He most likely was already starting to suffer from the conditions. Contrary to popular belief, the punches could not have caused his appendicitis. He had allowed a college student to strike him in the stomach, as he often boasted he could tighten his stomach muscles and not feel the pain from such blows. Houdini was thought by many to have died from the result of being unable to escape his Water Torture Cell as depicted in films but in truth he perished from peritonitis. The most famous death from a burst appendix was that of Harry Houdini on October 31, 1926.
Surgery to remove the appendix, which you can do just fine without, will be performed if it is appendicitis and if the appendix bursts the abdominal cavity will be cleaned out as thoroughly as possible and you will receive IV antibiotics and a stay in the hospital until you recover. CT scans can help to see if the appendix is the culprit. Blood tests can eliminate other possibilities and your physician will look for a high white cell count, indicative of a bad infection in the body. If you feel you may have a possible problem with your appendix then your doctor will first rule out certain scenarios that imitate this condition kidney stones are one such scenario.
The quicker the situation is looked at the better your chances of a full recovery are. If you do suspect that you have a burst appendix then you need to seek immediate medical attention. If the appendix does burst the pain will lessen but you will then get a high fever, your abdominal region will swell up and your heart rate will get faster.Īlthough the appendix of any person can rupture and burst it happens mostly to those individuals between the ages of 10 and 30. If you were to get up and attempt to walk with these symptoms the pain would begin to get even worse. You will experience nausea and possibly vomit. Now the majority of people that have their appendix survive with proper treatment.Ī burst appendix will be preceded by extreme abdominal pain that often starts near the belly button and then migrates to the lower right portion of the abdomen. Before the advent of modern antibiotics this condition often resulted in death. This can cause the formation of an abscess or a condition known as peritonitis, which is a serious infection of the abdominal cavity. When the appendix bursts it leaks bacteria from the intestines into the abdominal cavity. Although the exact causes of a burst appendix are not completely understood it seems that the appendix will become blocked, perhaps by stool and eventually become inflamed and rupture. Here is what you should know about a burst appendix.Ī burst appendix can be fatal if it is not attended to quickly. What is known that a burst appendix is bad news. The appendix is a small organ of the human digestive system and modern medicine still hasn’t figured out what its function is. A burst appendix is very painful and can lead to serious complications, including death.