Your
child is suffering from a severe stomach ache. Nausea. Agony. Getting worse, not
better.
Something is really wrong. You’ve heard the word before:
appendicitis.
“Appendicitis is the inflammation of the
appendix, a small tubular piece in the large bowel,”
says
Laura Fitzmaurice, MD, division chief, Emergency
Medical
Services at Children's Mercy
Hospitals and Clinics. “Appendicitis can be started by an
obstruction
in the appendix. This can be caused from one
of, or a combination of
lymphatic tissue, hardened stool, foreign bodies, bacterial
infection or
parasites.”
The blockage in the
appendix causes pain which starts in belly
button
area. As it worsens, the pain settles
in the lower right section of the stomach.
Many children will complain of stomach pain,
vomit
and feel nauseated or not hungry. The symptoms usually worsen
over a
period of 12 to 36 hours.
To diagnose appendicitis, medical professionals perform an x-ray or an
ultrasound on the child, and then if necessary, a CT scan. Both an ultrasound and a CT scan will
tell you
90 percent of
the time whether or not the child is suffering from
appendicitis.
Appendicitis
occur in about seven
percent of
the United
States population.
Adolescents are often the most affected. There is also an
increased risk for children who have a close relative who has had
appendicitis.
“If the appendix is not caught
when it is
still swollen, it eventually will burst and the fluid will spill into
the
abdominal cavity causing an infection or a walled-off abscess,” says Dr.
Fitzmaurice. “Appendicitis
are surgical emergencies that require an
operation and often times, antibiotics.”
If your child is suffering
from a
slight fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain
(before
vomiting), the child should be taken to the
Emergency
Room immediately.
