How Do I Know if I have Appendicitis?
if I have Appendicitis : Appendicitis is the inflammation of the appendix. The symptoms are pain in the belly button area which lasts more than three days, vomiting, fever, nausea, diarrhea or constipation and the enlargement of the lymph nodes.
Appendicitis is an acute disease and responds quickly to the doctors. It can be easily detected in time and treatment must be implemented at once. The best thing to do to treat appendicitis is to immediately bring the patient to the hospital and evaluate him for a few hours. There is no need of drugs for the first three days of the illness. Only antibiotics are used for the next two days while the patient is being checked for complications.
During the exhaustion of the acute phase, a secondary bacterial infection may occur hence the need to take an external medication for its treatment. At this point, the doctor may prescribe a period of enema for the patient. But the real treatment of the illness begins when the pain episodes have stopped.
The treatment of appendicitis may include various surgical procedures for correcting the defects of the appendix; moreover, removal of the diseased appendix from the body during operations is also essential. If timely extraction and treatment is provided, the patients with appendicitis can be recovered in a few weeks with or without surgical intervention. However, whenmonary infections are present, operation cannot be prevented as the mortality rate of children under six months is higher than in adults.
An ordinary recovery period of six to eight weeks after the emergency surgery is considered a success and the patient is prescribed light exercises to promote muscle recovery. A balanced diet is also important for an accelerated recovery. The amount of medication to be taken by the patient is closely monitored since changes in the stool consistency may occur. selection and intake of this medication must be according to the pediatrician’s advice.
After the surgery, the patient must be kept in a hospital for three to five days where the bandage should be removed after a few days. The stool should also be removed for cleaning and medication intake should also be monitored closely. One week after the surgery, the child can now be taken off the medication. The change in the medication dosage will be carefully monitored to avoid any adverse effects.
Although appendectomy is a quick surgical procedure with a high success rate, the surgical procedure does not prevent the recurrence of appendicitis. Thus, the surgeons will keep a check on the patient’s stool for signs of recurrence of appendicitis.
For young children, the surgical procedure is safe with less than 1% rate of mild bleeding. However, if the operation is done on an elderly child with a drooping gait or complicated medical situation, the risk of serious bleeding may be high. Hence, theangers of the surgical procedure on elderly patients are higher.