Question:
DIVERTICULOSIS / IBS

9 MO Postop and I was diagnosis with diverticulosis but before surgery I didn't have a problem? I was wondering how many more have been diagnosis with this condition and what and how do you handle it? Gas is with me daily and how many gas-x can you eat, milk magnesia can be taken, I was just wondering how many more WLS supporter are going though the same thing as me. If I follow the guideline to IBS I come out as a normal person. email me for I would just like to know how many of us out in the WLS world.    — TR042108 (posted on December 23, 2008)

December 24, 2008
Hello Tony --- diverticulosis is usually diagnosed in African-American women over 45. My Mother was diagnosed with it about 15 years ago and her physician told her that her daughters need to have a colon exam every year after our 45th birthday. I'd already had several; however, it's prevalent in African-American women -- now something else we have to contend with. Gas -- yep --still have it and I've noticed I get it when I eat too many carbs -- breads, potatoes -- things of that nature. My partner had WLS about 5 years ago and this is funny -- she gets gas if she DOESN'T eat. You might want to consider taking enzyme pills prior to eating -- it helps to break up the food and digest it better. I take them -- but mostly after I eat -- before/after it doesn't matter. After surgery, patients have discovered other illnesses that may well have been hidden due to the weight. In Feb of this year my OB/GYN found fibroids -- they were small though and I was a year out of WLS. She said they were probably always there but weren't detectable due to the weight. Well fast forward to Oct. 2008 -- the fibroids had grown to the size of my fist -- Nov. 2008 --partial hysterectomy -- she took the uterus and fibroids and removed a cyst from my ovaries. So some people have discovered other medical issues after WLS and they have been various.
   — the7thdean