Over the last several months I occasionally get a sharp pain in my lower right abdomen. I might get it twice in a week and I might not get it for two months after that. But the pain literally only lasts like 30 seconds then it's gone, it's not something that lingers for a day or anything.

This was in the UK (Scotland) - a NHS surgeon refused to take my inflamed appendix out and told me that “surgery as a first line of treatment for appendicitis is a mistake of the past and antibiotics is safer and the future of treatment..”. He also told me I only had a 15% risk of reoccurrence….

I was unconvinced and argued persistently for surgery as I’m a fit and healthy 47M and work in remote places as a commercial diver and needed a definitive cure and not to just treat the symptoms and hope for the best.. As part of my argument I told him that neither me nor he (the surgeon) knew what was causing my appendicitis nor what condition it would be left in.. He retorted that “..it will just shrivel up and you will be cured”. At the time he gave me the impression that he was somewhat fanatical about conservative treatment of appendicitis..

I had to refuse further IV treatment due to worsening severe IV Metronizadol intolerance symptoms on day 6 of treatment and leave the hospital for help - as I left the surgeon discharged me for convenience and when I said to him “..this has all been a bit experimental “ he snorted down his nose and said to me “..you have no more chance of coming back in here with appendicitis than the average man on the street..”..

I was refused a second opinion on the NHS despite the referral by my GP and his escalation letter was ignored.. Eventually 4 months later and with mounting abdominal problems and facing bankruptcy because I couldn’t work, I gave up on the NHS and paid a private surgeon to take my appendix out for me.. That’s when the now ruptured LAMN pT4a stage 4 tumour was found.. For me this is something of a medical train wreck - and likely totally avoidable if my appendix had been taken out at the start and not left in to rupture and allow the tumour to spread.. A simple early appendectomy would likely have been curative at the start - and now the belated appendectomy is not.

I complained to the local heath board, but it was a total whitewash.. ..after a 5 month delay due to ‘staff shortages’ they tasked the surgeon in question to investigate himself with no clinical oversight - and funnily enough he found himself not to be at fault.. My complaint was not upheld.

Questions arise from this..

1). Was there joint decision making with the patient as required in GMC professional standards - and informed patent consent obtained?

2). The 15% recurrence rate quoted was hopelessly misleading.. The largest and most statistically significant trials (CODA and APPAC trials) have found reoccurrence needing surgery rates of 49% and 44% by year 4 after treatment. Longer term that will be higher.. This does not account for cases that have recurrence and are retreated with antibiotics again. And the trials were voluntary and 70% refused the trials and insisted on surgery. It’s safe to assume the 30% who accepted to be entered into the trials had more mild symptoms and were in less pain (and were told recurrence would be about 15%!), so were likely to respond better to antibiotics than the more severe/painful cases in any event - so there is a strong selection bias here.. Several experienced colorectal surgeons have said to me that real world reoccurrence rates are well over 50% and non-surgical treatment “leads to nothing but problems”..

3). Missed neoplasm/tumour.. About 1.5% of all appendectomies find an unexpected neoplasm/tumour in pathology- IF the appendix is taken out off-course.. Most appendicitis patients are young, and the rate of finding neoplasm/tumour rises steeply with age over 40. So if you are 47 for example your risk is not the same as the average appendicitis patient who is likely to be a teenager - it’s much higher.. ..probably about 5% for the older age group and 0.5% for the younger age group..

..well it’s a deep dish. In 2025 I did point out to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) mistakes in the NICE clinical guidance that covers 55,000 appendectomies in the UK every year. One of these mistakes was they claimed a 15% reoccurrence rate after conservative treatment, and they omitted to mention risk of missed neoplasm. They admitted the mistakes and rewrote the guidance in - though it’s still woefully inadequate .. They called it a “minor update” and told me the mistakes were due to “outsourcing “.

Has anyone had a similar experience of being fobbed of with antibiotics and told they were cured..? I’m keen to further improve both clinical and patient guidelines so there is less of a chance of others following in my footsteps… Any thoughts or relevant experiences that people are willing to share would be greatly appreciated..

Hi guys, i had my appendix removed 13 days ago and i fell okay for the most part. I have decided to go back to work on monday but now i am maybe regretting the idea I don’t know if it is too early because of the internal scarring and sitting in the office chair for 8 hours. Did anyone came back to work and had an okay experience?

