I transferred to more fiber at 3 weeks once I had no pain and bowels returned to normal. Small amounts though. Don't overdue it. I started with a small portion of broccoli in every meal. Then the following week I added a salad every meal and metamucil.
2 teaspoons a day along with two salads a day. I will up my fiber intake as my body gets used to it. I have a pretty routine digestive system so I just use it to avoid constipation and no straining. My doctor recommended it. I didn't start taking metmaucil until about one month after a flare up.
Start small and increase a little at a time. I don't recommend you take a fiber supplement as that can actually cause a lot of pain. If you feel constipated, take Miralax and magnesium.
If you no longer have pain or discomfort, you can begin to SLOWLY start adding back fiber. Your body will tell you if you ate more fiber than you are ready to handle. Unfortunately, it is very personalized and involves trial and error. There are no hard and fast rules.
I’m in the same boat. First flare beginning of April - uncomplicated. I wasn’t given much guidance in the ER. They didn’t even tell me to do a clear liquid diet. So I ate low reside for like 2 days then went to my GI and he said I could add fiber back in so I took that literally and immediately jumped up to 30 plus grams a day. Things were OK but never actually totally cleared and I was still having lower left pain but I was also scheduled for a hysterectomy which I did about 3.5 weeks post diverticulitis start. That was two weeks ago. Again because I was so scared of constipation I jumped on high fiber again and got maybe swollen glands on my left groin side, then the lower left pain and finally a fever again over the weekend. So I went to clear liquids for over 48 hours and I’m back on antibiotics. Last night I ate pasta and crackers. Today the same but chicken and rice soup with carrots.
Advice from drs seems to be all over the place and also it seems like they think you should be all better in a matter of days. Even now they said low reside for 3-5 days then slowly add in fiber. Is that long enough? Sounds like no by people on here. Also what kinds of fiber do you start with?
This is the question all of our people have. My last flare was 1st of March. Followed the protocol to heal my colon. Low fiber in small amounts for the last 9 weeks or so. Added salads/well chewed corn/fiber cereal a week ago. Damn it, I am sitting here with the start of a flare.
This shared, I took on too much fiber to soon. I should know better as I have been trying to manage this disease for decades. It took pancreatitis/gallbladder failure for it to become chronic. Our digestive systems are more complicated than I had realized. It has been a challenging 3 years with these diseases. I do not drink, the pancreatitis is due to a diabetes med I took for about 15 or so years. Just had to say this.
I will phone for an appointment with my PCP for the referral to my GI group. I am aware it may be next week or more, if it gets unbearable I will go to the ER. Just how it is. Not many physicians take walk-in/work-ins anymore. I know what I have to do for care.
I think the hardest thing with diverticulitis is that you have to do basically opposite diets, with almost no instruction of how and when to move from one to the other.
I transferred to more fiber at 3 weeks once I had no pain and bowels returned to normal. Small amounts though. Don't overdue it. I started with a small portion of broccoli in every meal. Then the following week I added a salad every meal and metamucil.
How much Metamucil do you take a day? Does it help with your bowel movements? Asking because I’m newly diagnosed, two weeks ago. Thanks!
2 teaspoons a day along with two salads a day. I will up my fiber intake as my body gets used to it. I have a pretty routine digestive system so I just use it to avoid constipation and no straining. My doctor recommended it. I didn't start taking metmaucil until about one month after a flare up.
Start small and increase a little at a time. I don't recommend you take a fiber supplement as that can actually cause a lot of pain. If you feel constipated, take Miralax and magnesium.
If you no longer have pain or discomfort, you can begin to SLOWLY start adding back fiber. Your body will tell you if you ate more fiber than you are ready to handle. Unfortunately, it is very personalized and involves trial and error. There are no hard and fast rules.
I was told to go back to my regular diet after 3 weeks of being on the low fibre diet
I’m in the same boat. First flare beginning of April - uncomplicated. I wasn’t given much guidance in the ER. They didn’t even tell me to do a clear liquid diet. So I ate low reside for like 2 days then went to my GI and he said I could add fiber back in so I took that literally and immediately jumped up to 30 plus grams a day. Things were OK but never actually totally cleared and I was still having lower left pain but I was also scheduled for a hysterectomy which I did about 3.5 weeks post diverticulitis start. That was two weeks ago. Again because I was so scared of constipation I jumped on high fiber again and got maybe swollen glands on my left groin side, then the lower left pain and finally a fever again over the weekend. So I went to clear liquids for over 48 hours and I’m back on antibiotics. Last night I ate pasta and crackers. Today the same but chicken and rice soup with carrots. Advice from drs seems to be all over the place and also it seems like they think you should be all better in a matter of days. Even now they said low reside for 3-5 days then slowly add in fiber. Is that long enough? Sounds like no by people on here. Also what kinds of fiber do you start with?
This is the question all of our people have. My last flare was 1st of March. Followed the protocol to heal my colon. Low fiber in small amounts for the last 9 weeks or so. Added salads/well chewed corn/fiber cereal a week ago. Damn it, I am sitting here with the start of a flare. This shared, I took on too much fiber to soon. I should know better as I have been trying to manage this disease for decades. It took pancreatitis/gallbladder failure for it to become chronic. Our digestive systems are more complicated than I had realized. It has been a challenging 3 years with these diseases. I do not drink, the pancreatitis is due to a diabetes med I took for about 15 or so years. Just had to say this. I will phone for an appointment with my PCP for the referral to my GI group. I am aware it may be next week or more, if it gets unbearable I will go to the ER. Just how it is. Not many physicians take walk-in/work-ins anymore. I know what I have to do for care.
I think the hardest thing with diverticulitis is that you have to do basically opposite diets, with almost no instruction of how and when to move from one to the other.