Ending the cycle of painful diverticulitis attacks

CHELTENHAM, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Many of us have heard of someone with diverticulitis, but don't know what it really is.

A Montgomery County man shares his long struggles with the digestive problem, and the solution he found.

Sean Northrop could spend hours tending his beehives, but painful attacks of diverticulitis left him drained.

"I wanna sleep. I don't feel like doing any activities. I just wanna recover," after an attack, Sean recalls.

Over time, pouches form in weak spots in the colon lining.

"They're very common. About 60% of people by age 60 have these pockets that we call diverticulosis," says Dr. Holly Greenwald, a Temple Health gastroenterologist.

Dr. Greenwald says bacteria can infect those pockets, causing diverticulitis.

It only happens about 5% of the time, but more often in families like Northrop's.

"My mom's side of the family it's quite prevalent. My grandfather suffered with it. Several of my aunts and uncles have suffered with it," Northrop says.

Smoking, eating a lot of red meat, being overweight, and taking over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen, naproxen, or aspirin are also risk factors.

Northrop's first attacks came in his 40s, getting progressively worse over the last 15 years.

"You get like a very intense pain in your lower abdomen. With me, it was my lower left side," Northrop explains.

He'd end up at the hospital getting antibiotics for the infection.

Temple Health colorectal surgery chief Juan Lucas Poggio says diverticulitis affects the same area over and over.

"More than 90% of the attacks we have in this segment of the colon called the sigmoid," Dr. Poggio notes.

The doctor told Northrop removing that segment could stop the flare-ups.

And with robotics, he could be home in a few days.

"It's amazing how this technology has improved the surgical approach to this disease," the doctor says.

Earlier this year, Northrop decided it was time for surgery

The flare-ups are gone, and his energy is back.

"I can get out and do my gardening, planting trees," Northrop says. As for his bees. "I can do that without feeling worn out."

Dr. Greenwald says people with diverticulitis used to be told to avoid nuts, seeds, popcorn, and such.

But doctors know now that high-fiber foods like those actually cut the chance of future attacks.