How To Treat Appendicitis
Appendix inflammation is a medical emergency that requires treatment and possible surgery. According to Dr. Melissa Conrad Stöppler on MedicineNet, if appendicitis is confirmed then doctors arrange for the appendix to be removed as soon as possible.3
Doctors from the Mayo Clinic say that an appendectomy is a simple procedure done by making an incision on the side of the body where the appendix is and removing it. Appendectomies are an emergency procedure to remove the appendix before it has ruptured and the infection spreads to other areas around your right abdomen.12
According to doctors from Johns Hopkins, its important to be aware of severe pain on the lower right-hand side where your appendix is located because a ruptured appendix can cause serious complications. A pus from a burst appendix can cause peritonitis which is an infection of the belly that can be fatal.13
Where Are Your Kidneys Located And Causes Of Kidney Pain
Your kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped organs below the ribs, behind your belly, one on each side of your spine. Each kidney is about four inches long, almost the size of your fist. These organs are responsible for removing wastes, filtering your blood, controlling your bodys fluid balance, and maintaining the right levels of electrolytes.
Each kidney has a million small filters called nephrons. Your kidneys filter 120 to 150 quarts of blood every day, producing one to two quarts of urine, which is composed of wastes, minerals, salt, and extra fluid. The filtered blood circulates back into your body. Kidneys also help keep your blood healthy by producing erythropoietin , a hormone needed for making red blood cells.
Flank or kidney pain can be a sign of urinary tract infection or kidney infection. Other possible causes are kidney stones and cysts. If you are experiencing acute, sharp pain, it is best to see your doctor rule out any severe conditions.
Other Conditions That Cause Abdominal Pain On The Right Side
Other conditions can also cause right-sided abdominal pain and symptoms similar to appendicitis. Dr. Mary Lowth on Patient.info says that some common reasons for discomfort and aches in your lower abdomen are a urinary tract infection, kidney stones , gallstones, inflammation of the intestines, or ovulation pain.6
If your belly pain doesnt get better and just gets worse, you should see a doctor immediately.
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How Is Kidney Pain Treated
Treatment of kidney pain depends on what condition is causing it. In order to pinpoint a cause, a number of tools are available to help your doctor make a diagnosis:
- Urinalysis: Checks for the presence of blood, excess white blood cells , proteins, and certain chemicals that are linked to various kidney disorders.
- Imaging tests:Ultrasound or a CT scan provides an image of the physical structure of the kidneys and urinary tract, sees if stones are present, and helps determine if blood flow is adequate.
How To Keep Your Kidneys Healthy
To avoid symptoms of kidney problems there are several things you should do according to National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases .
1. Keep your blood glucose in check, especially if you have diabetes.
2. Maintain a healthy blood pressure.
3. Eat healthy mealsâIf you are already displaying symptoms of kidney problems, avoid a diet high in protein, fat, sodium, and potassium.
4. Have yearly tests to ensure your kidneys are functioning properly
5. Avoid painkillers unless necessary as they can damage your kidneys. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen are especially bad.
6. Contact your doctor immediately if you think you have a bladder or kidney infection.
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Can You Change Treatments For Kidney Failure
If you start on one type of treatment for kidney failure but feel you would like to try something else, you can speak to your healthcare professional about changing. For most people, it is often possible to change treatments. For example, if you choose hemodialysis, it doesn’t mean you can’t switch to peritoneal dialysis at a later date. Even if you choose to have a kidney transplant, you may need a period of dialysis until you can be transplanted with a new kidney. It is not uncommon for people who have had kidney failure for many years to have had more than one type of treatment in that time.
Finding Relief From Kidney Stone Pain
Not all kidney stones require medical intervention. The smallest stones may pass without you even knowing, but medium-sized stones may cause pain thats often easy to manage with pain medication and drinking plenty of water.
Stones that are about 4mm or larger may need professional care, so they dont get lodged in your urinary tract and cause health complications. Our team offers a number of treatment options for larger stones, including extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and surgery.
Talk to our doctors to learn more about kidney stones and the treatment thats right for you. Call the office nearest you, book online, or send our team a message today.
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Feeling Faint Dizzy Or Weak
Why this happens:
Anemia related to kidney failure means that your brain is not getting enough oxygen. This can lead to feeling faint, dizzy, or weak.
What patients said:
I was always tired and dizzy.
It got to the point, like, I used to be at work, and all of the sudden I’d start getting dizzy. So I was thinking maybe it was my blood pressure or else diabetes was going bad. That’s what was on my mind.
How Do My Kidneys Work
Each of your kidneys is made up of about a million filtering units called nephrons. Each nephron includes a filter, called the glomerulus, and a tubule. The nephrons work through a two-step process: the glomerulus filters your blood, and the tubule returns needed substances to your blood and removes wastes.
