Foo - Anyone have a Appendicitis??

Yesterday I went on a road ride with some other BF members and I had this horrible pain. I continued on the ride and stuck it out. I took some advil, but the pain is still there today, not as bad but pretty tender, just touching the area on abdomen is very painful.

I called my doctor and going this afternoon.

So am I over reacting?? Some co-workers think it might be an appendicitis, anyone ever have their's removed??

good to get it checked out. i've never had appendicitis but i remember hiking a long time ago and someone on the trail had it and had to have a helicopter come and take them to the hospital right away.

Is the pain on the right or left side?

Right side and its like 4 inches from my belly button.

Right side and its like 4 inches from my belly button.
When I had appendicitis, many years ago, the pain was on the left side (even though the appendix is on the right). As soon as the doctor heard that, I was on my way to the hospital.

You probably want to get it checked out anyway. Just to be safe.

I actually had two appendectomies. They couldn't find it the first time.

I've never had it.

Any of these other symptoms (http://www.medicinenet.com/appendicitis/page2.htm#toce)?

When I had appendicitis, many years ago, the pain was on the left side (even though the appendix is on the right). As soon as the doctor heard that, I was on my way to the hospital.

You probably want to get it checked out anyway. Just to be safe.

I actually had two appendectomies. They couldn't find it the first time.

YIKES!! :eek:
Two of them. Yeah I don't want to take any chances so I'm going to go in. I read on-line that sometimes the doctors don't even know if your having appendicitis!! Thats scary!!

I've never had it.

Any of these other symptoms (http://www.medicinenet.com/appendicitis/page2.htm#toce)?

Yep I still have the pain from yesterday but today its much milder. Still hurts, I can feel it sitting down, walking etc.

No....but once had an emergency visit about age 12 where they thought I had appendicitis. They even cleaned my stomach with alcohol and some other pre-surgery prep stuff before they later decided I just had a bad stomach ache with a flu.

Well that doesn't sound like fun KT!!!

YIKES!! :eek:
Two of them. Yeah I don't want to take any chances so I'm going to go in. I read on-line that sometimes the doctors don't even know if your having appendicitis!! Thats scary!!
That can be true. Glad you're going to the Dr. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's just the beginning of norovirus or something.

YIKES!! :eek:
Two of them. Yeah I don't want to take any chances so I'm going to go in. I read on-line that sometimes the doctors don't even know if your having appendicitis!! Thats scary!!
It wasn't much fun. I hope everything works out, and it's just a whole lot of nothing that goes away by itself.

Well that doesn't sound like fun KT!!!
I was a dumb macho 12-year old boy. I was disappointed I wasn't having a surgery to go back to school to brag about. :mad:

Appendicitis often presents clinically with "rebound" pain. If you push in gently, it may not hurt much, but when you suddenly release, there is often tremendous pain. You can have appendicitis without rebound pain, but if you have rebound pain, it's likely appendicitis.

Do get checked, and report back to Foo. <serious Vega look>

You forgot to prescribe medicinal alcohol (CatDaddy)!

Yep I still have the pain from yesterday but today its much milder. Still hurts, I can feel it sitting down, walking etc.

That could actually be a very bad thing, snowy.

A few years ago, I had an emergency appendectomy after mine ruptured and I didn't know it for about 8 hours. The doc said if I had waited much longer (as in even a few hours) I would have died from peritonitis.

I was outside on a backhoe starting to dig a trench for a rock wall I was going to build (well, OK, try to build since I had never attempted one before!). My stomach felt a bit upset... kind of like gas. After a while, it subsided and I went on with my business. That was about 3PM. By 10 or 11ish, I was starting to hurt again, right along the centerline of my belly, right behind my belly button. Being a typical guy, I figured it was more gas and I could "hack" it. By 1AM I was curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor and finally told my wife I thought it was probably time I go to the doctor's. She took that as an admission I was actually dying... which, I guess I was.

They gave me 3 hits of Demerol (by IV) and I was still in pain... though I didn't care.

A few hours later, I went in for the surgery and I now have a 4" scar running due south from my belly button. They said as soon as they opened me up, they could smell the infection. 8 hours I guess is a pretty long time for the stuff in your appendix to fester.

So... if your pain has subsided, I'd get to the doc ASAP. Explain you had pain and now it's diminished or gone. It might have already of ruptured if it is, in fact, appendicitis. Keep us posted!

[edit]BTW - I hired someone to build the wall while I recovered from the surgery.

