Diverticulitis

Excerpts from the entry on Diverticulitis in Relieving Pain Naturally by Dr. Sylvia Goldfarb and Roberta W. Waddell. For full entries on all 37 conditions and 27 treatments, order the book.

Diverticulitis is an inflammation of the diverticula, small sac-like herniations of the colon's lining. Approximately 20 to 50 percent of Americans over fifty have small hernias in the bowel wall, and this condition, known as diverticulosis, becomes diverticultis when the hernias are inflamed. Most diverticular disease is benign, but a proper diagnosis is important to rule out bowel cancer or inflammatory bowel disease. It is important to treat the condition because, untreated, it can lead to abscesses, fistulas, or a rupture of the diverticula into the peritoneal cavity, which could lead to peritonitis if feces were to leak into this cavity from the colon.

Also in this entry:

• Symptoms
• Causes
• Diagnosing the Problem
• Conventional Treatments
• Problems with Some Conventional Treatments
• Self-Help Alternative Treatments
• Assisted Alternative Treatments
• Practical Suggestions

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