When Colin’s appendicitis was treated with antibiotics rather than surgery, he trusted the doctors implicitly. But what happened next should make everyone question the NHS’s blind faith in the drugs…

Colin Campbell was otherwise fit and healthy when he suddenly developed agonising abdominal pain. It was appendicitis and he had to be rushed to hospital.

But instead of undergoing surgery, as he had expected, he was treated with antibiotics – a decision he says left him desperately ill, and ultimately paying privately to have his appendix removed, only to learn he had cancer in his appendix that might have been spotted sooner had he had the operation earlier.

His ordeal began on a Bank Holiday weekend in May 2024, when he woke up with a pain radiating from his belly button.

Colin, now 49, a commercial diver, from the Isle of Gigha, Argyll, in Scotland, called a nurse. Suspecting it was acute appendicitis, she arranged for Colin to be taken by ambulance and ferry to the Scottish mainland, before being transferred another 40 miles by ambulance to hospital.

However, they were unable to operate there so he was sent on a further 70-mile journey to a hospital that could.

Colin was admitted – but instead of emergency surgery to remove the infected appendix, he was treated with antibiotics and painkillers for six days.

In Colin’s case, he had the classic symptoms: severe pain when doctors pressed and released the right side of his abdomen, fever, nausea and blood-test results consistent with appendicitis.

But the first surgeon Colin saw initially put him on triple intravenous (IV) antibiotics, fluids and IV paracetamol.

The following morning, a new surgeon told him that antibiotics were increasingly being used instead of surgery but added: ‘But in your case you do need surgery.’

‘I was relieved – at last something was being done,’ Colin told Good Health.

The surgeon ordered a CT scan and told Colin to prepare for theatre.

Colin says: ‘But hours passed without an operation. I then heard that a radiographer could not be arranged for the scan and the surgeon changed his mind, enthusiastically explaining the advantages of antibiotic treatment and saying he “treated the whole patient, and not just the symptoms”.’

Colin was unconvinced.

‘I’m an offshore diver on a remote island without a doctor. I told the surgeon that I wanted the appendix out,’ he recalls.

But the surgeon insisted there was ‘just a 15 per cent chance of recurrence after antibiotic treatment’ and that his appendix would ‘shrivel up and be cured’.

‘He also said that surgery to treat appendicitis is a mistake of the past and antibiotics are the future of treatment of appendicitis,’ recalls Colin.

Under official guidelines, a scan (eg ultrasound, CT scan or an MRI scan) is considered ‘valuable’ in differentiating between complicated and uncomplicated appendicitis.

On the third day in hospital Colin had a CT scan showing he had uncomplicated appendicitis – so the surgeon now confirmed surgery was unnecessary.

But that afternoon Colin experienced sudden pain so severe that he collapsed on the floor, drenched in sweat.

That night his condition deteriorated dramatically – despite 32 infusions of antibiotics and paracetamol over the three days his temperature reached 40C and blood tests showed his levels of inflammation were high, indicating severe infection.

‘I kept insisting something was wrong, and the non-surgical treatment was not appropriate for me,’ he says.

As his condition worsened, Colin says nurses became so concerned they called the A&E department.

The next day, his appendicitis symptoms began to improve but he developed other problems, including numb hands and difficulty speaking and hallucinations.

Colin suspected one of the antibiotics was responsible.

‘My symptoms peaked each time I was given an IV dose of metronidazole,’ he says. Known side-effects of the drug include neurotoxicity, seizures and altered mental status.

But he says the surgeon dismissed his concerns. His medical notes, Colin later discovered, attributed his concerns to ‘health anxiety’.

‘By now I was finding it difficult to find words and form sentences,’ he adds.

After Colin had been in hospital for six days, and fearing that he wasn’t being listened to, his sister, Norah – who lived three hours away – arrived to take him to seek help at A&E at another hospital, where he was told to stay nearby and return if his symptoms got worse.

Over the following days, some of the neurological problems began to improve.

‘But I knew the appendix was problematic and appendicitis was likely to come back,’ he says.

So Colin went to see a private surgeon who described his treatment as ‘madness’ and explained appendicitis can have several causes, including appendix cancer – and advised Colin to have his appendix removed.

His GP referred him for a second opinion and appendix removal, but four months later he was still waiting for an NHS appointment, and unable to work.

At that point he borrowed money and paid about £17,000 to go back to the private surgeon and have his appendix removed (and the associated medical care).

After the operation, tests showed that his appendicitis had been caused by a tumour in his appendix, and that had ruptured.

He is now being monitored for cancer spread with regular scans and blood tests.

While cancer of the appendix is very rare – affecting only a handful of people per million every year – a 2025 study by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville found that cases have risen four-fold in those born after 1985 compared to those born in the 1940s.

Rising rates of obesity may be a factor; researchers suspect diets heavy in sugary drinks and red or processed meats may also be partly to blame.

A study published earlier this year in the Royal College of Surgeons journal involving over 1,000 patients in Glasgow found that 3.5 per cent of those diagnosed as having ‘uncomplicated’ appendicitis were later found to have tumours in their appendix after later undergoing an appendectomy.

The study concluded that ‘antibiotic treatment of appendicitis is associated with a high recurrence and risk of missed neoplasms [i.e. tumours].’

Colin is angry about how he was treated.

‘Patients are being misled about the benefits and risks of antibiotic treatment for appendicitis,’ he says.

‘I asked all the right questions, but my concerns were dismissed as health anxiety.

‘If I’d had an early appendectomy the tumour would not have ruptured and potentially spread. I would also not have permanent neurological damage from the antibiotics.’

He adds: ‘I’m back at work after two years but have lost time and money. I also have the unnecessary long-term risk to my health to contend with.’