I'm not a medicald doctor, but I stayed at a Red Roof Inn. IMHO... I'd get yer arse to the doc, Snowy.

Yes, I have had my appendix out. From your symptoms, absolutely go get checked. Far, far better to check it early than to put it off. In a word, do not be like me.

My first symptoms felt more like general digestive upset, and slooooooowly got worse. I kept trying to tough it out for 5 or 6 days :eek: because there was a big meeting with people coming from out of town that I had to be a major part of. (I suspect the testosterone thing played a part, too.) Meanwhile, the pain got worse and worse and worse until, finally, at 4 am the morning of the big meeting, I could no longer stand it and had my wife take me to the ER. It was so bad I could not stand up straight and could barely walk. I had not waited so long that the appendix burst, but it was sort of oozing and would have burst pretty soon. Before the on-call surgeon wisked me off to surgery, I had to lay there in the ER and tell my wife all the details of the Big Meeting so she could call my boss and get him to cover. Not fun.

BTW, burst appendixes are really, really bad news, as in posing a very real risk of dying a really, really painful death. The only member of the Lewis and Clark expedition who did not make it back died from a burst appendix and the resultant mass infection of the abdominal cavitity. Nasty stuff.

The surgery is much less unpleasnt than that and the end result is far more attractive. (They break out the good, high-end pain-killers for you, too.:D That is how I discovered that Demerol is my friend, although not worth what you have to do to get it.) Good luck. I hope it is just a false alarm and not a big deal, but if it isn't, I'm glad you are having it checked sooner rather than later.

Yeah I'm going. 1 1/2 to go. :)

I have, and man it sucked!

I was out with my dad and we were driving around, and I was having this pain in my stomach that was growing and growing. It got so bad I had to lay down because my stomach was in excruciating pain. Went in, I got blood drawn. Indeed it was an appendicitis. The only problem with mine was that if I had stayed in the waiting room for another hour my appendix would have guaranteed burst. So I had to stay in the hospital for an extra week. It was a bummer, but I am glad i got it over with. If you catch it early, it is an easy operation and the scar is very minimal. I hope everything works out for you. If you do have it, good luck everything will be ok.

Okay so after visiting the doctor, they believe its my gallbladder!! Tomorrow I go in for an ultrasound first thing in the morning.

He said if it looks bad they'll do surgrey right away!!!:eek:

:(

Hope you're ok snowy. I don't want to lose you. Snff snfff.

:)

I'll be fine :) Thanks

Its nothing major. Today they said its not a big deal and I will be back to normal activity in 4-5days. :)

A co-worker had his gallbladder removed laproscopically(sp) in a two hour outpatient surgery.

His discomfort was minimal but he was out several weeks because what we do is so physically demanding.

Good luck.

My mother had her gallbladder removed in '72. She used to have bad gallbladder attacks, which apparently are more painful than heart attacks. She would be doubled over and they usually occurred in the middle of the night, following some dinners that she and my father periodically attended. They'd go to the ER, she'd be given demarol, and sent home to sleep it off. She was given a list of foods to avoid, and for a while, that helped. But she eventually had to have it removed due to frequency and severity of attacks. This was prior to the advent of minimally-invasive surgery, and recovery was a ***** (unlike today). Unfortunately, they left some stones in some bile ducts which, for some reason, weren't removed, which caused her periodic pain for about 10 years following the surgery. I suspect her body eventually absorbed them or otherwise broke them down.

She did get a small plastic vial containing all the gallstones that the surgeon could find and remove! That was kinda cool.

Good luck with it! Keep us posted! :)

Yep dr said no fatty foods until they know whats going on. Fruits, veggies, salads and any bland food is all about it for me!!
I'll know tomorrow hopefully :)

I had one about 5 years ago when i was 12. What the doctor did was have me stand on my tip-toes then drop to my heals. If you crumble to the ground then you better go to the hospital. If not then I'm not sure...but its a way to know if you do have one. :)

Update!

Its not my gallbladder, the ultrasound reveiled that my kidneys, liver and gallbladder are okay.

So now it back to square one.

Hopefully the blood results will reveil something??

Well - so far good news Snowy. Hope that it continues. I would say you are just getting old... except I don't think that would be true. ;)

Did anything recently that might have tore up a muscle in that region?

No nothing new :)

I still have the pain today but its very minor pain??

