My emergency appendectomy. Not everything is benzo belly. PLEASE SEE YOUR DOCTOR

[[Ki...]]

I just came down with "a cold" Tuesday night (just after a cut) which started with sneezing followed by a low fever late at night, which broke while I slept it off.  By Weds early morning I felt better, but have recently made a cut so had some diarrhea, which I attributed to that. I then had stomach pains that traveled from my upper abdomen and slowly moved downward through my gut, slowly getting better throughout the morning, passing a lot of gas, which I thought was "benzo belly". Then at 10 am I started a fever again. When I first took my temp it was around 100°. It quickly shot up every 10-20 minutes, until by noon it was 102.1° and at this point I thought it was just the flu with benzo belly and had a determined mind to just sweat it out. Feeling worse physically, and getting disoriented, my son insisted I go to the ER where they did blood work which was normal, chest x-rays which were normal and an abdominal cat scan as my pain had now subsided and was mostly just a little pocket of what I thought was gas in my lower right quadrant. By this time my fever was gone and I thought I had gone to the ER needlessly. I still thought it was benzo belly and/or the flu.

 

Well the cat scan revealed that I had appendicitis and required immediate surgery. Fearing for my body and my taper I protested and sought a second opinion by phone, which confirmed to absolutely do the surgery.  Mind you, I had felt absolutely FINE the day before. So I consented to the surgery and was emergently operated on within 7 hours of my arrival in the ER for an emergency appendectomy.

 

The next morning my surgeon came by my room to visit me and told me that my appendix had gone gangreneous and was about to rupture, and that if I had ignored it and gone or stayed home it would have ruptured and I likely would be septic and dead or dying at home.

 

***I want to encourage anyone who has abdominal pain, in any manner, whether acute or chronic, generalized or localized anywhere to not just assume it's benzo belly, gas, or the flu, ( which they cultured me and I also have btw) but to seek medical care immediately.

 

My surgeon says about half the cases of appedicitis he sees are gangenous, some have already leaked and spread gangrene around the bowels, liver, bladder and uterus/ovaries, while the other half have ruptured so cause less pain and people end up with peritonitis, sometimes so severe that they end up on a respirator and often die from septicemia and pneumonia. You can honestly die from appendicitis, which he told me can be fairly common, in under 24 hours.

 

Today, while I'm painful from the laparoscopic surgery ( just 3 small holes) and I had to leave my car behind for a day, I'm lucky to be alive and home writing this to you all 2 days later! Please DO NOT IGNORE abdominal pain and chalk it up to "benzo belly" or the flu. If you have any kind of abdominal pain, with or without fever, please get it checked out right away. My pain only existed for less than 4 hours before I went to the ER and if I had waited, I would not be here to write this. Be well my friends! ♡♡♡

(This post was pre-approved )

[[Ca...]]

Thanks for that Kimmel...

 

Its such a complex topic...

I always question why, if im not sure about something, and it probably drives people nuts... -hell, it drives me nuts...

On the other hand if i went to seek medical advice, i would live there, seriously...

I live with constant and varied abdo pain, so all i can do is be aware and know what isnt normal, now i have benzo w/d to factor in as well... like yourself, I know a spiking temp isnt normal for me, so thats a trigger...

So try to know whats normal, dont be dismissive, ask questions, give any answers you can, and if in doubt, play it safe...

Such a fine line at times...

Great post...

Ty.

[[be...]]

Well I'm happy you're still with us but if I went to the ER for every abdominal pain I'd just live there. Bring a blanket and camp out. A fever would be a trigger. Then I'd go. My daughter had appendicitis with a fever and was operated on 24 hours later. Fortunately there was no rush. She was in such pain she screamed all the way to the ER. In most cases you're very aware you need medical attention. Good thing you went. B

[[4G...]]

I agree with Barb. Many people DO have Benzo belly quite badly. But you are right to alert people to other possibilities. The fever does seem to be the difference.

Hope you feel better soon.

[[be...]]

I am glad that everything worked out.  :smitten:It had to be a really scary for you and your family.

[[Di...]]

Glad you are feeling better.

 

Take it easy, and hope your recovery is quick.

[[Lo...]]

Yes, I had a ruptured appendix years ago with the blood poisoning to go along with it. After the surgery, the infection spread and I had 104 F fever. Luckily, I was in my 20's and in very good health. I was recovered after a month or so.

 

Looking back, I think that whole incident left me with a good deal of increased health anxiety that I wish I'd addressed by going to a therapist or someone else to process those feelings.

[[ti...]]

How scary.  I am glad you are better

[[Lo...]]

 

My surgeon says about half the cases of appedicitis he sees are gangenous, some have already leaked and spread gangrene around the bowels, liver, bladder and uterus/ovaries, while the other half have ruptured so cause less pain and people end up with peritonitis, sometimes so severe that they end up on a respirator and often die from septicemia and pneumonia. You can honestly die from appendicitis, which he told me can be fairly common, in under 24 hours.

 

This is very, very true. Kudos to you for dealing with this while in the throes of benzo withdrawal. It's a very serious thing to go through even when healthy, let alone when afflicted with all the benzo symptoms, not knowing what causes what....