August 11th, 2011
Diet sheets, recipes and menus are frequently requested by people newly diagnosed with DD but there is great variation in which foods help or cause problems for different people. A strict diet is not needed other than one which has plenty of variety and fluids, and conforms to the healthy diet currently recommended for everyone. Anything which is found to cause problems should be avoided, or reduced in amount or frequency but not to the extent that diet becomes restricted. People have different tastes and food should be enjoyed.
AFRICAN DIETS
DD patients, new and old, will find that many resources recommend a diet high in fibre, some to the extent that fibre needs to be doubled in quantity with the aid of wheat bran. The fibre and bran treatment for DD started about 1970 when some doctors working in Uganda (1) found no cases of DD and attributed this to the large amount of fibre in the diet. As Mr Hutchinson described in the last Incontact magazine, too much fibre can have its own adverse effects (very high incidence of sigmoid volvulus). Was this evidence from Uganda sufficient to conclude that a low fibre diet was the cause of DD and increasing dietary fibre, and bran in particular, would both prevent and treat DD? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bran, Constipation, Diarrhoea, Diet, epidemiology, Fibre
Posted in Diet and Fibre | Comments Off on A look at the fibre theory
July 7th, 2011
Rifaximin is a synthetic antibiotic, a modification of rifamycin which was originally produced by the microbe Streptomyces mediterranei. Rifaximin should not be confused with rifampicin which is used under brand names and in combined treatments particularly for Tuberculosis infections.
Rifaximin passes through the digestive system virtually unabsorbed and unchanged so retaining its antimicrobial activity and concentration level inside the colon. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: antibiotics, Drugs
Posted in Treatments | Comments Off on RIFAXIMIN – a potential treatment for diverticular disease
February 6th, 2011
THE APPENDIX
A report in 2007 by doctors at Duke University USA (1) proposed that the appendix functioned as a safe house for beneficial bacteria in the human gut. Rather than assessing the significance of this proposal for human biology, news agencies and internet sites seemed more concerned with the creation v evolution argument. The appendix had previously thought to be a relic of evolution even though its structure suggested otherwise.
The authors were unaware that I had come to the same conclusion in 1999 (2). Their literature search had not picked this up. Their proposal was based on observations of bacteria and immune system activity in the film of mucus lining the appendix and colon. My conclusion followed the realisation of why there was a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in the colon Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Appendix, Bacteria, Fringe therapy, Microbiome, Probiotics
Posted in Related Topics, What Might Help | Comments Off on The colon’s little helpers
January 12th, 2011
Nearly every review of diverticular disease (DD) and some research papers begin with statistics about how many people have DD at different ages. Figures regularly quoted for Western countries are 5% of the population by the age of 40, 25% by the age of 60 and 65% at 85 years. Variations are also described such as 50% of the population over 60 years, or 1/3 to 1/2 of the population will get the disease. In England and Wales this works out at over 5 million people which would rise with the aging population.
Trying to find the sources of these figures Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Diagnosis, Hospitals, Statistics, Symptoms
Posted in Diverticular disease information | Comments Off on How many people have diverticular disease and symptoms
December 6th, 2010
The impact of diverticular disease (DD) in the hospital situation was discussed in the Winter 2006/2007 issue of the magazine. This area is well researched to update and optimise the diagnosis of DD and the expert treatment of complications on an individual basis. This research also shows that DD is an increasing burden on hospitals in terms of number of admissions and costs. Better management in the community is critical in reducing this burden. Prevention of complications of DD would benefit both NHS budgets and patients. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Drugs, Statistics, Symptoms, Treatment
Posted in Treatments | Comments Off on Diverticular Disease in Healthcare Systems, part 2, community
December 6th, 2010
Diverticular disease (DD) is not the sort of complaint where a distinct diagnosis is obvious without investigation. Nor is there a well established treatment regime which prevents or slows down a foreseeable progression. DD is not predictable in its effects, it may or may not progress and there is no treatment which is universally successful. The place of DD in the healthcare system is not clear-cut. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Diagnosis, Hospitals, Symptoms, Treatment
Posted in Treatments | Comments Off on Diverticular Disease in Healthcare Systems, part 1 hospitals
October 28th, 2010
Seasoned British travellers are well aware that 30 to 50 % of their visits to developing countries and popular holiday areas are estimated to result in traveller’s diarrhoea. Known as Montezumas revenge, delhybelly etc, the episodes usually last no more than 2 or 3 days but can extend to weeks or months of illness. People from the UK have a higher incidence of diarrhoea than those travelling from other industrial nations. Toxin – producing strains of E. coli are the most common cause, contaminated food and water pass them into the gut and diarrhoea is the body’s response to get rid of the invading organism. Adults in areas of poor sanitation and hygiene develop resistance to such organisms, having survived their effects in childhood. This resistance persists on moving to another developing country. A study of expatriates in Nepal found that the incidence of diarrhoea began to fall after 3 months residence. (1) The body reacts to unfamiliar bacteria as well as those causing infection. Traveller’s diarrhoea can have a long term effect on the bowel (2) and may account for 1 in 10 cases of IBS. (3) The pockets in the colon with DD are an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, can traveller’s diarrhoea cause diverticulitis? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Diarrhoea, Symptoms, Water supply
Posted in What Might Help | Comments Off on The water we drink
September 14th, 2010
In his article ‘How what happens homes in on your gut’ (Gut Reaction Issue 65) Prof Read describes how illnesses tend to overlap. People with IBS are also 60% more likely to have migraine and depression (1) as well as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and functional dyspepsia which were mentioned. A link has also been demonstrated between IBS and overactive bladder (2).
A common thread through these ‘unexplained illnesses’ is the role of serotonin, also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5HT. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: IBS, Migraine, Serotonin(5HT)
Posted in Associated illnesses | Comments Off on Overlapping illnesses
September 14th, 2010
MIGRAINE AND GUT MALFUNCTION
“What has migraine got to do with diverticular disease?”
That was the occasional response when DD sufferers were asked in a survey if they or any blood relative have/did have migraine. However, 42% of females and 29% of males had migraine themselves or a blood relative did. Some noted that they ‘used to have’ migraine. These figures are far higher than the 10% or so incidence of migraine expected at retirement ages. A survey of migraine sufferers in Ireland found that 51% had also been diagnosed with IBS. A survey of people with IBS found a 60% greater prevalence of migraine than in non-IBS controls (1). There was a frequent association between headache, including migraine, and gastrointestinal symptoms (acid reflux, diarrhoea, constipation and nausea) in a Norwegian report (2).
Patients who did not respond to a high fibre diet, who had a single, intermittent abdominal pain were investigated in Leeds (3). Symptoms and family history suggested that 49% of them might have abdominal migraine and 32% of these had typical migraine symptoms during the attack. Mulak (4) noted that migraine and IBS often coexist. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Constipation, Diarrhoea, IBS, Migraine, Pain, Serotonin(5HT), Symptoms
Posted in Associated illnesses, What Might Help | Comments Off on Migraine, the gut and diverticular disease
September 9th, 2010
In 2001, 230 members of a previous organisation for DD sufferers (NADD) completed a questionnaire about their symptoms. The results are shown in Table 1. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bowel gas, Pain, Soluble fibre, Symptoms, Treatment
Posted in Symptoms and Problems | Comments Off on Pain with diverticular disease
