1. Where You'll Feel it
The most common site of pain associated with appendicitis is in the lower right side of the abdomen, between the navel and the right hip. Often, the pain starts out as an ache around the belly button and moves to the lower right side when the appendix is inflamed and its removal is necessary. The initial ache can change to sharp pains as tissue near the appendix becomes inflamed as well.
2. How it Starts
Appendicitis symptoms often develop somewhere between four and 48 hours from the start of the problem. Within this time frame, people often feel abdominal pain accompanied by vomiting or a loss of appetite. Some people experience loose stools or constipation, while others have no bowel changes at all. Physicians often misdiagnose early symptoms of appendicitis as less harmful conditions such as gastroenteritis, or stomach inflammation.
3. Not Just Pain
Your doctor may suspect appendicitis if you have a fever along with the pain. Swelling in the abdomen, nausea and a loss of appetite also point to this ailment. Appendicitis in children and older adults usually present with fewer symptoms, so a delay in their diagnosis is common. A delayed or wrong diagnosis is common in pregnant women too because the appendix may move to a slightly different location in the abdomen.
4. Tender to the Touch
Tenderness to the touch in the affected area of the abdomen can mean appendicitis. Once you apply light pressure, the release of this pressure can cause even more pain. This is referred to as rebound tenderness. Any movements that jar the area, such as sneezing or coughing, can make the pain feel much worse. People can experience some relief from this pain by lying on their side and bringing their knees up to their chest, like in the fetal position.
5. It Could be Something Else
There are other conditions that feel like appendicitis. An ectopic pregnancy, where the fertilized egg attaches to one of the fallopian tubes, can feel the same as appendicitis. Problems like kidney stones, which are minerals in urine that combine to make tiny pebble-like formations, or Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel condition, have some of the same symptoms as appendicitis. These can include pain, nausea or fever. A doctor should evaluate any pain in the lower right part of the abdomen that doesn't dissipate after four hours.
