A diverticulitis flare up is an episode in which a person experiences active symptoms of diverticulitis. Diverticulitis is a condition marked by inflammation or infection of pouches, referred to in medical terms as diverticula, that form in the digestive system. When symptoms of the infection and inflammation are evident, a person is said to have a flare up. There are many symptoms that may mark a flare up of this condition. Among the most common, however, are those such as pain in the abdominal region, fever, difficulty urinating, stomach upset, and changes in bowel habits; a person with this condition may also suffer from bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract.
One of the common signs of a diverticulitis flare up is pain in the abdominal region. A person who has a flare up of symptoms may notice pain that comes on suddenly on the lower-left section of his abdomen. Along with this pain, he may experience tenderness when his abdomen is touched. The sudden onset of pain that accompanies a flare up is very common, but some people do have pain that starts off gradually and increases in intensity over a course of days.
An individual may also experience nausea and vomiting when he is having a diverticulitis flare up. These symptoms may or may not occur in conjunction with constipation and diarrhea. It is important to note that a severe case of nausea and vomiting during flare up may be a sign of a complication of the condition. For example, severe stomach upset symptoms may occur when an individual has an obstruction of the bowel.
Fever may also develop during a diverticulitis flare up. Typically, high body temperatures present during the flare up develop as a result of infection in the pouches that have formed in the digestive tract. If the fever is high, this may be a sign of a serious infection that may require the patient to be hospitalized.
When a person has a diverticulitis flare up, he may also develop problems that are related to urination. For example, a person with this condition may have to urinate more frequently than usual during a symptom flare up. Sometimes, urination may even be accompanied by pain. It is worth noting, however, that urinary symptoms do not develop in all diverticulitis patients.
A flare up of diverticulitis may also be accompanied by bleeding in the digestive tract. This may happen when a blood vessel in one of the inflamed or infected pouches bursts. In many cases, the bleeding caused by a burst blood vessel goes away on its own. If it does not, doctors may perform a colonoscopy to find the source of the bleeding and put a stop to it.
