Living with Diverticulitis
In May 2024, we rushed my husband Chris to the emergency room to discover he’d had a diverticula rupture. Diverticuli are outpouchings that form in the lining of the intestine. It’s really common in the Western world and is even heredetary (that means, if your grandparents or parents had diverticuli, you might have them too).
First, let’s go over some definitions
Diverticula (plural - diverticuli) are outpouchings that form in the lining of the intestine. The intestine in it’s original formed state has a smooth lining, allowing for digested food to pass through and nutrients to be absorbed by our body
Diverticulitis is an infection of the diverticuli. One can have diverticuli and never have diverticulitis.
Diverticulosis is the name of the condition you have if you have diverticuli but they’re not infected
Chris had a long stay in the hospital, about a month. His body went septic (there was infection in his blood) and it was a really scary time for our family. One of the most challenging things about us navigating this (other than our fear of losing Chris) was that we eat a pretty clean whole foods diet so we were stunned that this condition had developed so severely. We didn’t even know he had diverticulosis before this attack.
So, after Chris left the hospital, we set on a journey to repair his gut and rehabilitate his digestion. In spite of having a great surgeon, we didn’t have much support from his doctors (including a gastrointerologist) about how to embark on this new life with diverticulosis. So, I called on friends who had dealt with similar circumstances before, I dove down into my notes on digestion & healing the gut, and I consulted the library and the internet…
At first, I thought he should go on an elimination diet, but that felt hard. We ended up following how his body reacted when he ate different foods and we discovered a pattern… the foods that exacerbated his symptoms were typically high in FODMAPs!
So, what are FODMAPs, or what is a low FODMAP diet? FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. When your body doesn’t tolerate FODMAP foods well, they become more fermented in your digestive tract before they become fully digested. Circling back to diverticulitis — this condition occurs when foods become caught in the outpouchings and they ferment, eventually becoming infected. It’s hard for our bodies to clean out these outpouchings (especially if you don’t have a lot of fiber in your diet, hello Standard American Diet AKA SAD!) and hence the infection occurs.
Chris has found great relief eating a diet low in FODMAP foods. His body feels better, he’s lost a ton of weight, and at his most recent scan (about 16 months after his final digestive repair surgery), no diverticula were detected in his intestines!!! YAY!
Here’s a table of low and high FODMAP foods we have been referencing at our house. If you are having some digestive upset and symptoms such as gas, bloating, IBS, and indigestion, trying a low FODMAP diet might be a great place to begin.
Gastrointestinal Associates of San Antonio - Low FODMAP Diet - FODMAP Foods
