in the intestinal wall, usually occurring at an area that over time has become weakened.
Food that is not well digested may then easily become trapped in the pockets in this area, or the neck of the diverticulum may become obstructed, due in part to mucus secretion.
In acute diverticulitis your doctor may find muscosal herniations that go out through the layers of the intestinal wall and through the smooth muscles in the colon wall.
These are referred to as diverticula.
Undigested food or fecal matter can then build up in the neck of the diverticulum and result in severe obstruction.
When this occurs, it often causes distension and creates an abundance of colonic bacteria.
This can then compromise the vascular structure and cause perforation.
Food particles can also erode the diverticular wall thus causing inflammation or in extreme cases it can result in necrosis of the surrounding tissue and eventually perforation.
If a large perforation occurs or an abscess forms, intestinal rupture and eventually peritonitis is very likely to be the end result.