If you are having a flare-up, your doctor may put you on a low-fiber or clear liquid diet for a time to give your digestive system a chance to rest and heal. Some low-fiber foods to consider during a flare-up include: White bread, white rice or white pasta. Processed fruit like applesauce or canned peaches.
The most common symptom of diverticular disease is intermittent (stop-start) pain in your lower abdomen (stomach), usually in the lower left-hand side. The pain is often worse when you are eating, or shortly afterwards. Passing stools and breaking wind (flatulence) may help relieve the pain.
If a diverticulitis flare-up is severe or requires surgery, your doctor may recommend a clear liquid diet. “After a day or two, you progress from clear liquids to a low-fiber diet,” says Taylor. “Even if your pain does not subside, you still move toward regular food.
Not eating enough fibre is thought to be linked to developing diverticular disease and diverticulitis. Fibre helps to make your stools softer and larger so they put less pressure on the walls of your intestines.
Diet and diverticulitis
During an episode of acute diverticulitis, your appetite may be poor. It is also recommended to avoid foods which are poorly digested or high in fibre, such as onions, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetable skins, wholegrain cereals etc. Try to stick to plain foods which do not irritate your bowel.
Takeaway. A clear liquid fast for two or three days is recommended for treating acute diverticulitis. Research is lacking for the regular use of intermittent fasting to prevent flares of diverticular disease, but intermittent fasting is effective for underlying risk factors such as obesity and diabetes.
Stay with liquids or a bland diet (plain rice, bananas, dry toast or crackers, applesauce) until you are feeling better.
Summary. Using a heating pad, taking Tylenol (acetaminophen), and resting are all strategies you can employ at home to soothe diverticulitis pain fast—or at least faster. Home remedies used for diverticulitis are more often used to improve symptoms over some time and prevent future attacks.
Diverticulitis Recovery Time
This can take as long as two weeks. But, you'll begin to feel better in as short as 24-hours. If you experience any complications or must receive surgery, your recovery time will take longer. After surgery, you'll be able to return to normal activities within one to two weeks.
In about 95 out of 100 people, uncomplicated diverticulitis goes away on its own within a week. In about 5 out of 100 people, the symptoms stay and treatment is needed. Surgery is only rarely necessary.
Recovering from a flare-up of diverticulitis could take as long as two weeks. 1 The first few days of recovering from uncomplicated diverticulitis at home will include following a liquid diet, resting, and using recommended medications for pain relief.
In the past, doctors had recommended that people with diverticular disease (diverticulosis or diverticulitis) avoid hard-to-digest foods such as nuts, corn, popcorn, and seeds, for fear that these foods would get stuck in the diverticula and lead to inflammation.
This occurs when diverticula (pouches) become inflamed and infected causing significant lower abdominal pain. It is thought an infection develops when a hard piece of stool or undigested food gets trapped in one of the pouches. This gives bacteria in the stool the chance to multiply and spread, triggering an infection.
Eggs contain protein that can be easily digested, and it will not irritate your digestive tract. Therefore, scrambled eggs can be taken during diverticulitis.
Fresh fruits, like apples, have the most fiber when eaten with the skin. 13 However, if you're having symptoms of diverticulitis, look for lower-fiber options, like applesauce. Bananas are another good source of fruit fiber.
“Eggs are a great source of protein, and they're easily digested,” Dr. Nazarian says. And they won't irritate your diverticula.
Actually, no specific foods are known to trigger diverticulitis attacks. And no special diet has been proved to prevent attacks. In the past, people with small pouches (diverticula) in the lining of the colon were told to avoid nuts, seeds and popcorn.
Consume a liquid diet or low-fiber diet until your flare-up improves. Rest as needed. Sometimes, doctors recommend surgery for people with more serious flare-ups or recurrent diverticulitis. Surgical removal of the affected portion of the colon (and the infected or inflamed diverticula) should resolve the problem.
For decades, doctors recommended that people with diverticulitis avoid eating foods such as rice, corn, nuts, seeds, popcorn, beans and most raw fruits and vegetable skins because they believed the tiny particles from these foods may get lodged in the pouches and lead to an infection.
Symptoms of diverticulitis are more severe and often start suddenly, but they may become worse over a few days. They include: Tenderness, usually in the left lower part of the abdomen.
If your diet is currently low in fibre then it is advisable to increase fibre gradually; aim to introduce 1-2 new high fibre foods per week. It is recommended that adults aim for 30g of fibre a day. Foods High in Fibre: Weetabix®, Bran flakes, All Bran, Fruit & Fibre, porridge, muesli, Shredded Wheat.
Plus, probiotics have anti-inflammatory effects, which may help to ease inflammation from diverticulitis. Probiotics are available in supplement form, but they can also be found in certain foods, such as yogurt, kombucha, and fermented vegetables.