Live Life Team
There are pouches sticking out of the large intestine and they are known as diverticula. As these show up in the colon, they are called as diverticulosis and has been seen to be quite a common condition found among 50% people in the age of 50 and also 70% in the age group of 80.Also it has been seen that 75% of the people suffering from this condition may not even see any symptoms all together. The condition can actually lead to regular episodes of pain in the lower abdomen and also lead to diarrhea and constipation. The diverticular diseases can get cured with eating a high fiber diets.
Symptoms
The symptoms of the diverticula disease are normally seen with a feeling of bloating, small amounts of blood, bowel habits of the person, an occurrence of diarrhea and pain in the lower abdomen. In case of diverticulitis, the major symptom seen is the constant pain which gets severe with time and gets initiated from the belly button of the body. The pain then extends towards the lower- left side of the abdomen. Apart from the stomach pain, there could be several other symptoms which may be observed in the condition like urination on frequent basis, nausea, vomiting, constipation, fever and also in some rare cases, bleeding from the rectum.
Causes
There are major two reasons identified as causes for this condition. The first has been identified as colon. The colons have major role to be played in the digestion process and it is responsible to remove the nutrients from the eaten food and also the undigested waste is pushed into the rectum to get out through the anus. The colon actually is quite analogous to the tire and has lot of flexible layers inside and covered by the tougher layer of muscle. In cases, where the body is not in-taking proper fiber it may lead to diverticulosis. This intake of fibers actually helps the body to make the stools larger in size and also softer which makes sure that the amount of pressure needed by anus to push that waste out of the body, is induced. In some cases, the condition may also be caused due to an infection which may have been caused by piece of stool which may have got stuck in one of the pouches and the bacteria may get multiplied and spreads across, causing that infection.
Diagnosis
The diverticular disease is something tougher to be diagnosed and the symptoms may not be enough to conclude the condition. There are other conditions also which may show similar symptoms. The doctor may also recommend some tests to confirm on the symptoms. There are several tests for the condition which can be useful for the diagnosis. Colonoscopy is one test which can be done to confirm the presence of small pouches inside the colon and helps in taking a look inside the colon. Also there may be tests like Barium enema X-ray and also CT scans may be needed.
Treatment
The diseases can be treated at home and some OTC medicines like paracetamols can help relieve the symptoms.
