My turn for the e.r.

[Silver Gaia]

25. They say I have diverticulosis,

which is the little pouches that form on the colon. They can get inflamed and cause diverticulitis. They thought my abdominal pain was diverticulitis, but the bland diet didn't help, and to me, where I felt the pain was not consistent with diverticulitis.

One of the CT scans showed fibroids in my uterus, and that is where I hurt. I finally got a doctor to LISTEN TO ME, and he sent me to a gynecologist. In the meantime, I ended up in ER again where they ran tons of tests and did all sorts of examinations. As it turned out, I needed a hysterectomy ASAP. And I am now doing chemo.

So, I'm just saying be careful and stick up for yourself if you ever feel the diagnosis is off. They aren't infallible. As it is, my correct diagnosis was delayed by a few weeks, but if I hadn't been insistent that I still didn't feel well and thought it was not diverticulitis, it could have been a lot worse.

I don't say this because I think you've been misdiagnosed. Your story just sparked this reaction from me, so I shared my cautionary tale.

And BTW, from the research I did, the main reason potato chips are forbidden during a diverticulitis flare-up is because they are rough with sharp edges. The little pieces we usually swallow can easily get lodged in the diverticula (pouches) and cause inflammation. If we chewed them to mush, we could probably get away with eating a few chips, but who wants to do that? Yuck. So they tell us not to eat them. Anything you eat during diverticulitis must either be smooth to begin with, or chewed until it's smooth. Maybe others here will have additional or different advice, but that's what I was told.

I am sorry you have this, and wish you a speedy recovery!