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A TikToker has claimed her appendix was ‘missing’ – after doctors told her they ‘couldn’t find’ the organ while performing a CT scan.
US-based Ciara Herron explained in a recent video that she went to the emergency room after she started feeling a sharp pain on the right side of her stomach and assumed she was suffering from a case of appendicitis.
However, when doctors went to see what was going on, she was stunned when they told her they couldn’t actually find her appendix.
She opened up about the shocking ordeal on an episode of her podcast, Ladies & Tangents, and also posted a clip of it on her TikTok account – where it quickly went viral, leaving many people on the web baffled and confused.
A TikToker has claimed her appendix was ‘missing’ – after doctors told her they ‘couldn’t find’ the organ while performing a CT scan
US based Ciara Herron explained in a recent video that she went to the emergency room after she started feeling a sharp pain on the right side of her stomach
When doctors went to see what was going on, Ciara was stunned when they told her they couldn’t find her appendix
“I woke up this morning and… [the pain] was bad. So I thought I was going to go to the hospital,” she recalls in the viral video, which has now been viewed more than five million times.
Doctors quickly ran some tests to find out what was going on — but what they told her next was not what she expected to hear.
She remembered the doctor saying, “First of all, your appendix didn’t show up on the CT scan. But there’s no inflammation where your appendix should be, so that’s good.’
“I thought, ‘Where is it?! Why don’t we worry about that anymore?'” she added. “I don’t like that we just cover up that my appendix is missing. I’ve always had it.’
Her co-host, named Jeri, then asked her, ‘Is it still gone? Did they ever find it?’
Ciara said the doctor told her “it’ll be fine,” but didn’t release any further information about the situation.
And while he didn’t seem concerned about the fact that her appendix was nowhere to be found, it terrified Ciara.
“He actually said, ‘Uh, we couldn’t find it, so you’re probably good,'” she said. ‘I don’t like that, that’s my answer. He said, “We can’t find it, so we don’t know.”‘
One mystery was solved, however; as for the pain in her stomach, it came from a cyst that had developed on her ovaries and burst.
According to Live Scienceone in 100,000 people is born without an appendix and one in 20 people need to have the organ surgically removed after developing appendicitis, a condition in which the appendix becomes inflamed.
The function of the appendix — which is near the lower right intestine in the abdomen — is actually unknown, and people can live without the organ.
One theory is that the appendix acts as a storehouse for good bacteria, ‘rebooting’ the digestive system after diarrheal illnesses WebMD reported.
She opened up about the shocking ordeal on an episode of her podcast, Ladies & Tangents, and also posted a clip of it on her TikTok account – where it quickly went viral.
She remembered the doctor saying, “First of all, your appendix didn’t show up on the CT scan. But there’s no inflammation where your appendix should be, so that’s good”
While the doctor didn’t seem concerned that her appendix was nowhere to be found, Ciara (seen with her co-host, Jeri) left terrified.
“Other experts believe that the appendix is just a useless relic from our evolutionary past. Surgical removal of the appendix causes no discernible health problems.’
Many people took to the comment section of Ciara’s video to share their thoughts, and some even revealed that they too had experienced similar situations.
“I went for the same thing and they did an ultrasound and couldn’t find my appendix so they gave me some painkillers and sent me on my way,” one person wrote.
“They couldn’t find mine for four years and I was in so much pain. In the end it was chronic appendicitis and inflamed when they took it out,” added another.
Someone else said: ‘Three [doctors] I couldn’t find my aunt’s as it tore because it was in a weird place. It tore when they opened her.’
“They couldn’t find my appendix, so they did an appendectomy and it was wrapped around my bowel,” read a fourth comment.
Many people took to the comment section of Ciara’s video to share their thoughts, and some even revealed that they had experienced similar situations as well.
Some doctors and nurses even stepped in and revealed that her appendix is most likely there, just clogged, and that it’s much more common than you might think.
“My English teacher had this and it turned out that all her organs had turned and her appendix was on her left side,” another user revealed.
Some doctors and nurses even stepped in and revealed that her appendix is most likely there, just hidden, and that it’s a lot more common than you might think.
One explained: ‘The appendix is very small and can sometimes only be seen as… [dye] is injected during scanning.’
“I’m a CT tech and it’s completely normal that I can’t see the appendix,” someone else confirms. “Unless it’s inflamed, it’s that small.”
“Internal organs are sometimes very hard to see,” wrote another. “Especially if you’ve eaten recently, or in your case, have fluid around.”