Appendicitis
Your appendix is a small pouch on your gut wall where your large intestine begins. Appendicitis happens when your appendix gets blocked and becomes inflamed. It is important to treat appendicitis immediately. If left untreated it can burst and cause serious complications.
What causes appendicitis
It is not always clear why your appendix gets inflamed. It may be triggered by a blockage caused by hard poo or food. It can sometimes be caused by a tumour in older people.
Symptoms of appendicitis
Appendicitis usually starts with a pain in your tummy around your belly button. As it gets worse, it moves to the lower right part of your tummy. Other symptoms may include:
- feeling sick (nausea)
- throwing up (vomiting)
- not feeling hungry (loss of appetite)
- fever
- bloating
- runny poos.
If you have appendicitis when you are pregnant you may feel the pain higher up on the right side of your tummy.
If you have symptoms of possible appendicitis, contact your healthcare provider urgently or call Healthline for advice.
Complications of appendicitis
If you delay getting treatment for appendicitis, there is a danger your appendix may burst. Complications of a burst appendix include:
- peritonitis — when the bacteria from your burst appendix leak into your tummy and cause the lining to become inflamed and infected
- sepsis — when bacteria from your appendix enters your bloodstream, causing severe infection and inflammation throughout your body
- abscess — a collection of pus formed when the tissue wall surrounds the appendix to block off the infection.
Diagnosing appendicitis
It can be difficult to diagnose appendicitis as there are a number of possible causes of stomach pain. Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and examine you. You may have a urine test and a pregnancy to test to rule out other causes of your pain.
If they think you may have appendicitis you will be sent to hospital where you may also have further tests including a blood test and an ultrasound or CT scan. If the reason for your pain is not clear. you may be watched over a few hours to see if your symptoms get worse or change.
If you are very unwell or there is a danger your appendix could burst, you may be operated on straight away rather than having more tests.
Treating appendicitis
The most common treatment for appendicitis is usually surgery.
This is usually done with keyhole surgery (laparoscopy) when instruments are passed through small cuts in your stomach.
Sometimes open surgery is needed when a larger cut is made. This approach may be needed if your appendix has burst or there are other complications.
Antibiotics can be used to treat appendicitis while surgery is being considered.