Appendicitis

This is a commonly known problem and caused by the swelling of appendix. The location of appendix is onto the right side of the abdomen and towards the lower right. The reasons for the problems are not known properly but it’s suggested by research that it’s a place for good bacteria to reside which would help in digestion and fighting infection. The statistics shows 7% of the people around UK to have experienced the problem during sometime of their life. The statistics also show that it’s more common in men than women and the age of occurrence is between 10-30 years.

Symptoms

The symptoms are different but all originate from a pain in the stomach which starts to build quite faster and gets severe with passing time. The pain has a varied location and with time, it starts to get to the lower right side of the abdomen where the appendix is located. The pain increases with applying any pressure to that area and also due to cough or any walking. There are some more effects of appendicitis like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation and also running high fever. The medical attention should be drawn immediately since there are other reasons also which could cause the similar pains, but would need urgent addressing.

Causes

The causes are not very clear till date but there are major reasons which can be infection in the stomach which can call for the problem, or obstruction due to something getting trapped in the appendix, like a hard piece of stool and the harmful bacteria which could cause damage to the appendix. The appendix if left untreated could cause it to burst which can be fatal due to release of harmful bacteria in all other parts of the body.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis is challenging and since the conditions are tricky to find out. In some typical cases, the appendix may be located in different place all together. The doctor can ask for symptoms and also would need to thoroughly investigate and examine the abdomen. There could be some tests which could be helpful in case the doctor can not state it to be a sure appendicitis, and go for Blood test, urine tests, MRI scan or a CT scan. All of these tests can provide a conclusive statement depending on the complexity of the problem. In a situation which gets too tied, the doctor may also plan to remove the appendix in order to save it from bursting.

Treatment

The treatment in the earlier times involves an incision in the stomach but now it has been done easily with the help of Laparoscopic surgery where the surgeon makes lot of small incisions and uses a tube to send a tiny video camera, allowing him to see through and remove the appendix without much damage. This way the recovery time is lot faster and quick.

Complications

The situation gets complicated in case of an appendix burst due to which the harmful bacteria can spread across causing a fatal situation.
Prevention:
High fiber diet is recommended for preventing any appendix related problems.