While many medical professionals claim the appendix is a “vestigial organ” without function, immunology researchers at North Carolina’s Duke University Medical Center explain that the appendix may benefit the human digestive system by contributing “good” bacteria that aids digestion in the gut.
Appendicitis occurs when the appendix (a narrow tube-shaped pouch at the end of the large intestine) becomes blocked (by faeces or infection) and painfully inflamed. The key is the surgical removal of the organ before it bursts, which can lead to a fatal infection spreading throughout the abdomen.
The 20 most common symptoms leading up to appendicitis are…
1. Abdominal Pain
The most commonly attributed symptom of appendicitis is sharp pain in the lower right abdomen or pain that begins at or around the belly button and shifts to the lower right abdomen. This is the general area where the appendix, a small sac that protrudes from the large intestine.
The pain of appendicitis is typically constant, meaning it doesn’t come and go or resolves completely. It often causes patients to double over in pain and is typically described by patients as like being “jabbed with a knife.”