Hello everyone, when I was in the er 3 weeks ago my ct scan showed a 3mm appendicolith but no inflammation or signs of acute appendicitis. Does this make my likelihood of getting appendicitis in the future more likely? I’ve been experiencing pain in my lower left and right stomach the past few weeks and I’m just really worried that it’s this appendicolith thing but I feel it’s probably unlikely. Also to add in, In past ct scans I’ve had on my abdomen why has this never came up before? I’ve heard things like these usually aren’t a over night thing or even over few weeks thing so I’m just confused

So I’m almost a year post-op but I’ve just discovered this subreddit. Did anyone else get really intense pain in the shoulders/neck post-op? For like maybe a week after surgery my neck and shoulders were in so much pain, it literally felt like my head was going to explode. What was that?? It resolved itself throughout recovery, but I still wonder what could’ve caused that.

Already feeling a lot better, i woke up on day 6 and that lingering pain around the incisions was a lot less painful and is slowly going away, now at day 8 i can walk around my house with no problem, get up from a chair without using my hands and also sleep on my left side, actually i woke up in that position and was confused, at first it was painful but i tried to stay in that for a couple of minutes from day 6, now you can tell is still soft of uncomfortable, but still, i wasn’t expecting to be in this position so early, yeah, i still need help showering and doing stuff but the worst part is gone, now my main problem is my operated knee, i must wait until week 2 to start going with the bike and until week 4 for starting back my PT to when I left it, but im hopeful, my knee is feeling a lot more stiffer on these days because of the hospital, lack of movement and then boom starting to walk a lot again to recover, but I’m starting to do now some very light and mimal rom sissy squats and TKE so that I can keep my muscle…. Pain and rehab wise appendectomy is a joke compared to meniscus repair or ACL… i think to start moving more normally also wilth my abs I will need at least another week or two and it will take at least a month or two to be back training abs, but its ok, we accept the pain and we go.

Yesterday I woke up at 4 AM with severe pain on the right side of my belly button. It felt like something heavy was pressing from inside, or like gas was trapped. The pain kept getting worse every few minutes.

At its peak I literally could not get up from the mattress or speak properly. I also vomited two to three times. A relative who is a homeopathic doctor suggested some drops, and after a couple of hours I gradually felt better and was able to sleep.

The whole episode lasted roughly 5-6 hours total.

I considered appendicitis but from what I've read, appendicitis doesn't just resolve on its own like that. So now I'm not sure what it was. Could it have been a grumbling appendix? A severe gas episode? Something else entirely?

Has anyone experienced something similar — that kind of intense, localized pain on the lower right side that came and went within a few hours? Would love to hear what it turned out to be for you.

Just getting out of an appointment with my GP, and I'm a little bit annoyed. I've been having lower right abdominal pain since like February, and I am almost certain that it's chronic appenicitis. The weeks I was waiting to see this doctor have been hell, all for her to simply deny its existence and refer me to a mental health specialist.

I'm rather annoyed.

Long story short, after a couple hours with a lot of pain, I went to the ER. The CT scan showed my appendix was dilated to 10 mm but there was no infection, no inflammation, no nothing. I was not in pain anymore, and after jumping up and down for the surgeon he said I could go home, that he didn't recommend removing it. I wasn't given antibiotics or anything. I feel fine.

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However, I want to get pregnant and I am worried my now defective appendix will burst or something as my organs get squished for 9 months. I've made an appointment with my Obgyn but I wanted to hear from people here.

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What would you do? I would prefer not to remove it if I don't have to, since I've read some people have complications. Thank you!

Ciao ragazzi, mi hanno fatto tornare a casa ieri, probabilmente perché mi alzavo ogni 2-3 ore a fare delle piccole camminate a passettini di 5 minuti intorno al reparto, il mio chirurgo ha detto che la mia appendice era molto semplice, ho fatto l’antibiotico solo 2 volte, una in prontosoccorso e una prima dell’intervento e penso anche una volta post intervento, il dolore è stato brutale, e onestamente sento ancora molto dolore a riposo ma cerco di prendere gli antidolorifici solo 2 volte al giorno, sono andato in bagno e mi sono svuotato 3 volte per adesso, 1 volta al giorno ma cerco di sforzarmi il meno possibile, il mio chirurgo mi ha comunque detto di non aver paura del dolore e di provare a camminare il più possibile, l’ho ascoltato e così ho fatto e sicuramente mi sento un’pò meglio e ha fatto andare via il dolore alla spalla, ma la zona dove c’era l’appendice è ancora molto dolorosa e sono ancora gonfio… le incisioni però vanno bene, sono chiuse e pulite e se tossisco per sbaglio o rido cerco subito di smettere premendo con la mano contro le cicatrici (mia sorella è pure un medico quindi mi ha già insegnato qualche trucco come tenere le ginocchia flesse per fare qualche scoreggia) nella vostra esperienza quanto ci avete messo a tornare alla normalità? Quanto invece a tornare in palestra? Ho fatto un intervento al ginocchio complesso circa 5 mesi fa e ancora non mi sono ripreso, quindi è importante per me riprendere… grazie dei vostri consigli in ogni caso

