How to Tell if Diverticulitis is Resolving

Diverticulitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease. Your digestive tract contains little pouches called diverticula, which can become inflamed and infected. The state of infection and inflammation is called diverticulitis, a condition that can be chronic in some people, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms will abate when diverticulitis is resolving itself through medical treatment.

Things You'll Need

• Thermometer
• Imaging tests

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Instructions

• 1

  Assess your bowel habits to tell if your diverticulitis is resolving. Treatment for diverticulitis may include staying on a liquid diet and slowly adding fiber-rich foods back into your meals. If you no longer feel constipated or nauseated after following a diverticulitis-friendly way of eating, or if your bouts of diarrhea have passed, your digestive tract is most likely healing.

• 2

  Realize that you are on the mend when your stomach pain recedes. The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC) explains that a primary symptom of this inflammatory bowel disease is pain in the lower left quadrant of your abdomen. Over the course of treatment, which includes antibiotics and pain medication as well as a modified diet, your pain will decrease and disappear as your diverticula heal.

• 3

  Take your temperature as a way to tell if your diverticulitis is resolving itself. Some people experience infection as well as inflammation of the diverticula, and suffer from fevers as well as stomach pain and a change in bowel habits. Your fever will break as your health is restored through the use of antibiotics.

• 4

  Undergo testing to determine the state of your health. Ultrasound and CT scans of your digestive tract are used to diagnose diverticulitis, but may also be used to check the status of abscesses and fistulas that may have developed as a result of your inflammation.