Can IMRT for PCa be a cause of diverticulitis?

A couple days ago I started getting a sharp pain in lower left abdomen. My doc says it's diverticulitis. I've read that it can be caused by straining to have a BM but I've also read that IMRT can be a cause. I finished my IMRT last July as shown below in my signature. I've had constipation off and on ever since. I eat a high fiber diet and use stool softeners. You think its time to see a GI doc for a colonoscopy? My last one was early 2012 and was clear, but since then a lot has happened as you can read below. Anyone else have this problem?
Thanks

Bob

Andrew
Thanks. I lost 30 pounds over last two months (on purpose after gaining weight with ADT) and wondered if that was the cause. It would be unusual to get constipation I think because I ate high fiber foods and stopped all "bad" carbs. So I'm thinking that imrt may be a factor but I don't see any reference in the literature to constipation as an SE of imrt.
After 3 days on antibiotics I'm not experiencing pain any more and I finally had a good albeit loose BM and diarrhea last night after taking Phillips milk of magnesia.
I definitely will talk to my radonco and hopefully he'll agree that it's time to have a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy to check out my GI tract.
Bob

Post Edited (Break60) : 4/26/2015 12:09:25 PM (GMT-6)

It's very rare but radiation from treatment for prostate cancer should not provide much radiation to upper GI or large intestine where diverticulitis can occur. But in one publication I read they said that radiation can cause "perforation and abscess formation resembling an acute diverticulitis."

Andrew has the right advice. A colonoscopy is warranted.

It's been about four years since my salvage radiation and the only thing I'm fairly sure I got out of it was a case of radiation proctitis at about the one year mark. Even ended up with bloody drawers one time. That lasted for a few months and, except for occasional lapses, it's been clear sailing.

I had a CRT scan yesterday while they tried to figure out why I had blood in my urine and learned from that that I've a bit of diverticulitis. Well, my mother has it and, as near as I can tell, she's never had IMRT. I'll lay the problem (if it ever becomes one) on her genes more than the radiation.

I've been hesitant about a colonoscopy since I've read that radiation makes the risk of damage while they look around a bit higher. I imagine my wife will eventually cajole me into it.