Abdominal Pain: UTI vs Appendicitis

Last Friday, I suffered from a severe abdominal pain. It started at around ten in the morning as a vague, persistent pain in the periumbilical area. I thought I was just having some form of gastritis so I took two tablets of Kremil-S, but there was no relief. The severity became progressive that I started having cold sweats on my way home for lunch. My sister said my lips were already pale when we were in the jeepney. I psyched myself of not passing out until we reached the house. After a while, the pain became so excruciating that they had to bring me to the hospital.

In the ER, I started to vomit and the pain was worse than ever. It is a protocol for appendicitis-suspect patients not to be given any pain medications so I had to endure the ordeal until I was brought to my room. Complete blood count and urinalysis both showed a high degree of bacterial infection, but because the pain cannot be localized at the right lower quadrant where the appendix is located, and because the results of the maneuvers to confirm appendicitis were vague, I was just placed under observation.

Sometime after that, as I was in a prone position with a hot water bag on my tummy, the pain just slowly faded and I drifted to sleep. When I woke up, what was left was a moderate but tolerable pain in the right lower quadrant. I stayed in the hospital overnight and was discharged the following day as a probable case of urinary tract infection.

My co-worker had the same kind of abdominal pain the other day which also started in the morning. It also persisted and progressed that she had to seek ER consult in the afternoon. We received a text message from her 3 hours later that she was already scheduled for appendectomy or removal of her appendix that night, which, according to her doctor, was already swollen and infected.

Our symptoms were both classic early signs of appendicitis. I just thank God that mine did not progress into the real thing. It could happen to anyone, any age, any gender, any time. There are no proven precipitating factors for its occurrence. As doctors, we would just say that if it happens, it’s God’s gift to whoever the surgeon is.

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