How to Perform an Appendicitis Self Exam

Well as I said earlier, today is the day we’re showing you your self exams. Things you can do on your own that you don’t even you should be doing. While most self exams are done for preventive measures, sometimes they can alert you to an emergency situation.

The first one I want to talk about is appendicitis. What happens when you get appendicitis? Quite simply your appendix, which is an appendage to your intestines, sits right next to the colon. It becomes inflamed, blocks sometimes by a piece of stool believe it or not. You develop over a course of 12, 18 hours, severe abdominal pain, if not always easy even for me as an ER doctor to tell.

But a quick test you can do, if you draw a line between your belly bottom and the top of your pelvis bone here in the front. Two thirds the way down its called McBurney’s point so that’s right lower quadrant. If you push either on you own belly or your child’s belly, there should be pain here and if you let go and you get a sharp severe pain it’s called rebound tenderness that can be a sign of appendicitis.

Another option is called the Hop test. If you have your child, or you hop up and down and you get a lot of pain in this area. Last but the least, you’re driving your child to the ER and every bump produces pain in this area also a very positive test for potential appendicitis.