I woke up with a burning pain in the lower right side of my abdomen, and it wouldn’t let up. Next thing I knew, I was upchucking last night’s dinner. My first thought was food poisoning  we had pigged out at McDonald’s the night before. But blood tests at the hospital, and other examinations, said it was an inflamed appendix. And that was scary, because I know people can die from appendicitis.

The medicos explained to me that appendicitis can happen for a number of reasons, fecal matter backed up into the appendix, a blood clot and even a tumor. In my case, it was the first, and I guess I have the huge amounts of black coffee I drink to thank for that. I was constipated four days out of seven those days. I was 21, an invulnerable, invincible college freshman.

Actually, it was pretty advanced by the time the surgeon got to it. The blood flow to my appendix had practically stopped and it had become gangrenous. That is a sort of slow rot that happens to tissue deprived of oxygenated blood. A condition called peritonitis comes just before it. My grandfather had had diabetes and had lost three toes to gangrene.

The surgeon who took my appendix out said I was a couple of days from septicemia ? a dangerous immune response to a severe infection. He used laparoscopic surgery, which means that they take whatever they have to take out through an incision no bigger than a keyhole. I was fed antibiotics through an IV for three days after that.

The appendix doesn’t serve any real purpose in the body. But it does have nuisance value. If it gets inflamed and is not treated, it can create serious problems. I guess the lifestyle changes I adopted after my appendectomy (no more black coffee, no ciggies either) came too late. But I knew for sure that I was not made of iron, and I think I grew up [pretty fast from then on.

Too bad I didn?t read about these natural home remedies for appendicitis then, but I?d like you to check them out for sure. These could be really handy, no harm trying anyways.