Appendicitis is inflammation of a part of the intestine called an appendix, located in the lower right part of the abdomen. Thus, the most typical sign of appendicitis is the appearance of severe and severe pain, which can also be accompanied by lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting and fever.
Inflammation of the appendix usually occurs due to the accumulation of stool and bacteria inside the appendix and can therefore occur at any time in life. However, specific causes are not yet fully understood.
- To treat this problem.
- The appendix should be removed as soon as possible by a surgical procedure indicated by your doctor.
- In order to avoid more serious complications such as rupture of the appendix.
- Which can lead to a widespread infection.
- Therefore.
- If appendicitis is suspected.
- It is very important to go to the hospital immediately for testing and confirmation of diagnosis.
If you think you have appendicitis, select your symptoms from the list of the most common signs and find out what your odds are:
These symptoms are more common in children and adolescents, but acute appendicitis can occur at any age.
In addition, when the pain is very low but lasts more than a month, it is considered chronic appendicitis and is more common from the age of 40, presenting slowly. This pain may even decrease with the use of painkillers and anti-inflammatory pains, but it always recurs in the same place. To learn more about symptoms, read: How to find out if it’s appendicitis.
Often, the diagnosis of appendicitis can be made clinically, i.e. just by feeling the site and evaluating symptoms by a doctor.
Your doctor may often need to order tests to confirm the diagnosis, especially when your symptoms aren’t conventional:
A good way to try to find out at home if it could be an appendicitis situation is to lie on your back and then press with one hand at the bottom right of your belly. Then the pressure must be released quickly. If the pain is more severe, it’s very likely to be appendicitis, because if the pain doesn’t change, it can be a sign of another problem. However, it is always important to go to the hospital to identify what is happening and initiate appropriate treatment.
In most appendicitis situations, it is not possible to identify the specific cause of inflammation of the appendix; However, obstruction of this intestinal site seems to be the most common cause. When this happens, stool and bacteria can build up inside, eventually causing infection and inflammation.
It is thought that an appendix blockage may occur due to several relatively common situations such as a violent blow at the site or worms, but also due to more serious problems such as intestinal tumors, for example.
Read more about the causes and diagnosis of appendicitis
The most common way to treat appendicitis is to have surgery to remove the entire appendix. This surgery is known as an appendectomy, where the appendix is removed by a small cut in the abdomen. Therefore, the person usually needs to be hospitalized after 1 to 2 days of treatment to evaluate that the intestine is functioning properly and that there are no surgical complications such as bleeding or infection.
Even in cases where diagnosis is not accurate, surgery may be recommended, mainly because the risk of appendicitis and eventually fracture is higher. See in more detail how the surgery is performed and how recovery is performed.
If the appendix is not removed, it may rupture, called stending appendicitis, increasing the chance of releasing bacteria in the abdomen and causing peritonitis and abscesses in the abdomen.
When appendicitis is not treated properly, the appendix may eventually rupture and lead to two main complications:
Both situations are serious and can be life-threatening. For this reason, treatment should be done as soon as possible. Treatment often includes surgery and the use of antibiotics directly in the vein to fight bacterial infections.
In addition, if there is an abscess, your doctor may need to insert a needle into your stomach to remove excess pus before the operation.
It is dangerous to have appendicitis during pregnancy because the appendix can rupture and spread bacteria inside the abdomen that can cause serious infections for both the mother and baby.
Appendicitis during pregnancy has the same symptoms and surgery is also the only treatment option, safe for baby development.
Therefore, it is very important that the pregnant, when presenting severe and continuous pain on the right side of the abdomen, immediately goes to the hospital to make the diagnosis and perform the surgery. Learn about the risks of appendicitis during pregnancy.