Causes and Symptoms of Diverticulitis
December 15, 2009
Diverticulitis
Diverticulitis is an inflammation of the diverticulum, which is a pouch like protuberance from the colon. The chances for getting diverticular disease increases with age and is more common in people above 60 years old while it is also reported in people above 40 years also.
Causes for Diverticulitis
Large intestine in human body is a tubular structure that holds and eliminates the waste material from the body. The pressure inside the large intestine causes bulges through the weak spots in the intestine. Each of these bulges leads to the formation of pouches and each pouch is called diverticulum. Numerous pouches are called diverticula and state of having diverticula is named as diverticulosis. Diverticulais mostly seen towards the end of the colon called sigmoid colon.
Many people may have diverticula and most of them have no symptoms or only a few symptoms. When the diverticula rupture it becomes infected and this condition is called diverticulitis. A diet that lack fibers increases the risks for getting this disease as low fiber diet leads to the formation of hard stools that are difficult to pass. This increases the pressure inside the colon and this in turn bulges the inner lining of the intestine outwards through the weak points.
Symptoms of Diverticulitis
The commonly noticed symptoms are abdominal pain, fever and tenderness in abdomen. Sometimes bleeding is also noticed. Abdominal cramps, constipation, diarrhea and the infection in colon may leads to obstruction in colon also. Sometimes the infected diverticulum is surrounded by pus and thus leads to the formation of abscess in the pelvic region. Nausea, vomiting, chills, weight loss etc. are other symptoms. In some extreme cases the infection may spread from diverticulum to urinary bladder and cause urinary infection.
This may also cause gas passage while urinating. In some instance the divericulum burst open in to abdominal cavity and hence develop peritonitis. The stool may sometimes associated with blood and the hence there may be a red, brown or black color for the stool and sometimes there may exists stool. If the bleeding is severe then the diverticulum is need to be removed surgically.
Take a diet that is rich in fibers to avoid diverticulitis.
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