Any appendicitis experience?

[amcnj]

My daughter texted that she has some pain to the right of her belly button. So I am thinking possibly appendicitis. If you have dealt with this before, at what point did you or a family member go to a doctor? Did the pain progress to the point where you knew you had to do something?

I advised her to call her doctor’s office later. And she is also considering a visit to urgent care after work, depending on how today goes.

 

[Southernmiss]

Our son had pain one day that did not go away.

Over night it got bad. He couldn't bend to tie his shoes. Went to the ER that morning and was examined. By noon that day, he was being prepped for surgery.

The doctor was afraid it would rupture if he took it out laproscopically. So ds has a 6 inch scar and it took weeks of recovery time.

 

[mamamary]

My dd was in a lot of pain (throwing up). By the time we got into the doctors It had ruptured. Was in the hospital 8 days. Wish we had gone to drs. Sooner.

 

[AndreaDM]

My daughter was also in a lot of pain and vomiting, couldn't stand up straight. She was 12, started early in the morning and around noon we headed to the ER (it was a weekend of course).

 

[mjkacmom]

My son and I both had it, it starts in the whole abdominal area, we both had some vomiting, I had a low grade fever, it was impossible to be comfortable laying down. Mine moved to my lower right area, and I went to the hospital around 5 am. Morphine helped. My poor son’s ruptured in the ED waiting room. They decided to treat him with IV antibiotics and morphine instead of surgery, it worked and he was released from the hospital in 4 days with instructions to be as active as possible (trying to get all of the ick out).

 

[macraven]

I was the sole caretaker for my mother when I started having pain
I had serious pain so hired someone to take over care for my maternal unit as needed to go to the hospital

I hurt so bad thought I was in labor
Lol
Yea at age 55 …..
Drove myself to the ER and surgery set up within 15 minutes
A few days in the hospital but healed up nicely
Was very glad we only have one appendix as never want to deal with that issue again

 

[mjkacmom]

My friend’s mom passed away last week from untreated appendicitis. She refused to go to the hospital until it was too late, arrived at the hospital in an ambulance, was able to be kept alive until family could come and say goodbye.

 

[macraven]

Very sad!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I don’t have any experience, but DD has dealt with abdominal pain (that turned out to be something else) and we had two doctors tell us to have her try jumping up & down. If she could get off the ground, it probably wasn’t serious. If she couldn’t, get to the ED immediately.

 

[lifesavacation]

My son had appendicitis. Bad stomach pains on right side. He wasn’t eating. He woke up like that and by evening had the surgery. The doc had him jump up and down and he nearly passed out.

 

[stout]

Hah…the jumping up and down trick…doesn’t always work! I went into the ER vomiting, dizzy, etc. Since my entire abdomen was tender they hooked me to an iv for fluids and gave me pain meds. Two hours later the doctor came in and had me hop up and down and do jumping jacks…ok, strange, but I complied and did them just fine…although I was still sore. A few hours later they did an abdominal CT as I wasn’t improving on my abdominal tenderness…15 minutes after that they whisked me to surgery. Appendix had ruptured and I got to spend a week in the hospital after that.

 

[FQLover]

I echo the jumping up and down business. I called Dial-a-Nurse once when my daughter was about 7 or so and asked her how I could tell the difference between a stomach ache in the lower region and appendicitis. She told me to have her jump up in place a couple of times. If she could do it with no problem, it was most likely nothing serious. If she could not do that, get her to the ER right away. Luckily for us, my DD jumped up and down just fine. I have always remembered this tip, though.

 

[mumto3girls]

I had mine out when I was 27. Pain started around my belly button and gradually over several days moved to the right. The pain wasn’t constant though, would come and go. At some point I started having diarrhea and felt a bit feverish. Went to the ER and white blood count was elevated so I was admitted. I had an abdominal CT scan the next morning and a few hours later it was out. I have a big scar and was off of work/no driving for about 3 weeks.

 

[tazdev3225]

I never had appendicitis but my daughter and my grandson both did. My daughter was more complicated by the fact that she had chronic appendicitis. She would get the bad abdominal pain, vomiting and low-grade fever. The Emergency Room would hook her up to an IV and while waiting on test results she would start to improve. This went on for about 3 years until they did a CT scan and finally did surgery.

My grandsons was similar but his was over the course of a few months. His mother put it off as anxiety issues from starting High School and trying to make the Baseball Team. He never told his dad what was going on. Then I got a phone call that he couldn't stop vomiting, no fever, but he refused to go to the hospital. After almost 24 hours of this my son flipped out and told him if he had to call 911, he was going to the hospital. I met my grandson and his mother at the ER and knew immediately it was serious. The doctor walked in, and I just asked when the surgery was scheduled. He had to be transferred to a Childrens Hospital since they didn't do pediatric surgery at that hospital. I drove my son to the hospital in the morning and we just missed my grandson going in for surgery. Thank God my son fought his ex and grandson because the appendix ruptured overnight. They were able to flush his abdomen and put him on a very powerful antibiotic. As scary as it was, he ran a very high fever for about 24 hours but those meds when they kicked in were fantastic, we were able to laugh. While still in pain and fighting the fever he threw me out of his room and made me go to his baseball game. He wanted me to tell the coach he really tried to hold off til after the playoffs, teenagers. I also had a Disney trip planned so he wanted a special gift - a sword from China. Grandmom got him what he wanted.

Knowing the seriousness, I would err on the side of caution and at least go to an Urgent Care.

 

[neverlandsky]

ER would be better than Urgent Care, I only say that because it could also be Gallbladder and/or Gallstones. Don't wait.

 

[Praise2Him]

Mine started in the afternoon and woke me up around 2 am. I laid on the couch until my husband woke up at 5 and asked him to take me to the ER. It felt like a kidney stone and I was convinced that was what it was, and was shocked when they told me it was appendicitis after the CT scan. I had surgery that morning (laparoscopic) and went home the next day, since it hadn’t ruptured.

 

[bgirl29]

When my daughters needed to come out, I had called her Drs office. The nurse I spoke with asked if it hurt her to stand up straight. When my daughter said she felt a pulling sensation and pain the nurse said to take her to the ER. A few years later my son in law had the same pain as well as feeling awful in general.

 

[mjkacmom]

I had mine out when I was 27. Pain started around my belly button and gradually over several days moved to the right. The pain wasn’t constant though, would come and go. At some point I started having diarrhea and felt a bit feverish. Went to the ER and white blood count was elevated so I was admitted. I had an abdominal CT scan the next morning and a few hours later it was out. I have a big scar and was off of work/no driving for about 3 weeks.

Yikes, much easier today, I don’t think I have a scar and I walked out of the hospital the next morning with no restrictions.

 

[DLgal]

In a woman, this can also be an ovarian cyst or ectopic pregnancy, so in any event, she should have it evaluated by a doctor sooner rather than later. I'd say if she doesn't otherwise feel sick (fever, nausea, overall malaise), it's probably not appendicitis.

I suffer from chronic ovarian cysts and every time the pain is on my right side, I play the "is it appendicitis" game. Have her hop on her right foot. If she isn't in excruciating pain when doing that, it's not appendicitis.

 

[mumto3girls]

It was 25 years ago so I’m sure a lot has changed. Incision was longer than expected because my appendix was not as far to the right as the surgeon expected.