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Show Your Doctor Says . . . The following it one of a tertet of article! written by members of the Utah State Medical Aitocmtion and published in cooperation with your local newspaper. These article are scheduled to appear eery other ueek throughout the year in an effort to better acquaint you with probelmi of health, and designed to improve the fcllbeing of the people of Utah. APPENDICITIS Appendicitis can be as dangerous today us it has been in the past if it is allowed to Drocec' to complications. com-plications. The surcioal treatment of appendicitis has become much safer in recent vears because of improvements such as the so-called "wonder drugs", advanced anesthesia, anes-thesia, blood transfusions, and feeding through the veins. One of the greatest mistakes people make in trying to relieve nhitnni in r I ditrncv nf !i nn,,nili.t t ic is to take a laxative, especially a harsh one. This produce? increased activity of the intestines, which may cause an inflamed appendix to rupture. Enemas should also be avoided where this disease is o rosept as the pressure from the enemas may be enough to cause it to rupture. The appendix ir- attached to the blind end of the larger intestine, called the cecum Because it is not fixed in one position the free end of the appendix mav actually be found in almost any part of the nbdnminal cavity. Usually this organ is found in the right lower part of the Bbdomen and even here it may be in front of, behind, or on one side of the cecum or it may dip into the pelvic cavitv or lie behind the small intestine. The symptoms of appendicitis may vary greatly because of the variety of positions the organ may occupy and because of various stages -f progression of the disease. dis-ease. When an inflamed npendix lies agninst another organ ot the body, the symptoms encountered may be those associated with disease dis-ease of that organ rather than those of appendicitis. In a typical case of appendicitis abdominal cramping or pains are usually found close to the umbilicus at the start of the disease and after a few hours the pain localizes to the part of the abdomen where the appendix is lying. The most common position in which the pain localizes is in the ripit lower abdomen. A high white blood cell count is usually present. There may be a loss of appetite, nausea, and vomitinn with normal bowel movements, diarrhea or constipation. Quite oftei. thert is a low-grade fever, but with complications com-plications the temperature may be very high. If the disease is allowed to proceed the appendix may ruuture, which causes the serious complication complica-tion of peritonitis. The infection may localize and form an adsce.-s or it may spread thrournout the abdominal cavity and cause general peritonitis. A fatal outcome might result from either ot hese conditions con-ditions if not treated immed'"'''v. If you have svnipton.s ot appendicitis ap-pendicitis oi an unexoiamec persistent per-sistent nTidominal Pain vou shmiid consult your physician without (1e-lay. |