Appendix

[PennyLanePHINS]

Has anyone ever had their appendix removed? (appendicitis) I was wondering how you know, before it starts to get real painful? I know that happens when its an emergency, but what if its not super painful?

Since last night I've had this occasional small pain/cramp in my side, it'll go away and come back. Could be nothing, but I'm one of those who worries.

 

[corianderstem]

I would recommend calling your (or a) doctor for medical advice, and not random people on the internet.

Do you have insurance company? If so, see if they have a nurse line that you can call for help. (Many companies have that these days.)

 

[Jive Turkey]

Appendix rupture yet?

 

[Danny Boy]

Can you eat? Most people who have acute appendicitis have no appetite, and the smell of food will make them nauseous. Also try jumping up and down. That will typically make the pain a lot worse in an acute abdomen.

I had my appendix out about 10 years ago. I had zero appetite for dinner, and then I woke up about 2:00 AM with much worse pain. Just the weight of the bed sheet on my abdomen was excruciating, as was every bump on the car ride to the ER.

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

No, no rupture haha.

Well its fairly small and seems like less than last night. I tend to worry when its nothing and have been wrong before. Will keep an eye on it, just curious what symptoms would be like. Yes I ate and drank, it's fairly minor, but I worried that it might progressively get worse, which it hasn't yet.

I've always had a weird thing with thinking whenever I had a pain or cramp in my side it could be my appendix. When I was young someone got it removed and after that I assumed most people have to in their life, but that's probably not true...no one in my immediate family has.

 

[intedomine]

Used to be my greatest fear, appendicitis, after hearing that folk can die if it explodes inside them. Used to give me nightmares, and my fear of operations doesn't help.

Supposedly it's not so much of a procedure.

 

[martha]

It used to be that whenever they cut you open, they took the damn thing out. I don't know if that's still the case. When I had my ovarian cysts removed, my beloved gyno took out my appendix as well.

A colleague had an emergency appendectomy last year. Her symptoms were similar to food poisoning, she said. She was pukin'.

 

[joyfulgirl]

It used to be that whenever they cut you open, they took the damn thing out. I don't know if that's still the case. When I had my ovarian cysts removed, my beloved gyno took out my appendix as well.

And you didn't know (s)he was going to do that? I would have sued.

 

[martha]

No, he told me he was and I was cool with it. So much was going so wrong in there, that one less thing poised to kill me or cause a risk was fine with me.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Ah, I see. I had mine out when I was nine. All I remember is that I got up one morning and told my mom that my side hurt. It may have been hurting the night before but I don't remember. But my mom's intuition kicked in and I remember she grabbed me and put me in the car and went racing in to town faster than I'd ever seen her drive before. When we walked into the doctor's office I fainted. Next thing I knew they were prepping me for surgery. Apparently my dad's had burst before I was born (he was fine) so mom was really on it.

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

See I feel better now, may have been just a more painful version of a stomach ache (though I don't get them often, so maybe I just couldn't tell). Not sure how you're supposed to tell the difference. Apparently you get a fever and eventually the pain increases. Another tip I got is if you push onto your left abs quickly, and feel pain in the right then it could be your appendix.

 

[martha]

I'm glad you feel better. I don't think it would hurt to mention it to your doctor next time you go in.

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

I did today since I still don't feel 100%. Pushed down on my appendix & other parts and no pain...no pain when walking around. It's weird, but said to keep an eye on it and said it might just be lingering pain, maybe from some food upset me but not quite food poisoning since I'm not sick.

I never really get stomach aches besides the 24-hour bug ones, so it could just be regular. Do other people get stomach aches that linger?

 

[Reggo]

Usually a stomachache that lingers or is that severe is a sign of something else and should be checked out by a doctor. could be a food allergy, an ulcer, diverticulitis, irritable bowel syndrome, any number of things.

 

[Liesje]

My little sister had hers out and she was doubling over in pain. Granted, it took a while to get to that point, since at that age she had this habit of saying she had a "stomach ache" so she could avoid doing stuff that she didn't want to do. My mom said they were going to the Dr. to prove there was nothing wrong and the next day she had surgery.

Only once have I wondered if it was happening to me. Last year after several months of sinus infection had finally cleared I woke up abruptly one night and had a stabbing pain. At first I couldn't really pin-point where the pain was coming from but it heart to breath at all. It ended up being pleurisy, a lung infection, probably leftover from my sinus infections and it cleared after about a week though it took a few weeks for me to breath normally because I had developed this habit of taking really short, shallow breaths to avoid the pain and then a long, stuttering breath every few minutes.

 

[Rachel D.]

Are you on any medication? The doctor put me on powerful Ibuprofen once after I slammed my shin in a door at school and woke up the next day with a stabbing pain below my ribs on one side. I stopped taking the pills and the pain was gone the next day. I told the doctor about it and he said that my side was hurting because I was getting an ulcer from the pills and it's a good thing I stopped taking them.