Kidney Stones

TimBray

Senior Member
Had a couple over the years. Most recently was back in April. Noticed blood in my urine. Daughter set me up for a CT scan and the Dr. counted 12. :O Never had the severe pain like many, just a back-ache at times that I used to think was my back until the Dr. pointed out the area I would ache in. To my knowledge I've never passed one either. If I did, there was no pain and from what I've heard, that will NOT be the case. :huh:
Oh, and I drink 1 or 2 cups of coffee in the am, very little sweet tea, soft drinks, or milk, and lots of water.
 

Dustin Pate

Administrator
Staff member
If I did, there was no pain and from what I've heard, that will NOT be the case.

From the handful I have passed, including the 6mm, the actual passing is not painful. Maybe just a quick jolt when it's exiting. The pain is when it is moving and lodging on the way to the bladder.
 

swampstalker24

Senior Member
From the handful I have passed, including the 6mm, the actual passing is not painful. Maybe just a quick jolt when it's exiting. The pain is when it is moving and lodging on the way to the bladder.

Yup.. passing is the easy part.

I was battling a 7mm stone a few years back. Throughout the process, any time I would start to feel that dreadful back pain I would get active. Running and jumping seemed to help the most. Anything that will help to shift the stone a bit and allow fluids to flow again will help. I bet one of them old coin-operated vibrating beds would work wonders! :huh:
 

JohnnyWalker

Senior Member
Thanks guys. I did have the lithotripsy done last week and I think they are gone (check up this coming week). Just wanted to know if anybody had the cure for them.

I had one last summer. OMG_=$€^"€_/£^
My doctor told me that I should keep my urine acidic to help dissolve the stones. She told me that the Walmart brand of those single serving lemonade packets are about as acidic as you can find. Once a day is good, twice a day better. I'm hoping she is right.
 

tcward

Senior Member
You need to have the stone tested and figure out exactly what kind of stone you have. There are some that can be caused by certain kinds of foods (leafy greens, etc.).

Have had plenty myself and thankfully have passed them all. Last one was a year ago...6mm.

Wife has had a couple including one that literally almost killed her. It lodged and set off an infection that turned into sepsis. She spent a handful of nights in ICU. Only after the fact did the doctor tell me (us) just how bad she was.

Any of you that have pain and a fever, please get to a doctor ASAP. Stones aren't something to play around with.

Overall, staying hydrated is a great first step, all other things considered.

Mine was 6mm. Moved about 1/2 inch in 2 days. That's when doc decided to blast it...
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
I had two lithotripsy done 7 days apart.
My 20% was $12,000.
Don't know which was worse the pain, or the payment.:hair:
 

Bow Only

Senior Member
FWIW, I consider myself a kidney stone expert. I've had them before and studied them for years. I currently don't have any problems with them. There are multiple reasons why someone can have kidney stones. I'll touch on the most common.

People that have more Oxalobacter formigenes in their GI tract usually don't have as many problems with kidney stones. You get these through eating raw, leafy green vegetables. Physicians will tell you not to eat leafy greens because of their high oxalate content. While what they say is technically true, it is not what I advise. You can't go from 0 to 100 in eating leafy greens, you have to ramp up or tritrate up your eating. As you increase your intake of raw leafy greens, you cultivate Oxalobacter and their numbers increase. This will reduce your chance of having an oxalate stone which is the most common here in the South.

Eating nitrogen laden foods is the problem with kidney stones. That is why tea and coffee are a problem, each are xanthine derivatives and contain multiple nitrogen atoms. Another MAJOR issue is animal protein. I'm a hunter like you and I don't advocate a vegetarian diet, but we eat way too much animal protein. The amino acids in animal protein are off the charts and they are full of nitrogen atoms. My recommendation is eating animal protein 2 days a week depending on activity level. More or less could be required depending on how much physical activity you do. We would benefit greatly from a plant based diet with occasional animal protein inclusion. Did you know that breaking down and eliminating nitrogen requires water and water is lost in the process? This is one of the reasons we get dehydrated. Another is improper salt (sodium) loading and elimination. Genetics can play a role here as well.

Acidic foods are bad for kidney stones. Not only do they alter our GI flora in a negative way but they also contribute to dehydration and calcium leaching in the kidney. Animal protein is acidic, leafy greens are alkaline. You are less likely to precipitate calcium in the kidney with alkaline foods.

I am not anti meat, I am just pro health.
 

Milkman

Deer Farmer Moderator
Staff member
If you are willing to do so, do as Dustin suggests above. Get the stones tested to see what causes them.

In my case it was the effect of uric acid on calcium. I had several episodes back in the early 90s.

They tested me and my uric acid level was about 6 times the normal rate..............I did a starvation diet for 6 weeks eating only certain foods and stuff on a list................... then they tested me again and my uric acid rate was still triple the normal rate.

So I was hopeless on the uric acid situation. Since then I try to limit calcium intake and drink, drink, drink. Have only had one in recent years.
 

lbzdually

Banned
I've had 80 or more of them since I was 16. I have calcium and uric acid stones along with one they had never seen before. I get hardly any calcium in my diet because I am lactose intolerant. Urologist said lack of calcium causes your body to break down it's own calcium and forms stones, so whoever said don't eat or drink anything with calcium, don't listen to them. Iced tea is the worst drink for the formation of stones. Eating red meat if you have uric acid stones will cause stones and possibly gout.

I've got at least 6-8 in each kidney right now. Largest one I've had was a 4x6 mm that buried itself in scar tissue and had to be removed.
 