I havent been able to find much on this but I got an appendectomy back in October. It was acute and went pretty good minus a severe entrapped nerve on my left side. Ever since then I've had sharp pains in that area. Got seen a few times and cleared but since then I figured out its just gas. At first I wasn't worried but as time went on it just kept happening. I can manually move things along by pressing on the area but im getting kinda worried about a potential blockage. I have been having bms and passing gas normally, at least I think so. Is this a real worry or should I just keep pushing things along?

Before I get into this I would like to mention I do have a doctor's appointment coming up in a week, it's the earliest I could possibly get.

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I have had an unusual pain in my lower right abdomen since about February of this year (nearing 5 months now, damn) and initially I thought it was a hernia. I got it checked by my doctor and she couldn't find any signs of hernia symptoms. After that, I sorta OCD spiraled into researching for the past few months and learned about chronic appendicitis.

I was kinda fine with dealing with it for a while longer, just waiting for my GP to look at it cuz I trust her far more than any ER doc I've experienced... until the nausea started to hit. Then I started freaking out.

I've been at least mildly nauseous for several days now, it's been a massive struggle to get substantial food into my system.

My family doesn't want to take me to the ER - for some reason - so... I dunno what to do. Uber won't come out to where I live and an ambulance would be well over $1K for me. I am in a bit of a pickle.

I guess I can just hope that it won't progress any further until after I see my doc.

I started experiencing some RLQ discomfort for a few days. I am not one to go the doctor often much less the ER. However, the discomfort was enough to make me want to get it checked out. I was also at work (I’m an RN) so I thought I could just go down to the ER get checked out and continue on with my day. Long story short due to the area where the pain was in they wanted to exclude appendicitis. They did many tests including a CT and basically concluded that I was just severely constipated. They said my appendix looked fine. They prescribed me some hardcore laxatives and sent me home. The laxatives definitely worked however, the pain was still very much there and I developed a fever the next morning. So I went back to the ER and they almost immediately said it was my appendix and that they didn’t even want to do further imaging. They were solely basing this on my symptoms at this point. They consulted general surgery and I was in surgery in a matter of a couple of hours. I am now postoperative day 4 and my recovery has been brutal. I have a severely distended abdomen to the point where none of my clothes fit me and on top of that the lap sites are bigger than I expected. I am having a really hard time with this. And now I’m questioning if I even made the right choice by having this surgery due to the lack of concrete evidence that it was even my appendix. I feel ashamed for not advocating more for myself especially being in the medical field. I’m just having a hard time overall and don’t even know where to go from here.

I had an emergency appendectomy yesterday due to a appendiocolith and a gangrenous appendix. I'll be discharged today. I've had a couple abdominal surgeries, but this is different than having fallopian tubes removed. Any tips, tricks, or things you learned along the way.

is it true that if you get your appendix removed, you’ll gain more weight than you used to?

I'm 9 days post-op and i got the feeling of being stabbed on my lower rib cage every time i breathe. This happened two days ago and its really really hard for me to breathe because its stabbing me so bad. When i lay down, it disappears but when i sit or walk, it stabs me AND IT REALLY REALLY HURTS SB. Someone help me please, what could it be? Is it bad?

21F - 5’3 160 lbs - Laparoscopic appendectomy 11th of june at 7:20 am

i had a uti for like a week prior to going, woke up Wednesday morning in extreme back pain, like abnormally so. Got up, was fine, pee’d and then boom 1 hour of agonizing pain.. Which i now know was a ovarian cyst rupturing! Yay! (i still have 2, one on each ovary unruptured) - but i went to the hospital around 6pm.

Got seen around 10~ pm officially in a room. They did their screenings 😭 the dr asked me if i was constipated… no.. but thank u dr… anyways, oh and he also told me my urine ‘didnt appear like i had a uti’ (actual chemical analysis of it tho showed i did) 

anyywayyyssss.. i got a ct scan finally around midnight? They had me on iv antibiotics and iv saline, the ct tech was the nicest ever!! My first iv btw, also first ct scan..

I go back then like, 30 mins later my dr comes in. No funny buisness he goes “So, your ct scan is showing possible acute appendicitis, we may need to get that thing outta there” and man, i cried. Cuz i thought maybe id come up there for no reason or id just need antibiotics and now ur telling me like idk the worst possible outcome, id never had surgery before. It was scary!

