Diverticulitis Causes

These are the same as any other inflammatory bowel condition. Essentially it is a man made injury. Diverticulitis does not just occur naturally, as does diverticulosis, which is a breakdown of the internal bowel tissue – this comes about mainly from aging. Diverticulitis occurs when there has been damage to the mucosal lining that protects the intestinal tissue from digestive acids and food passing by. These then erode the GI wall until there is a “pot hole” deep enough to hit nerve tissue, at which point you feel pain. This can also bring about acute, urgent diarrhea. The only difference between this and IBS, Colitis, and Crohn’s is that with Diverticulitis you will have one or two “pin holes” that go very deep. With the other conditions you will have multiple locations, more like gashes and not necessarily as deep, impacting nerve tissue and blood vessels and occurs in acute episodes not chronically.

What DOES happen in relation to diverticulosis is the “pocket” becomes perforated, essentially an ulcer (ulcerated colitis?) and you will then see blood in the stool. When you see mucus in the stool that is your body’s desperate attempt to block the hole and stop the bleeding. If that is not taken care of properly and you are on some drug thinking you are doing good, the mucus thing will finally give out and now you're at Crohn’s Disease.

The cause of Diverticulitis is the same as any other IBD, because they ARE same thing. The difference is, how long did you wait to get proper care and therefore how much damage was done.

Don’t Ignore the 5 Primary Symptoms of Colitis

The symptoms of Colitis are no fun. They include severe stomach pain and diarrhea to name a few. Colitis is a serious problem that causes the lining of the large intestine to be inflamed and swollen.

The primary cause of colitis is our exposure to synthetic manmade antibiotics which our environment is saturated with whether through prescription oral or topical antibiotics or from our tainted food and water supply and also antibacterial home cleaning products. Antibiotics destroy the mucosal lining of the intestines. Without this lining the health of our colon declines dramatically, since the lining protects the tissue in our gastrointestinal tract.

Once damaged our body’s digestive enzymes start eating and irritating the bowel lining. This is exactly what inflammatory bowel conditions like IBS and Crohn’s are and how we get them.

These are the five most common symptoms of Colitis.

1. Diarrhea: This can range from mild and occasional to frequent with unpredictable urgency. Diarrhea is often triggered by eating and then having to run to the bathroom. Some people have a condition known as IBS-C, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome with constipation. This latter condition is found most commonly in people genetically pre-disposed to constipation. Constipation is caused by the body failing to properly hydrate the stool. This is never caused by something that you are doing wrong. It is who you are and you can perfectly manage it-but you cannot not cure it the way you can with diarrhea.

2. Intestinal and stomach pain: While sometimes this may indicate a stomach bug or food poisoning if it persists it may be from colitis.

3. Bloody stools: That’s a dead giveaway that you have ulcerative colitis.

4. Mucus in stool: This is a dead giveaway that you are headed for Crohn’s Disease.

5. While not a physical symptom, this last one may be the most paralyzing side effect of colitis and any IBD.

6. Paranoia: This is seen in someone who is too afraid to leave home to attend social events, go the mall, go out to eat, or go to a movie. They have lived with this problem for so long that they have become shut-ins. Paranoia is most commonly found in those suffering from more than just IBS. Many have had accidents and even when cured find it difficult to leave the safety of their home for more than a short period of time.

The bottom line is that you don’t have to tolerate this pain, physical and psychological, any longer. Taking drugs isn’t the answer, you have already tried that. Look for alternatives. Do some research. Ask questions. In the meantime, don’t ignore these five primary symptoms of colitis.

Exploring the Train of Pain

You may not realize that the various inflammatory bowel conditions are actually related: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Colitis, Ulcerative Colitis, and Crohn’s. Let’s take a minute and look at these conditions. From the point of view of a naturopathic practitioner each of these issues is really just a progressively worse version of the previous one.

With each of these conditions as time goes by without the proper treatment there is more and more damage being done to the tissue of the GI tract. You can compare this damage to that of first, second, and third degree burns. As the level of a burn gets higher not only is it more painful but also more complicated to treat.

I call this progression ‘the train of pain.’ Each GI issue can be considered a stop along the way. The symptoms accumulate at each ‘stop.’

The 1st stop is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The symptoms here include some pain that is more like cramping, gas, bloating, and diarrhea. These symptoms are barely tolerable and as the train runs down the track do nothing but get worse.

The next stop is Colitis. Now the symptoms of IBS have gotten more pronounced, especially the diarrhea which by now has become urgent and intolerable.

As we keep rumbling down the line the next stop is Ulcerative Colitis. Nobody likes this stop especially those who can’t stand the sight of blood—in their toilet bowel!

Now we find ourselves getting to the end of the line. We are running out of tract—as in the gastrointestinal tract from our digestive acids eroding our colon. Imagine all of the above symptoms ramped up to another level with the addition of mucus in the stool. This is the last stop on the line - Crohn’s. You don’t want to go there.

All of this pain and suffering can be avoided if you jump off that train early by seeking an alternative means of getting where you really want to go—perfect colon health.