Doctor"s Diary: "We have been informed there is no this kind of factor as a grumbling appendix"

The initial issues the 12-yr-outdated boy with diabetes with recurring bouts of unexplained stomach ache. The culprit, suggest several, could be foods intolerance and, in particular, sensitivity to wheat or gluten, but also onions and the sugar substitute sorbitol, which is a widespread ingredient of diabetic meals.

Two readers report that their child’s signs and symptoms had been eventually discovered to be due to appendicitis. “We have been convinced my daughter had a grumbling appendix, but had been advised there is no this kind of point,” writes a mother of yet another twelve-year-old who knowledgeable 6 months of agonising abdomen pains. “The surgeons did ultimately operate, and the problem turned out to be her appendix, which was unusually lengthy and tucked behind her bowel.”

A number of readers describe this as a function of their irritable bowel syndrome, but it could also apparently be a symptom of the inflammatory condition microscopic (or lymphocytic) colitis, which can only be diagnosed with a bowel biopsy, and diverticulitis. There are reviews of sustained improvement by excluding milk and other dairy products and coffee from the diet program. Individuals who have had their gallbladder removed in the past might be aided by taking the wonder drug cholysteramine, which has featured in this column before.

Lastly, this may be a unusual side result of the common diuretic frusemide, and importantly, a reminder from a reader that any unexplained change in bowel habit requires even more investigation: “My late husband had the exact same difficulty that he ignored at initial, but he was ultimately found to have a tumour in the colon.”

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Last but not least, my thanks to a reader for passing on his serendipitously found treatment for possessing to rise numerous occasions a evening to pass urine, necessitated by his enlarged prostate. He is troubled by back pain, for which his physiotherapist advised lying on the floor and thrusting his pelvis in the direction of the ceiling 40 occasions. On a single event, woken by the “urge” at 3am, he did his 40 thrusts and inside a number of minutes was ready to fully empty his bladder. He then slept uninterruptedly till morning.

Electronic mail healthcare concerns confidentially to Dr James LeFanu at drjames@telegraph.co.united kingdom. Answers will be published on the Telegraph site each Friday, at telegraph.co.united kingdom/overall health

Doctor"s Diary: "We have been informed there is no this kind of factor as a grumbling appendix"