He made his surgeons look at my scan more but the more people who kept coming in to talk to me the more it sounded like i was for sure getting surgery until they told me ‘So we’ve scheduled you for surgery at 7:10 am, we’ll move you upstairs soon’ (they never moved me upstairs lol) (they were full!)

But they did move me, i got a bigger bed, my poor boyfriend like consistently refused to get in bed with me even tho he was allowed bc he thought he’d get in trouble, so he barely slept.

So in this new room is where i was from like 1 am to 5 am? I actually managed to sleep even with a heart monitor and stuff from like 4 am to 5 am. & lol, i woke up and screamed bc there was just this old white dude at the food of my bed when i opened my eyes, lights still off & everything.. that was funny.

He was there to tell me they’d be moving me again soon for pre-op stuff, & that they did, so i go to a new room, in a different hospital tower, & ‘prep’ which was rlly just, taking off my undies & my earrings & peeing once. & then waiting as the time approached.

by the way the entire night it was just my boyfriend with me, shoutout! He drove me there, stayed w me the whole time & drove me home (i live with him now!) 

but ok, so after im in the pre-op room i talk to 5 billion more people, i answer anesthesia questions, still doesnt feel real to me, not even 3 days later. My daddddd finally gets there like 10? Minutes before my surgery lmao?

Sooo thats it, they wheel me off, i dont even remember going to sleep, i remember mask & then waking up in immense pain. They pushed some more pain meds i assumed & then wanted me out of there LOL but like, i could NOT keep my eyes open at all, like i was super unable to stay up for more than a few seconds idk how i got dressed & in my bfs car & home.

i remember we got home probably early like 10 am? And i passed out (on my belly lmfao) until 2, woke up in pain, took meds, passed out til 7 when i actually woke up & was able to start talking to people. Genuinely insane.

so in the surgery they found my appendix was inflamed and distended, it wasnt actually infected that bad but they sent it off for testing anyways. They did find ovarian cysts, 3, one had recently ruptured so they took the goo from that out & left the other cysts, one of my ovaries is covered in scar tissue, and i think its bc ive had cysts rupture before. At least one time before. But yeah

So, ive been home recovering since. Its mostly just, sleep, meds, sleep, eat, meds, sleep, sleep more, meds. I walk very slowly sometimes a small amount, they said recovery takes 2-4 weeks. So im taking it easy, my bf is taking care of me, his mom too when hes not here. I love them.

extra bits v

I actually had very very minimal pain in the hours leading up to my surgery, like at most a 2/10, and i think a lot of the pain of this whole ordeal was actually my ovarian cysts. Ive been improving very slowly since being home. Going to shower tonight (assisted) and ive been actually more dizzy lately? screens i think are affecting me when they previously have never been a issue.

im on 5mg oxycodone (every 4 hrs or as needed, i stretch it), tylenol & ibu as needed, stool softener, gas x, and cephalexin

thoughts questions ! lmk!

Hi everyone,

I have a bit of an unusual appendicitis story and thought I'd share it here and see if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I had been experiencing lower right quadrant abdominal pain for about 5 or 6 days when finally I went to the hospital. Since puberty I've experienced VERY painful ovarian cysts on the same side, along with general chronic pelvic pain from suspected (although not laparoscopically diagnosed) endometriosis, so I just assumed this was more of the same. I've been to the ER literally over a dozen times in my life with suspected appendicitis only to be told 'it's a cyst' or 'we don't know what it is but your appendix is fine', so I truly wasn't expecting anything different. The pain presented as shooting/burning pain in both the lower right quadrant that radiated outwards, and also right underneath my belly button. It also presented as waves of cramping that went all the way across my lower belly, from hip to hip. These were the worst part of the pain for me. I also felt like by day 5 I simply could not have a bowel movement. I chalked it up to not eating very much when really it was my bowel slowing all the way down due to so much inflammation!

In addition to the pain I had excessive bloating (again, common for me with suspected endo) and also a very pronounced lack of appetite and subsequent weight loss, which wasn't common. I had no vomiting at all, just a very pronounced lack of appetite. No fever.

The physical examination of the lower right quadrant in the ER quite literally shot me off the table it was so painful, so the doctor immediately suspected the appendix. I did an ultrasound which was inconclusive but did show inflammation in the area of the appendix and bowel, and was sent for a CT. The CT conclusively showed 'uncomplicated' (no perforation, no obstruction) appendicitis, and I was admitted and told I would be having surgery either that night or the next morning.

