5 common symptoms of appendicitis
We will now describe 5 most common symptoms of appendicitis.
1. Rapid onset of tummy pain – that usually begins around your navel – and comes and goes (colicky).
2. Pain often shifts to your lower right abdomen – then becomes constant. It may worsens if you cough, breathe in, walk or make other jarring movements. This most often occurs 12 to 24 hours after the illness starts. This is a sign of peritonitis and means you need an operation to remove it.
The pain and tenderness often finally settles on a spot directly above the appendix called McBurney point.
3. Nausea and vomiting.
4. Loss of appetite.
5. Fever (can be low grade) – which may worsen as the illness progresses.
Other signs
- Constipation or diarrhoea
- Abdominal bloating.
Variations
Importantly, the symptoms of appendicitis can vary. And it can be hard to detect appendicitis in young children, older people, and women of childbearing age.
Also they can point in many directions giving different clinical presentations – e.g. with abdominal pain in different places.
Different directions for appendix
Summary
We have described the 5 most common signs of appendicitis. We hope you have found it useful.