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What Is Kidney Pain
Kidney pain is discomfort that comes from the area where your kidneys are. It’s often described as a dull ache, you feel in your sides, back, or belly. But pain in these areas isn’t always a sign of a kidney issue. It’s easy to mistake kidney pain for ordinary back pain. But there are some differences in how kidney pain feels and where it’s located compared to back pain.
Kidney pain has many possible causes, and some could be serious. It’s important to let your doctor know if you notice pain that you think may be coming from one or both of these organs.
Where are your kidneys?
Your kidneys are two small organs shaped like beans. You have one on each side of your body. They’re each about the size of your fist. They’re below your rib cage on both sides of your spinal cord.
Your kidneys have important jobs. They clean out water, acids, and waste from your blood. They make urine so your body flushes out the waste. If they’re diseased or damaged in some way, they can’t do their work to maintain a healthy balance of salts, minerals like calcium, and water in your blood.
Your kidneys also make hormones that help you manage your blood pressure, keep your bones strong, and make red blood cells.
So it’s important to watch for any signs of kidney disease or damage, like pain.
Metallic Taste In The Mouth
Sometimes, your body can become so overloaded with toxins that you can literally taste them.
People with kidneys that are not working at optimal capacity, can often experience a metallic taste in their mouths.
Any unfiltered waste buildup can linger in your blood where it can alter the taste of food.
This buildup of toxins can further lead to halitosis and a lack of appetite.
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What Side Is Your Kidney On
Answers to commonly asked questions about a critical waste-removal system
“What side is your kidney on?” people ask, as they wonder whether that agony they’re feeling is coming from a kidney.
The answer, of course, is both sides! You have two kidneys, one on either side of your body.
Too often people dont understand or appreciate these important, fist-sized organs until something goes wrong with them. So for this blog, were going to share some interesting facts about kidneys.
Where are the kidneys located?
- Your kidneys live in the upper part of your abdomen, just under your rib cage.
- Your right kidney is found a bit lower than your left one, to make room for the liver.
What do they look like?
- Your kidneys are shaped like beans .
- Theyre about 4 or 5 inches long.
What do kidneys do?
- Kidneys help remove waste and excess liquids from your body. They do that thanks to tiny filters called nephrons that pick up the waste that will leave your body as urine. They filter all the blood in your body several times a day.
- They produce hormones that regulate blood pressure and tell your body when to make more red blood cells.
- They help make sure the volume of liquid in your body doesnt fluctuate too much. Thats why if youre losing a lot of water through sweat, you wont need to urinate as often.
Why do kidneys hurt?
Why do kidneys stop working?
- A number of problems can cause kidney disease, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and inflammation of the kidneys.
Why Wait Until Your Kidneys Are Diseased
While the study was conducted on people with kidney disease, we could safely extrapolate the recommendations to those who want to avoid kidney disease and achieve optimal kidney function now, especially as we age.
In fact, additional research points to the actuality of physiological changes in the kidneys as we age. The research notes that a progressive reduction of the glomerular filtration rate and renal blood flow are observed in conjunction with aging. The reason for these phenomena is a decrease in the plasma flow in the glomerulus, a bundle of capillaries that partially form the renal corpuscle.2
In addition, the aging kidneys experience other structural changes, such as a loss of renal mass, and decreased responsiveness to stimuli that constrict or dilate blood vessels. The study concludes with a notable summation:
age-related changes in cardiovascular hemodynamics, such as reduced cardiac output and systemic hypertension, are likely to play a role in reducing renal perfusion and filtration. Finally, it is hypothesized that increases in cellular oxidative stress that accompany aging result in endothelial cell dysfunction and changes in vasoactive mediators resulting in increased atherosclerosis, hypertension and glomerulosclerosis.2
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Food Tastes Like Metal
Why this happens:
A build-up of wastes in the blood can make food taste different and cause bad breath. You may also notice that you stop liking to eat meat, or that you are losing weight because you just don’t feel like eating.
What patients said:
Foul taste in your mouth. Almost like you’re drinking iron.
I don’t have the appetite I had before I started dialysis, I must have lost about 10 pounds.
Swelling In Hands Or Feet
Why this happens:
Failing kidneys don’t remove extra fluid, which builds up in your body causing swelling in the legs, ankles, feet, and/or hands.
What patients said:
I remember a lot of swelling in my ankles. My ankles were so big I couldn’t get my shoes on.
Going to work one morning, my left ankle was swollen, real swollen, and I was very exhausted just walking to the bus stop. And I knew then that I had to see a doctor.
