No matter how great our body works, we can sometimes experience uncomfortable situations. For example: when the immune system is overworked, the body may perceive its own tissues as a foreign substance and attack them. In medical language, this disease is called ‘Autoimmune’.
Today’s article is based on appendicitis, which is equally necessary for our body, but also has the potential to harm our body. We tried to explain what appendicitis is, what it does and why it has the potential to harm our body.
What is appendicitis, what does it do, what are the symptoms and causes?
First, what is appendicitis, where is it located in our body?
The functions of some organs in our body are quite specific and everyone knows these organs well and badly. However, the existence and functioning of some organs is a complete mystery. As you can imagine, one of these organs is appendicitis. Appendicitis is located in the lower right part of your abdomen. It is an organ that resembles a tube of 15-20 cm in size, located between the small intestine and the large intestine.
So what does appendicitis do, what is its function?
- The appendix acts as a depot for lymphocyte tissues.
- It helps the production of lymphocyte, a type of white blood cell.
- Contributes to the production of antigens.
- It provides filtering of all kinds of harmful substances that are eaten and smoked.
- It helps development by providing regulation of endocrine cells.
Appendicitis, which works in love with its task even as a very young child, fights diseases and protects us as part of our body’s immune system. As we get older, it strangely ceases to do this and is replaced by other organs. At the same time, if there is a decrease in the number of beneficial bacteria in the human body with appendicitis, or if these bacteria are completely destroyed, it ensures that the beneficial bacteria that have been lost by activating and multiplying again, ensuring the necessary balance in the body to be restored.
What are the symptoms of appendicitis?
- Abdominal pain is the most common symptom. If this condition usually starts in the classic belly button and moves to the right side of your abdomen or starts directly on the right side, it is most likely a sign of appendicitis. This condition usually gets worse as time goes on, and later on it can become painful to cough, sneeze or even breathe.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Fever and chills
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Problem with regular flatulence
- Swelled Navel
The symptoms of appendicitis are actually pretty clear. However, since it has the same symptoms as classical diseases, it is quite possible to be confused. These symptoms can easily be confused with any disease. It is also not recommended to take painkillers at the same time. That’s because pain relievers can hide different symptoms that healthcare professionals need to know about. In short, abdominal pain etc. If you have symptoms and think that they are much more severe than they should be, it is better to go to the doctor immediately.
What are the causes of appendicitis?
As it is very easy to damage appendicitis, it is also very difficult. The biggest problem of appendicitis occurs when it starts to get blocked. This can be caused by various infections such as viruses, parasites and bacteria in your digestive system. The bacteria multiply rapidly, causing the appendix to become inflamed, swollen, and filled with pus. In rare cases, it can even be seen to be caused by a tumor.
After the appendix starts to swell, everything becomes much more painful. As the swelling and pain progress, the blood supply of the appendix begins to decrease, and when sufficient blood flow is not provided for the appendix, the appendix begins to die. At the same time, tears, holes may occur around the appendix and may even cause the appendix to burst. These are situations that should never happen. Because as a result of these events, the infection in the appendix can start from the navel and progress to other parts of the body and cause the beginning of a very serious infection period.
How is appendicitis treated?
Swelling and inflammation of the appendix is a very serious condition. Therefore, when you go to the doctor with such a symptom, the most likely recommendation to prevent the appendicitis from bursting and spreading a deadly infection will be removal of your appendix. This situation leads us to 2 different surgical methods.
- Classic open surgery method: The patient is given anesthesia. An incision is made in the lower right part of the abdomen and the appendix is removed from the body with a minor surgical operation. If the appendix has ruptured, a small tube is inserted to drain the pus and infection in the abdomen. When it is sure that all the infection has been removed from the body, the inserted tube is removed from the body. This may take several days.
- Laparoscopic method: The patient is anesthetized and a few small incisions are made to look inside your abdomen, then a camera is used. Surgical instruments are inserted through the cuts and the operation is performed with the help of the camera. It is possible to do laparoscopy even if the appendix has burst.
In this content, we answered the question of what is appendicitis, talked about its functions in our body and discussed the issues related to appendicitis. What we describe is for informational purposes only. When you have a problem as we mentioned above, you should definitely be examined by a specialist doctor.
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