Appendicitis symptoms

Diagnosing appendicitis can be a challenge to most doctors given that this kind of health disorder has no precise character. The symptoms the patient have may not point to appendicitis. Identifying the symptoms of appendicitis in time can prevent the necessity of acute surgical emergency.

Appendicitis is the inflammation of the tube-like appendage to the colon. Until this age of advancement in science the function or the benefit of appendix to the body is still unknown. Moreover, once this tube-like structure is inflamed, no other medical therapy is effective other than surgery. If the surgery is done at once the patient can recover in no time but once treatment is deferred, the appendix can burst and cause infection and even death. This is the reason why appendicitis is considered to be a medical emergency.

Symptoms of appendicitis

• Pain that originates from the belly button and hangs around the whole belly area and finally moving to the lower right area of the abdomen
• Bloated abdomen
• Nausea and vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Failure to pass gas
• Low fever
• Lethargy/unexplained exhaustion

Different people may have different symptoms of appendicitis. Some would feel intensified pain especially when moving, coughing or sneezing. Others may have the downward urge (tenesmus), a feeling that a bowel movement is needed to relieve the pain.

As mentioned before appendicitis is relatively hard to diagnose. This problem is confounded if the patient has special concerns like pregnancy, undergoing chemotherapy treatments and using immunosuppressive therapy among others.

Patients with special conditions are advised to see a physician at the onset of the symptoms so that other means of diagnosing appendicitis can be done at once. Appendicitis symptoms are not reliable to diagnose this disease.

After a physical examination, your physician may require blood analysis, an endoscopy and a computerized tomography. Some doctors would also order urinalysis and pregnancy tests.