Ben Athens

Senior Member
I have one now been causing pain forn8 days now. What's the cheapest option for me ? I don't have insurance and won't go on the goat plan.

Ben
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
I'm pretty sure the emergency room will take care of you no matter what in an emergency. If you can't pay, it will only be put on your credit report. often you can work a payment plan out with them after the fact. They will probably take something like $50 a month, I'm guessing.
Hydration is key to keep your kidney full of liquid so it doesn't shrink them and be bothered by the chafing edges of the rough stone.
If you get to feeling like somebody has your spine in a pair of vice grips, then you will probably have to go. Their dose of dilaudid and intravenous hydration should do the trick.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
PS-lithotripsy like I had to crush the stone will not be an issue for you this time.
My advice is don't lay out of the hospital when you know you need to go...
 

Dustin Pate

Administrator
Staff member
I have one now been causing pain forn8 days now. What's the cheapest option for me ? I don't have insurance and won't go on the goat plan.

Ben

Running a fever? You need to be checking. Do not let an infection set up! You need to be drinking until your eyeballs are floating.
 

Ben Athens

Senior Member
Only had a low grade fever for a few hours Friday night. I have passed them before with Flo Max but need a prescription. Been well hydrated even though that leads to pain lol. Looks like a trip to the ERBUGKWQ for an x ray might be in my near future.
 

1gr8bldr

Senior Member
Just went to the Northside ER in Cumming. Told the lady I have a kidney stone. She replied give me your driver's license I said no she said you can't get in without it. I asked her if Taco and Paco had a drivers license she laughed ando starred at me . I said thanks and left.
Sounds like an infection rather than stones. When I get stones it hurts so bad that I can not think straight. I dry heave until I lose my voice. It's way beyond tolerating. That's why I think you have an infection rather than blockage. If a heating pad does not help, you need to go get seen. Most times your in such pain that your body tenses up, which now grabs the stone and will not allow it to move. The heat will relax the body and maybe allow it to move to a point or location where there is no blockage. that's how they work with me anyway. If the heat does not work then your pain is not the same as mine and therefore might be infection. Everytime I go, it cost me, even with insurance, several thousand. I've tried tuffing it out but with little success.
 

lbzdually

Banned
Sounds like an infection rather than stones. When I get stones it hurts so bad that I can not think straight. I dry heave until I lose my voice. It's way beyond tolerating. That's why I think you have an infection rather than blockage. If a heating pad does not help, you need to go get seen. Most times your in such pain that your body tenses up, which now grabs the stone and will not allow it to move. The heat will relax the body and maybe allow it to move to a point or location where there is no blockage. that's how they work with me anyway. If the heat does not work then your pain is not the same as mine and therefore might be infection. Everytime I go, it cost me, even with insurance, several thousand. I've tried tuffing it out but with little success.

Yep, I tried toughing my largest one out and that just gave it more time to dig itself deeper into scar tissue. Peed straight blood for nearly a week after surgery. They took the stent out on a Friday. They told me pain would be uncomfortable but it would get better. So I tried to tough it out, even helped my wife de-bone pork chops before I tried to take a hot bath to ease the pain and all that did was make me hot then puke. Turns out another stone had came out right after the stent and blocked the kidney. I was already so inflamed with so much pain, that I nearly broke the chairs in the waiting area at ER.
 

1gr8bldr

Senior Member
Yep, I tried toughing my largest one out and that just gave it more time to dig itself deeper into scar tissue. Peed straight blood for nearly a week after surgery. They took the stent out on a Friday. They told me pain would be uncomfortable but it would get better. So I tried to tough it out, even helped my wife de-bone pork chops before I tried to take a hot bath to ease the pain and all that did was make me hot then puke. Turns out another stone had came out right after the stent and blocked the kidney. I was already so inflamed with so much pain, that I nearly broke the chairs in the waiting area at ER.
I peed in a cup when I went to the ER a week after having a 6mm taken out. I figured when someone saw it, since it was straight blood that I would get some quick results. LOL, 1.5 hours later someone came rushing into the waiting room to get me like it was a big deal. They explained it like, the stone, attached to the wall of your kidney then it comes loose just like picking a scab off the skin. Mercy, and removing the stint. The girl did exactly as if you were cranking a chainsaw
 

Crakajak

Daily Driveler News Team
I peed in a cup when I went to the ER a week after having a 6mm taken out. I figured when someone saw it, since it was straight blood that I would get some quick results. LOL, 1.5 hours later someone came rushing into the waiting room to get me like it was a big deal. They explained it like, the stone, attached to the wall of your kidney then it comes loose just like picking a scab off the skin. Mercy, and removing the stint. The girl did exactly as if you were cranking a chainsaw

She wasn't in any pain. Guess she figured it was like pulling off a bandaid. Do it quick and the pain be gone and you don't have time to hit her before she gets out of arms reach..
 

lbzdually

Banned
I peed in a cup when I went to the ER a week after having a 6mm taken out. I figured when someone saw it, since it was straight blood that I would get some quick results. LOL, 1.5 hours later someone came rushing into the waiting room to get me like it was a big deal. They explained it like, the stone, attached to the wall of your kidney then it comes loose just like picking a scab off the skin. Mercy, and removing the stint. The girl did exactly as if you were cranking a chainsaw

Taking the stent out was horrible. They shoot the deadening stuff through the urethra and then leave you laying flay on your back with your penis hanging out for about 15 minutes to let the medicine take effect. Then the Dr missed on getting it twice. Then the other stone decided to block my kidney and I vomited pain meds so no relief at all. Sitting there in the ER seeing people with stubbed toes playing on their cell phones go before me was excruciating.
 
Top