Appendicitis

I am a bit worried for Reese. Because he has become so active... he tends to run and jump 90% of his waking hours. The worst part is after a meal, he will immediately run around or jump around and at times, he will choke and even vomit some of his food. It's quite impossible to stop him from running or jumping after food. Maybe more effort is needed to stop him.

My question is, will he get appendicitis from all the running and jumping? I remembered from young, our parents would tell us not to run or jump after a full meal else we will get appendicitis!So how true is that?

I did a search on the net and this is what I found:

1. Appendicitis can occur in persons of any age, but it is most prevalent in young adults and children. It tends to occur on its own with no particular cause.

2. Causes?

Appendicitis may be caused by infection or by something (for example, a hard lump of faeces) blocking the appendix.

It's not clear why the infection occurs but one theory suggests that bacteria normally found in the gut invade through the wall of the appendix, as a result of weakness in the body's defences, to cause inflammation and infection.

3. What are the symptoms?

The child typically describes colicky pain in the centre of the abdomen that comes and goes. The pain then shifts to the iliac fossa (lower outside edge of the abdomen) on the right side and becomes worse.

Loss of appetite and sometimes vomiting occur, although this is rarely severe. There may be constipation or diarrhoea.

The child will be feverish and may show a dry, furry tongue, flushed face and lie still, taking shallow breaths because of the pain.

Sometimes the symptoms aren't typical and appendicitis should be considered whenever there's severe or persistent abdominal pain - get medical advice.

The diagnosis is easily mistaken and nearly half those operated on are found not to have appendicitis. It may be confused with food poisoning, mesenteric adenitis (inflammation of lymph nodes in the abdomen) and urinary infections.

So I guess there is no truth in what my parents said huh? So what do you think? Any personal experiences?