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Anyone with abdominal pain had a CT scan and told they had thickening of the small intestine?

My husband has been having severe abdominal pain. CT ruled out kidney stone, masses, blocked bowel, but the report says there are two loops of small intestine that are thickened. The doctor put him on antibiotics for inflammation, and we go back in 2 weeks, but I am worried about this being something serious.

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    This sounds like diverticulosis. The area you described is the most common for diverticulosis - particularly the sigmoid colon. The muscular wall of the colon grows thicker with age. A diet low in fiber can lead to small, hard stools (poop) which are difficult to pass. Thickening of the colon wall may result from increasing pressures required by the colon to eliminate stool. Over time, strong contractions of the colon push the inner intestinal lining outward through gaps in the muscle walls, forming diverticula.

    Most patients with diverticulosis have few or no symptoms. The diverticulosis condition may be diagnosed incidentally during testing for other colon problems. The most common symptoms include abdominal cramping, constipation, diarrhea and bloating. These symptoms are related to difficulty of passing the stool along the left colon narrowed by diverticular disease.Antibiotics should help the immediate problem but your husband will need to do something for the long term. If you are the shopper & cook in the household, it will fall to you to purchase & prepare foods that are high in fiber. Change your drinking habits as well - switch to water. Doctors are not good - terrible in fact - when it comes to teaching patients how to eat based on the diagnosis. If you do not receive detailed dietary info on how to prevent further problems,ask for a referral to a registered dietician. You can also Google diverticulosis- you will find a wealth of very good information. Good luck to you. Thanks for the great question.

    Source(s): Decades of nursing
  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    the reason a CT was done is to better view the intestine to see if it has a blockage. Sometimes a blockage will extend beyond the area. If the Dr sees a huge blockage, other tests will ensue, but no, the abdominal CT was the right to do. I wish you the best.

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