Frustrated and worried

Hello all,

I am confused and need advice from anyone that has gone through what I am currently going through. I recently went to the ER for insane lower left sided pain that a CT showed I had diverticulitis on November 19. I was put on morphine which helped with the pain and antibiotics via IV for half a day and was sent home due to a slightly elevated white blood count. I was prescribed 10 days of Cipro/flagyl that did not stop the swelling in my lower left side and instead of feeling better I became severely constipated and had to call my GI for more antibiotics when this round ended. I am now on Amoxicillin 875mg twice daily and am almost done this Saturday but feel the same swelling on my lower left side as when this all started.

I am on a liquid diet since last Saturday and drink plenty of fluids, including 2 shots of mirralax a day to keep my bowels moving. I feel mid back and upper stomach pain now when I sit up too long and lower left sided pain when I sit for too long. I get painful dings in my left buttuck. I feel like I have a big donut wrapped around my waist due to all of the bloating. I have this swollen like vein but not vein on my lower left side that is a visible bulge which I believe is my sigmoid colon. I have not had Diverticulitis before and this is all new to me. I tried telling my GI about my symptoms when they first began but she brushed them off. This was in September when they found I had inflammation in my colon and rectum. I have never had these problems with my Crohn's as it has always been inflamed on my right side.

Now I am in limbo and scared because all the rounds of antibiotics are not working and I feel that something worse is going on in there. I have a checkup with my new GI on the 15th but am freaking out about waiting anymore. Any tips one what I should do would greatly help.

Hello JaSanne,

Thank you for the kind words. I went to the ER yesterday due to excruciating left sided, at times right sided, upper stomach and lower back pain. It hurt so badly that I couldn't stop panting or spontaneously crying. After five hours of waiting for a CT the ER doctor said my diverticulitis had healed but I was in a crohns flare presenting in my lower front abdomen and my left side. He was in my room for less than a minute and did not really go into much detail. He acted like I should know about this new inflammation and was zero help.
I am now on 20mg of prednisone once a day for 5 days and see my GI on Tuesday to go over all of this. I still cannot sit down for more than a few minutes and just feel horrible. I have never had crohns this severe even when I had a stricture and needed an NG tube for a few days in the hospital.
Some say once a person gets diverticulitis if you are immune deficient doctors push for a resection? Is this true?

Hello JAB,

I am sorry it took me so long to respond. I was misdiagnosed with Diverticulitis and just found out a few days ago after my colonoscopy that instead I have a total of 3 healed fistulas one on each side of my colon and one up top. My GI removed a polyp somewhere in there and I am waiting on the test results from that. I was out of it so do not recall much of the conversation. I have an MRI with/without contrast coming up so that my gastro can find out where they are attached. I have chronic pain from the areas where my fistulas are and will see what the MRI shows. I am seriously "bummed" don't mind my pun about all of this.

Post Edited (Libra1979) : 1/24/2016 9:43:58 PM (GMT-7)