A variety of symptoms that may change over time can be caused by appendicitis. An aching pain around the navel that often shifts later to the lower right abdomen is the most common symptom of appendicitis. The pain may become sharper and more severe when the inflammation in the appendix spreads to nearby tissues.

McBurney point is the place where the pain tends to settle in the lower right abdomen near the appendix and it's situated between the navel and the top of the right pelvic bone. Depending on the age and the position of the appendix the location of pain may vary. In this case at young children the appendicitis pain may be in different places.

If the pressure is applied to the area that hurts, it will feel tender. If the pressure is done suddenly appendicitis pain often will feel worse. Also the pain get worse in the case of coughing, walking or making other jarring movements. The silk-like membrane that lines the inner abdominal wall and enfolds the intestines called peritoneum can be touched by the inflamed appendix. If a person lies on their side and pulls the knees up to toward the chest the pain may lessen.

One or more of the following signs and symptoms may appear in addition to pain: nausea and sometimes vomiting, loss of appetite, a low-grade fever, constipation, an inability to pass gas, diarrhea and abdominal swelling. It's unknown the appearance of appendicitis. It seems that is the result of an obstruction when food waste or a hard piece of stool (fecal stone) becomes trapped in an orifice of the cavity that runs the length of the appendix. Also an infection, such as a gastrointestinal viral infection or other types of inflammation may lead to appendicitis. Untreated the appendix may rupture.

A diagnosis can be difficult to establish because the pain from appendicitis may change over time. There are some health problems which can cause the abdominal pain that may resemble that of appendicitis. These conditions are: ectopic pregnancy where the pain occurs outside the lining of the uterus, a right-sided ovarian cyst which can produce pain in the same area as appendicitis, a stone from the right kidney that pass into the ureter, which runs from the kidney to the bladder and get stuck there and Crohn's disease which causes chronic inflammation of the digestive tract.

For a good diagnose the doctor should be consulted. He will examine the abdomen through a gentle pressure on the painful area. If the adjacent peritoneum is inflamed appendicitis pain will often feel worse when the pressure is suddenly released. Abdominal rigidity and a tendency to stiffen the abdominal muscles in response to pressure over the inflamed appendix (guarding) are other signs which help the doctor to diagnose appendicitis. Also the following procedures may be recommended by the doctor: blood test, urine test and imaging tests.

In the case of blood test an infection is indicated by a high number of white blood cell. Through the urinalysis doctor may be sure that a urinary tract infection or a kidney stone isn't causing the pain, but if exist a kidney stone the blood cells are usually seen during microscopic examination of the urine. An abdominal X-ray or ultrasound scan are recommended by the doctor to confirm appendicitis or find other causes for the pain. A high-frequency sound waves and computer technology to provide images of the internal organs are used in ultrasound scan. In this case the computerized tomography (CT) scan is used for confirming a diagnosis. Through this test CT scan can be provided a more comprehensive view of the internal organs than conventional X-rays do and it can show other potential diagnoses if the appendix is not the source of the pain.

Nowadays there are many possibilities to find the abdominal pains and their causes.