Appendicitis: Causes, Symptoms And Treatment

A piercing pain around the belly button, that moves down to the right lower abdomen

could be a decisive indicator that a person is suffering from Appendicitis. This condition usually occurs due to a blockage to the appendix. Appendix is a small pouch like organ that is attached to the large intestine. The blockages to appendix could be due to feces, some foreign body, or very rarely, a tumor. When such a blockage occurs, bacterial infection may occur in the appendix, causing it to swell. In extreme cases, if the infection is not detected in early stage, the swollen appendix might burst, causing the infection to spread to other parts of the body and often cause further complications. These complications could be, although very rarely, as severe as death of the patient.

Causes

Although it is difficult to pin point to a singular cause for appendicitis, development of infection due to bacterias or viruses could be the major factor. People suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases, which might lead to the swelling of the bowel tissues also run the risk of contracting appendicitis. Improper food habits, eating very spicy foods and not drinking enough water leading to constipation could be said to be the cause for appendicitis.

Symptoms

Appendicitis is usually easily recognizable by the explicit symptoms it produces, the most significant being abdominal pain, especially in the lower right abdomen. The piercing pain occurs suddenly and is unlike any other usual pain that the patient might feel. It starts near the belly button and moves to the right lower abdomen. This pain could get worse in a few hours, or by any movement like walking, coughing, talking etc. Usually, when pain becomes highly unbearable, it means that the appendix has burst and the patient must be hospitalized immediately for operating and removing the ruptured organ. Otherwise, the situation could turn into a life threatening one. When the pain is a bit subtle, the patients generally tend to put off a visit to the doctor, and agree to do so only after the occurrence of other symptoms such vomiting, fever, chills etc.

Treatment

The only treatment for appendicitis is the removal of the affected appendix. The sooner it is done, the better, since as emphasized earlier, rupturing of appendix could lead to unwanted complications. There is also no medicinal cure for this disease and surgery is the only way out. The doctors usually give patient intravenous fluids to keep them hydrated. Usually laparoscopy, or the minimally invasive keyhole surgery is performed, making the surgery much simpler and recovery much faster. Usually a patient would take anywhere between 2 to 6 weeks to recover from an appendicitis operation.

by: James S Pendergraft

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