Tom's Story: Diverticulitis
Hi, my name is Tom and I am 72 years old. I have had three separate bouts of diverticulitis over a 15 year period. The first in 2005 was resolved after a regimen of antibiotics for 10 days but was serious enough to keep me in bed for several days. The second was in 2017 and was more difficult to treat as the first round of antibiotics were ineffective and a second round was ordered by my doctor. At this point, I started asking more questions about why I was having this problem and how I could treat it. My doctor said there were no definitive answers but it was thought that the western diet, which is often low on fiber, might be the cause.
He also said there was no treatment other than antibiotics or surgery if the case was severe enough. My most recent bout was in February of this year and I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with diverticulitis and c-diff, an infection I got from being hospitalized!
After five days of intravenous antibiotics and pain medication, I was sent home with another regimen of antibiotics lasting 14 more days. It was recommended that I see a surgeon at that point and he recommended colorectal surgery, which is the surgical removal of the infected section of the sigmoid colon.
This meant three more days in hospital, more antibiotics and several weeks of recovery time and that is if all went well during the procedure! I felt that I had little choice until a friend of mine recommended that I contact Russell Mariani.
My friend had had some issues with IBS and worked with Russell successfully to resolve them. I went to his website and saw that I could have a free initial conversation by phone. In our first phone conversation which lasted roughly 30 minutes, Russell explained why this disease happens and how to remedy the situation with full healing of the infected section and improved health overall.
It all made sense to me and from that point on, I’ve been on a journey to improve how I take care of myself. It begins with what foods I put into my body along with a continuation of learning how important gut health is to our overall well-being.
It has been six months since I started my program and I have had no symptoms of, or a recurrence of diverticulitis. My energy has almost fully returned and I am excited about moving forward in my life with a healthy gut! Thank you, Russell!
Tom Tracy, age 72
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
August 2020