آپاندیسیت و غیره

"Ouch! Must be the Mustard"

APPENDICITIS is the most common surgical emergency seen in hospitals. Six of every hundred persons will get it at some point in their life.

The appendix is a small pouch like a finger connected to your main gut. It's use is unknown but sometimes it gets blocked by stool passing by. Once this happens bacteria in the stool start to multiply and cause an infection of the appendix. It's like having a river of stool passing by. If it stops it gets stagnant just like a real pool of water allowing bacteria to grow - which is why stagnant water starts to smell bad.

The symptoms of Appendicitis are:

• Fever.
• Bad breath and no appetite.
• Heart racing.
• Coughing hurts your tummy.
• Pain in your tummy that starts around your navel and later drops into your right lower side like in the cartoon guy above.

Appendicitis is diagnosed by your doctor from a history of the above symptoms and by pressing with his/her hand on your tummy. If there is pain over the right lower abdomen, especially if worse on jerking the area, appendicitis is strongly suspected - except in females where ovaries and other structures can also lead to pain in this area.

We'll look next at treatment.