Symptoms of acute appendicitis

Article written by Doctor Ngo Viet Thang - Gastroenterologist, Department of General Surgery, Vinmec Ha Long International General Hospital.

Acute appendicitis is a dangerous disease and the progression is often very fast. Therefore, patients need to know the symptoms of appendicitis in order to promptly go to the emergency hospital and receive treatment as soon as possible.

Symptoms of acute appendicitis usually involve the abdomen and digestive system, which may be accompanied by fever or fatigue. Specifically, acute appendicitis in children and adults all share the following symptoms:
Abdominal pain is the first sign that occurs when the appendix begins to become inflamed. Pain usually starts from discomfort around the navel or epigastrium, then moves down to the right iliac fossa. Pain is usually dull, continuous, sometimes with a dominant attack. Pain level also gradually increases within 6-24 hours. Pain increases with turning, coughing, sneezing, moving, or impacting. In children, with late cases of rupture causing peritonitis, children often have symptoms of intestinal paralysis such as abdominal distention, or mechanical intestinal obstruction such as abdominal distension and vomiting, bowel obstruction in the case of abscesses. appendix.

In addition to typical abdominal pain, other appendicitis symptoms can include:
Fever but not too high (about 37.2 - 38.3 degrees Celsius), so many patients will be subjective Ignore this sign. However, when high fever accompanied by chills, appendicitis has been complicated by rupture or necrosis. Gastrointestinal signs such as nausea or vomiting; anorexia; constipation, but sometimes there are cases of diarrhea, which is easily confused with other symptoms of digestive disorders or intestinal inflammation, making patients and family subjective. Occasionally, patients may experience urinary-like symptoms such as painful urination and difficulty urinating. When noticing the above symptoms of acute appendicitis, patients should seek medical attention immediately because the progression of this disease is very fast. If not treated promptly, the appendix from inflammation will be at risk of becoming ruptured, causing feces to spill into the abdomen and be life-threatening.