Antibiotics for appendicitis - what are people being told..?

[appendixless]

There seems to be a bit of a controversy in the medical profession about this.

I had appendicitis and my surgeon told me that “surgery to treat appendicitis is outdated and a mistake of the past and antibiotics is better and the future of treatment”. I still wanted surgery as I saw it as definitive and the most suitable treatment for me. The surgeon refused - emphasising that there was a risk of death associated with surgery and claiming only 15% of people reoccur after antibiotic treatment. So I was treated for appendicitis with IV antibiotics against my will.

Conversely, a few months later I had a friend go to a different hospital with appendicitis. Clinically she was a better candidate for antibiotics than me. The surgeon she met told her there was a bit of a question in medicine about using antibiotics as an alternative to surgery - but that in his experience “antibiotics lead to nothing but problems..” and he told her she should just get it out - so she did..

I recently had a second freind also diagnosed with appendicitis and taken hospital. There she met a surgeon who recommend surgery. He mentioned that antibiotics may be an option - but that during Covid he treated a lot of appendicitis patients with antibiotics to avoid surgery and now most of them have come back in with reoccurrence or related problems - so he advised against antibiotic and that she should just get it out - which she did..

The kicker is - because I was unhappy about having my clearly dodgy appendix left in me (this was a problem for my job as a diver) and the NHS refusing to take it out then later effectively refusing me a second opinion - so 4 months later I paid a private surgeon in Glasgow to take it out for me. That’s when the ruptured appendix tumour causing my appendicitis was found. Because it was not taken out it has ruptured and gone on to become a stage 4 tumour so no longer surgically curable..

I’m interested to know what other people are being told by their surgeons when going in with appendicitis - and how things worked out for you..?

Didn’t you post about this a few days ago? Surely you’d be better bumping that thread which already had some responses?

Managing appendicitis with antibiotics is a legitimate recognised treatment, it doesn’t really matter what anyone else is being told.

Im sorry to hear about your cancer. And I understand your devastation at there potentially being an opportunity to find the diagnosis earlier. I’m wondering what you mean by stage 4? Has it spread to other organs or is it within the peritoneal cavity? Have you been offered cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC? Has your oncologist discussed with Basingstoke or The Christie?

NiceCupOfChai - yes - it’s a stage 4 tumour so not contained - was offered prophylactic CRS + HIPEC at The Christie but currently NED radiologically so am taking the risk and on ‘watch & wait’ with Basingstoke - diagnosis was ‘ruptured LAMN pT4a with abundant extramural mucin’ but clear surgical margins - risk of PMP currently undetectable is about 20%..

I appreciate antibiotics may be a suitable alternative to surgery for some - but in my case I was suitable and keen and argued for surgery - the private surgeon who took my appendix out for me described what happened in the NHS hospital and their refusal to take my appendix out as “madness” - many other surgeons since then have described my treatment in similar or stronger terms.. ..so I’m just curious if I’m the only one getting these conflicting messages..