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The Tubule Returns Needed Substances To Your Blood And Removes Wastes
A blood vessel runs alongside the tubule. As the filtered fluid moves along the tubule, the blood vessel reabsorbs almost all of the water, along with minerals and nutrients your body needs. The tubule helps remove excess acid from the blood. The remaining fluid and wastes in the tubule become urine.
Medications That Can Harm The Kidneys
No matter what kind of medicine you take, whether OTC or prescription, it is destined to take a trip through your kidneys. Taking a drug the wrong way or in excessive amounts can damage these vital, bean-shaped organs and lead to serious complications. In the worst-case scenario, it could necessitate a kidney transplant.
Compared with 30 years ago, patients todayhave a higher incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, take multiple medications, and are exposed to more diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with the potential to harm kidney function, according to Cynthia A. Naughton, PharmD, senior associate dean and associate professor in the department of pharmacy practice at North Dakota State University. All of these factors are associated with an elevated risk of kidney damage.
An estimated 20% of cases of acute kidney failure are due to medications. The technical term for this scenario is nephrotoxicity, which is growing more common as the aging population grows, along with rates of various diseases.
The kidneys get rid of waste and extra fluid in the body by filtering the blood to produce urine. They also keep electrolyte levels balanced and make hormones that influence blood pressure, bone strength and the production of red blood cells. When something interferes with the kidneys, they cant do their job, so these functions can slow down or stop altogether.
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Swollen Or Puffy Face
Why this happens:
Failing kidneys don’t remove extra fluid, which builds up in your body causing swelling in the face.
What patients said:
My sister, her hair started to fall out, she was losing weight, but her face was really puffy, you know, and everything like that, before she found out what was going on with her.
My checks were always puffy and tight. Sometimes they would even hurt.
What Side Is Your Appendix On
Jenny Hills, Nutritionist and Medical Writer Health
Your appendix is a small organ that is located on the lower right side of your abdomen. Pains that increase in intensity on the lower right side of your stomach can be a sign of appendicitis the medical name when your appendix becomes inflamed. It is important to know what side your appendix is on because appendicitis can be a very serious condition that requires urgent treatment. An inflamed appendix can rupture causing excruciating constant pain on your right side and can even be a life-threatening medical emergency.
Of course, there can be other reasons for right-sided abdominal pain other than appendicitis. However, you should never ignore this type of agonizing pain that causes nausea, vomiting, and a fever. An appendix can rupture as soon as 48 to 72 hours after the first symptoms of appendicitis. To treat appendicitis, surgeons need to remove the appendix from the end of the large intestine on your lower right side.
Although appendicitis can affect anyone of any age, severe pain associated with acute appendix pain generally affects young people and the elderly.
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When To See A Doctor
Pain in your middle back that radiates to your groin or abdomen is usually a sign of a serious health problem. It is important to visit your doctor immediately if you suspect kidney pain. The warning signs of kidney problems are:
- High blood pressure
- Swelling of your hands and feet
- Sudden sharp flank pain
What Clinical Trials Are Open
Clinical trials that are currently open and are recruiting can be viewed at www.ClinicalTrials.gov.
This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
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What Are Symptoms Of Kidney Pain
Symptoms of kidney pain occur in the area of the kidneys, on the sides or middle to upper back, on one or both sides, and feels like:
- A constant, dull ache in the sides, back, or belly
- Pain in the side
- Pain may come in waves
- Pain may radiate to the belly or groin area
Depending on the cause of the kidney pain, symptoms that may accompany it include:
Can You Prevent Appendicitis
Most doctors agree that it is not possible to prevent appendicitis, especially as the reasons why the appendix becomes infected, inflamed, and ruptures arent fully understood.
Dr. Mary Lowth on Patient.info says that some studies point to the fact that appendicitis could be linked to the Western diet. It is a known fact that enjoying a well-balanced diet with plenty of fiber will help to keep you healthy and may prevent many gastrointestinal problems.14
Dr. Laura Martin on WebMD says that cutting down on processed food and sugar and increasing fiber intake by eating fruits and vegetables can help to prevent many digestive problems.15 Also, the University of Maryland reported on a study showing that increased green vegetable intake and eating more tomatoes seemed to reduce the risk of appendicitis.16
However, no direct link between diet and appendicitis has been proven and there is no consensus of opinion of effective ways to prevent appendicitis.
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Changes In Your Urine
This is one of the first signs your kidneys are in trouble. So If you notice any of the following changes, speak to your doctor:
- Pressure during urinating
- Dark urine followed by less frequent urinating and/or urinating in small amounts
- Pale urine and more frequent urination in larger amounts
- Need to urinate many times during the night