What is an Appendicitis by Anna Rosikhina

Appendicitis is the inflammation and swelling of the appendix. The appendix is a tube–shaped sac that is located at the end of the large intestine and one can feel it on the lower right side of the abdomen.

When a person has appendicitis, many symptoms follow. What happens in the body, for instance, is that the appendix swells, causing mucus the get into the inside space of a tubular structure. As the mucus gets built up, bacteria slowly spreads and decides to live there. Over time, it spreads and the infection gets inside. The time from when it starts hurting is usually about twelve until eighteen hours when the pain increases a great amount. This is when people experience some pain and usually need to seek medical attention. But, many choose to ignore the symptoms. Other times, when it is ignored, the bacteria and infection that was inside break into the opening and leak into different parts of the abdomen. This pain is not comparable with the pain experienced by having symptoms. It worsens at times if you breathe, cough, and even move around doing simple movements. At this point, other organs in the body are getting affected by the fluid that is leaked out and an emergency surgery would have to be done at the moment.

If one suspects that they have symptoms of appendicitis, getting diagnosed is an important step in this big process. When getting diagnosed, medical professionals will ask about the history of your health and a physical examination will be done. They would want to know if anything has recently or dramatically changed, or if there are underlying causes to why it had occurred. Following a physical examination of the appendix, the doctor may push down on it and let it go quickly. At the time the pressure is released, there is a sharp pain that occurs. This is a sign that helps them evaluate what the problem is and how the person is experiencing it. Alongside that, other tests could follow that a person would be informed about. The common one that is performed is a CAT scan. A CAT scan is a specialized X-ray scan that shows clear and specific pictures. The quality of it differs from a regular X-ray because it can show more specific tissues around the area. They will locate when and where the pain started to determine how serious the case is. At the same time while the tests are being performed, blood tests and samples will be taken. Blood tests are one of the most important tests because a lot of the information is in the blood, and it can give a lot of information. In the blood tests, what they look for is the increase of white blood cells. Usually, white blood cells increase when there is an infection, and the increase of white blood cells narrows down if it is appendicitis.

After getting diagnosed and getting the results back that a person has appendicitis, surgery usually follows and is called an appendectomy. If it was just a pain in the appendix, antibiotics would be prescribed. The surgery is about an hour and is a quick and common surgery that many patients receive every single day. Getting treated before the problem gets bigger, usually leads to a quick recovery and back to a normal lifestyle. One important fact not to forget about it is that appendicitis is the leading emergency case that deals with the abdominal category. If you or someone you know is going through these symptoms, getting medical attention immediately is critical for the well-being and health of one’s self.

 

References

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/appendicitis/basics/definition/con-20023582

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/appendicitis/basics/symptoms/con-20023582

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/appendicitis.html