Very odd. Your initial description sounded almost exactly what I felt when my appendix checked out on me - except I was throwing up half the night and thought I had contracted food poisoning - this back in 1989. I haven't thrown up since - thereby proving that the appendix is responsible for making people vomit. :D

Is it still abdominal? If so, where?

Very odd. Your initial description sounded almost exactly what I felt when my appendix checked out on me - except I was throwing up half the night and thought I had contracted food poisoning - this back in 1989. I haven't thrown up since - thereby proving that the appendix is responsible for making people vomit. :D
Hm. I always thought bad tequila is responsible for that. :rolleyes:

Is it still abdominal? If so, where?

Yes its like 3-4 inches in from my belly button. On my right side.

Hm. I always thought bad tequila is responsible for that. :rolleyes:

Is there any other kind? :D

Sounds like a smoldering appendix at least....

Good luck and an appendectomy ain't that bad! I had mine out a number of years ago, after several attacks that came and went of pain, but insufficient to warrant the surgery.

EDIT: The location sure makes the appendix prime candidate.

Sounds like a smoldering appendix at least....

Good luck and an appendectomy ain't that bad! I had mine out a number of years ago, after several attacks that came and went of pain, but insufficient to warrant the surgery.

EDIT: The location sure makes the appendix prime candidate.

Well hopefully the blood work will show something.

I'd hate to have to go through a number of attacks for the doctors to figure it out.

Yes its like 3-4 inches in from my belly button. On my right side.
Three years ago I went to the doctor with similar issues and after an MRI it turned out to be severe diverticulitus. I wound up having to have my sigmoid colon removed, but I recovered quick and everything is fine now.

I do have some pretty cool photos as a memory of that time past…..

Don't fear a colonoscopy if it comes to that. Not the most fun you'll have but you'll survive.

Don't fear a colonoscopy if it comes to that. Not the most fun you'll have but you'll survive.
+1, it's really a shame how overblown the fear around them has become because they're not that bad and they give you some cool photos

...the prep, on the other hand...

Yes its like 3-4 inches in from my belly button. On my right side.

snowy's pregnant!! :eek:

Seriously... hope they figure it out and quickly. And that it's really something minor when they do.

snowy's pregnant!! :eek:

Seriously... hope they figure it out and quickly. And that it's really something minor when they do.

Not PREGNANT!!! :)

Not PREGNANT!!! :)
:D

If you need any name suggestions, just pm me.

If it's a boy he can be jon, and if it's a girl she can be jonanina.

:D

If you need any name suggestions, just pm me.

If it's a boy he cam be jon, and if it's a girl she can be jonanina.


Well thanks Jon, but NOT PREGNANT here and I was never worried about that to begin with :)

Get it checked out. Mine burst (30 years ago, I was 14) and it was the worst pain ever. I was doubled over in bed in agony for hours. I begged my father to take me to the hospital in the middle of the night. A few more hours and i would have been history.

Dont screw with it.

Get it checked out. Mine burst (30 years ago, I was 14) and it was the worst pain ever. I was doubled over in bed in agony for hours. I begged my father to take me to the hospital in the middle of the night. A few more hours and i would have been history.

Dont screw with it.


I agree with him. My pain started the same exact way. When it was all over, mine burst and I had to call an aid car. It sucks. Don't put it off.

Thanks guys I'm just waiting to hear from doctor now. :)

Yes its like 3-4 inches in from my belly button. On my right side.

If you were pregnant, which you're not, could be an ectopic pregnancy, requiring a quick termination before the Fallopian tube is permanently damaged.

If it were 3-4 inches to the right (or left) and about two inches down from there, I'd hazard a possible ovarian cyst.

If you are negative for appendicitis and gallbladder, you may have something caught in your colon: either something sharp that you accidentally ingested, or something that got caught in a diverticulum (a tiny little sac along the wall of the colon). If the latter, and it becomes infected, that's diverticulitis, which can be painful and nasty. Hopefully, follow-up imaging of the area will find the cause.

My guess is that next experience in your journey will be an abdominal CT, perhaps with contrast. Good luck, and keep us informed!

What kind of bloodwork did they run?

Also, didn't you hurt your back not too long ago? Sometimes back pain will radiate, and show up in bizarre places.

Don't fear a colonoscopy if it comes to that. Not the most fun you'll have but you'll survive.

I know of an elderly lady who went in for a colonoscopy and died 3 days later. They punctured her colon and she later died. I guess this is more common in older people. Anyway it was sad. She survived 12 kids and tons of grandkids and in the end a preventative medical examination killed her.