Preventing recurrent flare-ups. Please give experiences.

[Alan]

Anyone on the clinical trial with Mesalamine? If so, has it prevented any recurrent flare-ups?

Anyone use any herbal treatments with success for helping prevent recurrent attacks?

Also, anyone have any other comments for preventing flare-ups and recurrent diverticulitis?

[Vera Otto]

Hello Alan. I havent found any particular way of avoiding flare_ups but I was in hospital for a time and put on liquid for three days. When I asked to see a dietician the specialist said "What for? You can just eat anything"!!!!!
My regular doctor had told me to avoid nuts, pips etc. There seems to be such conflicting advice.I find that eating pears, Mango, and bananas each day helps to stop constipation which as we all know is what causes the flare ups.

[Observing]

I suffered for two years before having surgery to remove 18 inches of my colon. Those 18 inches had several "pockets" that showed up very clear in tests (barimum).

Prior to the actual bouts of pain that lasted from two to eight hours, I had diarrhea episodes. They were scattered over a number of years.

Lack of fiber in diet was the blame. I don't necessarily agree. My mother had the problem too.

My diet has always been balanced with adquate fiber.

My problem was more associated with my career. I had to be in too many places with no restrooms or terribly dirty restrooms ...... if you know what I mean.

So, I would "hold" my bowels. Sometimes it would be only for a short period of time and other times it might be a couple of hours or longer. This was not a daily thing..... but it did happen at least weekly.

I believe over time, my bowels developed the pockets due to the stress ...... a physician told me the weak points are where the small arteries go into the colon.........!

[Observing]

Oh, I forgot .......... popcorn was the biggest problem!

Stay away from popcorn!

[Vera]

I agree that STRESS can trigger it off. I am putting my last attack down to seeing a nasty accident when on holiday. I felt the blood drain from my face and I was quite shaky with the shock. My attack began that same night.I also think that highly sensitive people are more prone to it, and people who are very intense.

[Dragonflywings]

I have read so much about stress playing a big part in this, I have only found out I have this for about 5 weeks but my job can and is a lot of the time very stressful so now I have to decide can I do this job and not take on the stress or do I think about making changes to lessen the stress. Its hard to decide when its all so new so I guess I need to see what happens?
Any suggestions