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#1
Has anyone every had an appendix inflamed?
I had a colonoscopy in early September. A side effect of that can be an appendicitis. So 6 weeks later my right side felt like i pulled a muscle. And it really hasn't gone away. So I made an appointment with my doctor for Friday. But over the weekend I started having "waves" of mild pain. If not for the pulled muscle feeling I would have presumed it was just gas, and it could be, but I am getting worried. None of the pain is bad (my sister had an appendix leak and her pain was so bad she could hardly move). One of the nurses really freaked me out by insisting i come in right away. I told her I didn't think that was necessary and I still don't. I don't have a fever or anything but mild pain. I just don't want to show up Friday and have them tell me I need to go in for exploratory surgery some such such. |
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unaluna, Yaowen, zapatoes
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Grand Magnate
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#2
Dear NatalieJastrow,
That sounds so scary. I hope you are going to be okay! |
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Veteran Member
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#3
Quote:
Today the pain was better. |
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unaluna
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#4
So weirdly, it really seemed to go away this week, for good. It has been really bothering me for like 4 weeks now so much I couldn't move at all without it... but literally the moment I made the appointment with the doctor it went away. Now, I know they say your mind can do it -- but I have a pattern of this.. like something is bothering me... I let it go and let it go.. finally I make the appointment with the doctor and then BLAM... all better.
It is odd. I am glad it went away. I wonder if the increased throbbing was some sort of sign it was on the mend. |
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#5
And directly after cancelling my appointment it came back. I am frustrated. Today I had an attack of pain in my ribs on both sides.
I have decided this has to be something else and I am now wondering about menopause. This entire year I have had so many issues with my back or my torso.. I suspect that either my muscles are tighter or I have more pain due to menopause. Another big hint is my breasts are sensitive -- and even when I was premenopausal I didn't have that problem. |
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Threadtastic Postaholic
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#6
There is something called a "grumbling or rumbling" appendix. its on and off pain that sometimes spikes and subsides over a long(ish) period of time. This is because the appendix was slowly enlarging and sort of on the cusp- maybe going bad, maybe becoming inflamed but not bursting. My son had his appendix out when he was 7. His grandma and aunt when they were 12. My daughter, when she was about 14 or 15 started having pains like this. We would take her to the doctors and they would brush it off and she would suffer. She had colonoscopys, cat scans and ultrasounds. None of those showed anything significant. The whole time i knew it was her appendix. She had referred pain on the left side and sometimes around the belly button and all the "professionals" said it couldnt be her appendix. We went to the ER like 4 times. Finally the last time they gave her something in the hospital for pain. I decided I was sick of it. The surgeon who did my sons' appendix and my husband's gallbladder was amazing. Keep in mind my son was then 17 at the time so our first encounter with this surgeon was 10 years prior. We went into the office he said he was pretty convinced it had to do with her appendix. He set her up for exploratory and if it showed anything we signed forms for him to do an appendectomy. He gave me a little something to give her for the pain until a week later for the surgery. When he came back to talk to us he said her appendix was huge. He cant believe no one saw it or took us seriously. He cant believe it took this long (6-8 weeks) for anyone to suggest this. And thats when we learned about rumbling/grumbling/chronic appendicitis.
Chronic Appendicitis: Symptoms, Causes, and More __________________ "I carried a watermelon?" President of the no F's given society. |
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unaluna
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#7
Quote:
My concern is what you talked about, how difficult it is to really call this issue. I do not want to have exploratory surgery. The family member who had this was lucky enough to have a "leaking" appendicitis so it showed up on an X-ray. But her pain was much worse than what I am feeling. |
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#8
So looking around, I did find someone who said they uninflamed a chronic appendicitis with fiber. The theory is that the prep for your colonoscopy clears out your good bacteria and, if you don't replace it... you appendix can get infected. While if you restore good bacteria to the colon it will take care of it. A lot of people with this don't get the help they need for years because nothing shows up on the tests.
That absolutely could be the case here. After I recovered from the colonoscopy and definitely had a very low fiber diet for the last few weeks. I did no probiotics or fiber foods afterwards. Giving it a shot. |
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#9
I am still keeping the doctor appointment but something bizarre happened to me - I got my period. It has been over 14 months since I last got a period and probably over 3 years since I had a "real' period. You know, all five days. Most periods at the end there were like 2 days and not a lot.
This is a real period. And now I am wondering if the pains were part of massive PMS that was flying up on me and I didn't know it. Sure solves a lot of the issues. But since it has been 14 months since I had a period I had thought I was in menopause. But I guess not. I will run this all by the doctor but I have a feeling this is probably a big clue. |
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#10
Little disappointed in the doctor's visit. She wants me to have a CT scan. I think that is a bit of an overreaction. CT scans produce a tremendous amount of radiation and, if this is just a minor issue, which it appears it is, it probably won't show anything up anyway.
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