Whatever happened to...........

It still happens, my GS had to have an emergency appendectomy 2 yrs ago it turned out to have complications but he recovered well that was down to our wonderful NHS.

I think it's because the emphasis now is on preventable illness, not those which happen naturally. Cancer seems to be the biggest killer at the moment, and it is mainly caused by our polluted environment and people's lifestyles.

I have gastric ulcer

DD had her appendix out whilst pregnant with DGS1 who is now 10. She was living in Germany at the time.

Heart disease is the biggest killer---it was in 2018 anyway and we're only into 3 months of 2019.

Many of the 'ulcers' turned out to be Helicobacter Pylori and treatable by combination of antibiotics. If only Granny could have known. It would have saved her a horrible op.

The reason being that we're lagging behind more with heart disease than we are with cancer. A lot of heart disease is preventable and if you see the ratio between deaths from heart disease and cancer the figure is higher.
Again it's a pollution and lifestyle thing. Dementia is a higher risk from death than cancer is.

One in three have high blood-pressure. Thousands were offered to attend their GP's for checks and thousands didn't bother. Whereas people are more likely to go to their GP if they find lumps and bumps etc, but not for BP checks.

My nephew was chronically ill many years ago with his appendicitis as was my step-grandson after the hospital initially turning him away even though he'd been bent double.
An uncle in the 50's/60's had 3/4 of his stomach removed because of ulcers----bad diet.

Neither appendicitis nor ulcers are as heard of as they used to be and seemed to fizzle out after the 70's.

DH had emergency appendix removal in 2012 after suffering silently with bad pain for 4 days. I insisted he went, reluctantly, to the GP who referred him directly to the surgical ward at hospital. After a CT scan, he was operated on and found to have a burst appendix and gangrene in his bowel up as far as his liver. He was lucky to survive, but he did, albeit with bowel problems ever since. Being stoical about pain is not always the best choice but that's the way he is and no doubt will always be.

I was in agony with a pain in my side, taken to hospital for a scan and had emergency surgery on New Year’s Eve. I saw in 2019 in a haze of morphine sans appendix. My GP said I was too old at 69 for appendicitis. Obviously I wasn’t!

My son went to a job interview 6 months ago with terrible pains in his side. He got through the interview then went to A&E. He was admitted straight away and had his appendix removed the next morning. It was done by keyhole surgery and he was home the next day! By the way, he got the job.

My poor husband got appendicitis in the middle of the night and was very ill. Although our GP diagnosed it as appendicitis once he got to hospital he was told by a young doctor, "It cant be appendicitis, you are too old." He was 70. Fortunately he was correctly diagnosed and treated as an emergency and when it was removed it was all black and shrivelled. The consultant said to those doctors around his bed "Never say never. "

Ulcers and appendicitis are pretty much routine and don't really have much to say about them. So you hear about the more interesting illnesses

7 years ago I had a bleeding stomach ulcer, so it does still happen !
I was collected from my home by ambulance after my son called 111 - the paramedic obviously thought I was scamming , because the main symptoms I had were not happening at that time - only reason he agreed to take me was because my blood pressure was so high.
I was nil by mouth for 4 days, on a saline drip, 2 blood transfusions ( 6 bags) and 3 endoscopys, sent home 2 days after my first meal and a day after I was allowed out of bed. Took 6 weeks (and another endoscopy) before I went back to work

gagagran I remember the same thing happening to my dad way back in the late 50s. He was being operated on for an ulcer but when he complained of being in terrible pain the next day they said he'd had his op so couldn't be! Emergency operation the next day for burst appendix and paralysed bowel. A wonder he survived. I was ten at the time and when neighbours asked how my dad was I remember telling them 'he's now got a paralysed vowel' !!

I had peritonitis two years ago. I'm now 69. However, histology revealed a malignant tumour in the appendix. I went on to have a further huge operation to remove two parts of my bowel, full hysterectomy, 18 lymph nodes, gall bladder and greater and lesser omentom, followed by 6 months chemotherapy. Thank goodness I had appendicitis, which they felt was doubtful in the first instance as I was deemed too old.

Daddima it's spooky but I was only thinking about that a few days ago. How my father had his appendix removed when he was 18 and me when I was 14. But my 3 sons are now 31, 29 and 27 and so far, nothing. Reading the posts above it seems it obviously still happens but I haven't heard of anyone having theirs removed in years.

A friedn had appendicitis just before Christmas, only a few months after having a new baby. It used to be a big thing with a long time in hospital, now with laparoscopies where possible (hers wasn't) you can have a much quicker recovery, so I suppose less newsworthy. Gastric ulcers much less common as mentioned above due to treatment of H pylori.

jaylucy - similar with me 2 years ago. Blood in faeces.
The specialist said it can be treated - healed- with medication.
I also learned that one of the main causes of these ulcers is overuse of Ibuprofen etc. NSAIDs

My daughter had her appendix out eight years ago, my sister lost hers last year. No shortage here!

I am wondering why we are deemed to be too old at 60 plus to have our appendix removed.
I’ve never heard of that theory. Do they shrivel up and die or something. ?

Ibuprofen prescribed by GP has left me with Gastritis or which I take medication daily.

Tonsils are rarely removed these days as well, 50 years ago most children had theirs removed. DGS has just had Tonsilitis again, unless he gets it about 7 times a year they won't remove his Tonsils just give him antibiotics

Appendisectomies are still one of the most common emergency surgeries.

A lot of gastric ulcers in the past were missdiagnosis. Also lot of ulcers are now better prevented. But they do still exist

I think that these ailments still exist but because of medical advances most cases are a lot less dramatic than they used to be.

Ulcers - many cases can be treated by medication (for example antibiotics or the drugs that reduce acid production and therefore irritation). So these days having emergency ulcer surgery is a lot more rare.

Appendix - used to be a bigger operation with a significant of scar 3-6 inches. These days they tend not to operate in the case of a "grumbling appendix" unless it is causing significant issues. Also most surgery is the key-hole procedure which has a much quicker recovery time - I remember being in hospital a few years ago when a student arrived on the ward around 2am following emergency key-hole appendix surgery, at 7.45am she hopped out of bed and went to the breakfast buffet and before 9am she was discharged.