Sharp pain in your side

"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."-Thomas Jefferson

Let’s continue with the 7 Warning Signs You Should Not Ignore by Women’s Health magazine. Warning sign number three is a side stitch, a piercing stab, which intensifies over a few hours or days. It could be gas. It could be a pulled muscle. Or it could be something dangerous.

If it feels like your right side is skewered and you're nauseated and running a fever, you could have appendicitis. I covered appendicitis a year ago in this blog, Appendicitis.

Another possibility (for women) is an ovarian cyst. Typically these fluid-filled sacs are harmless and disappear on their own. But if one twists or ruptures, it can cause terrible pain and damage the ovary.

Bottom Line

In both cases above, you need emergency surgery immediately. A burst appendix is fatal unless treated. An twisted ovarian cyst can block bloodflow to the ovary, killing it within hours. If that happens, the doctor will need to cut out the entire ovary (and the eggs inside) along with the cyst.