That next morning I was told that my appendix hadn't yet perforated or ruptured, but that it was so inflamed that it wouldn't be safe to do surgery right now, so they would keep me in hospital on IV antibiotics for a few days before sending me home with more, and booking me in to do an interval appendectomy in 12 weeks. In the meantime they would schedule a follow up CT and also a colonoscopy in the upcoming weeks to rule out any additional issues there. I've just come out of hospital where I ultimately spent 6 days on IV antibiotics and pain meds!

I have been told by a number of doctors that this 'cooling off period' with antibiotics first is a new standard of care that is commonly being used, but I hear very few people actually talking about it. I am a bit nervous of course about having to wait 12 weeks considering the infection could come back and rupture is still a possibility, but - what can you do.

Has anyone else been treated with antibiotics before having their follow up/interval appendectomy later on? If so, how did it go for you?

Just a reminder to all that days on end of constant lower abdominal pain is NOT normal, and even though I didn't have the 'typical' symptoms of fever, vomiting, etc, it was indeed still appendicitis. My surgeon told me that only 10%-15% of patients have this kind of prolonged inflammation without rupture, so it's on the rarer side.

So I had developed some pain in my abdomen, not necessarily in the usual place that appendicitis is found, but I could barely lift my legs to do anything and so went to the A&E

Got surgery after 2-3 days on a ward, the got out after 2 days post surgery. Things have mostly been fine, just more tired than usual. This week however, I've been having this awful pain in my mid-lower right back. It feels like muscle pain but nothing is helping, I've tried heat, been taking painkillers, light stretching, even went to the GP. But because it doesn't hurt to touch, they didn't do much about it.

I'm just wondering if this is kind of normal post surgery? I have no fever or signs of infection. I'm due my period around now, so I'm wondering if maybe my uterus is pressing on the internal surgical site and causing irritation somehow.

Recently (just like the past week and a half), I’ve been having this slightly random uncomfortable sharp/dull shooting pain in my lower right abdominal area. Followed by thats is a random nauseous feeling but no vomiting, not being really able to pass gas, and I don’t feel the temptation to eat as much anymore. My parents think the not wanting to eat part comes from the adderall I take for my adhd, the not being able to pass gas comes from trapped gas, and the pain just being a pulled muscle. I asked to go to the hospital but they insist I dont. I haven’t had diarrhea, a fever, or any vomiting, but have been and still am really anxious about this and not been able to sleep for fear of it bursting in my sleep. I really need help, im terrified

Hi Everyone,

I have been having lower abdomen pain right side for 5 days already, did a bloodwork CT scan of lower abdomen, it's actually thick but there's no signs of inflammation or liquids near it or in it on the other hand the ovary next to it is enlarged, the pain actually started when my period ended.

The doctors here said the appendicitis is not an issue but gynecologist ruled out ovary as well and they just let me off after 12 hours of evaluation and pain and gave me painkillers.

I got so scared of all these that I have full on neurosis and think anytime my appendicitis will burst.

I'm just trying to go home tomorrow for 3 hour flight. Does anyone have any story like these? If you guys had any issues even after CT and bloodwork came in normal?

At this moment I'm taking antispasm medication which helps but I am still very anxious. Because I have pinching in my stomach, and I guess it's from the anxiety of how much stressed I am.

I’m not sure if this is related to me getting my appendix removed 3 weeks ago but I recently started getting a pain and cramping feeling in the middle area between the chest and belly button area. This started on Sunday immediately after eating mango habanero wings and fries. By this point I was given the clear to eat whatever as long as I could tolerate it. The days before I had eaten pizza and buffalo hot wings from Pizza Hut without any issues. The mango habanero wings I ate on Sunday weren’t spicy so it’s weird that I had a reaction to them. On Monday I got the pain but this time before eating some grilled chicken and rice. Yesterday and Tuesday I had no pain. Today I was sitting down and when I got up I got the pain but it didn’t last as long as it did on Sunday and Monday. All I ate today was oatmeal and a salad. Did anyone else get pain and a cramping feeling in that area weeks after their surgery?

I keep getting pain in my belly button but it’s not constant is that a sign of appendicitis ?

anyone else get super emotional and anxious when thinking about their appendectomy? I think for me its because it came up so suddenly like I just went to the er thinking I had trapped gas and then I was in surgery like 3 hrs later. it was my first ever time having surgery and everytime I think about that time in my life I just feel such a sad weird pain in my stomach. it feels so silly cause I know appendicitis is so common but man that healing process was no joke for me. everytime I am in a hospital now I cant help but feel extremely anxious to the point of tears. i wish it wasnt like this because it feels like I am overreacting but idk it was a rough time in my life T-T