Appendicitis happens when the inside of your appendix, which is a thin tube that is joined to the large intestine, is blocked. It can be caused by various infections such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites, in a person’s digestive tract. This is not all. Sometimes appendicitis is caused by tumours, according to John Hopkins.
Appendicitis can cause your appendix to swell, and as the swelling and soreness become worse, it can also stop the blood to reach your appendix. Without sufficient blood flow, the appendix starts to die. In addition, it can even burst or develop holes or tears in its walls, allowing stool, mucus, and infection to leak through and get inside the stomach, resulting in peritonitis, a serious infection.
Wondering why that matters? It matters because most cases of appendicitis happen to people between the ages of 10 and 30 years. According to the official website of John Hopkins, it affects 1 in 1,000 people living in the United States. Not just this, but the risk increases if you have a family history of Appendicitis. A child having cystic fibrosis also seems to have an increased risk of getting appendicitis. Wondering what to do?
Stay alert on the symptoms and seek medical help as soon as you feel any symptoms in your body. Health experts claim that it happens quickly – in some cases, several hours after the obstruction occurs. They recommend that the earlier it’s treated, the better the outcome. So here are some warning signs of appendicitis that you shouldn’t ignore:
- Pain around the belly button or upper abdomen
- Pain that intensifies and migrates to the lower right abdomen
- It may worsen by around, taking deep breaths, coughing, or sneezing.
- Feeling lack of energy and loss of appetite
- Inability to pass gas, constipation, or diarrhoea
- Worsening condition leads to nausea
- Stomach swelling
- High Fever of 99-102 degrees
- Want to have bowel movement
How it is diagnosed?
- Blood test
- Urine test
- Abdominal ultrasound
- CT scan
- MRI
