Kidney Stones

The only time I have seen my dad in any pain has been for kidney stones. Unfortunately he currently has a couple of them. The first one hit on Halloween and still hasn't passed (I believe it was 5mm). Recently he went back to the doctor and they found 1 or 2 more. I recall the doctor saying that most of the pain occurs when the stone is moving from the kidney to the bladder. An instructor of mine had one recently as well and his got stuck between the kidney and bladder so they had to push it back to the kidney and blast it (I think he said his stone was close to 1/2 an inch). The bad part is that my dad is one of the healthiest eaters I know. He only drinks milk and water and he eats a lot of fruits and vegetables and eats absolutely no desserts of any kind. It just sucks that there doesn't seem to be any real way to prevent it. Kidney stones are one of my biggest phobias after seeing him go through that pain.
 
I just got inducted into the Kidney Stone Club last Tuesday. Holy cow! It's true. I thought I was going to die. I thought I ruptured something inside. I fancy myself able to withstand alot of pain, but renal colic takes the cake! My stone is supposedly composed of uric acid, 3mm x 6mm, like a grain of rice. It hasnt' passed yet and was last seen via CT scan in the upper 4th section of my left ureter. IV drip and morphine at the ER. Just about a minute later and I was pain-free. Had some pain again this morning so I took some prescribed Vicodin. Those who invented pain medication are saints in my book. :)
 
I had a CT scan a couple of years ago. They were checking for something else but the Doc spotted 3 small stones. As of yet I have not had any problems. I will say though after reading this thread, I am afraid. I am very afraid.:D
 
I've had gallstones but not kidney stones. My Son had kidneystones...not good....
Now to be a smart Alec....Bunch of Candy-Butted Sissys....(Smile, I am an antagonist son of a gun)

As I said I've not "walked a mile in your shoes"
 
grnamin said:
I just got inducted into the Kidney Stone Club last Tuesday. Holy cow! It's true. I thought I was going to die. I thought I ruptured something inside. I fancy myself able to withstand alot of pain, but renal colic takes the cake! My stone is supposedly composed of uric acid, 3mm x 6mm, like a grain of rice. It hasnt' passed yet and was last seen via CT scan in the upper 4th section of my left ureter. IV drip and morphine at the ER. Just about a minute later and I was pain-free. Had some pain again this morning so I took some prescribed Vicodin. Those who invented pain medication are saints in my book. :)
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uric acid stones are pretty rare

most are calcium, the actual type of stone is determined when you past the little beast and it gets analyzed

a majority of stones <5mm will pass on their own, bigger than that often need the assistance of a urologist
 
Whew... Old thread. Still, I winced when I read the subject. I was in the ER the other day with my son (nothing major) and there was a lady there who was enduring gall stones. She was literally writhing in pain and calling out for someone to please help her.

The hospital staff did nothing.

She simply had to wait her turn. I would've thought that she might have rated some place private to endure this ordeal. I mean come on... We've all got our dignity. Man did I feel bad for her.:(

Thomason... Be very very afraid :D

grnamin... Welcome to the club. Not a very good one I'm afraid. The dues are pretty steep and all we seem to do at our meetings is wince, exchange knowing glances, and advise folks to drink lots of water.
 
kampfjaeger

you would be shocked to learn how overwhelmed emergency departments across the country have become
 
Yep, club toast is a bottle of good old H2O. :) I guess I lucked out at the ER I was seen in 5 minutes and by 10 minutes I was feeling nothing due to morphine.
 
So what are the "good" liquids besides plain water? What are the "bad" liquids?
 
All sodas (especially dark colored ones) are supposed to be bad for you in this respect. I have cut all sodas completely out of my diet. I'm not a pure water drinker though. I love my lemonade, etc. But I try to drink lots of water.

I hope I never have to go through that kind of misery EVER again. No fun.
 
my mom had one of those a few weeks ago. Probably wont happen to me cuz I always drink a ton of water.
 
penls said:
my mom had one of those a few weeks ago. Probably wont happen to me cuz I always drink a ton of water.
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That's what I thought, too. I drink, on average, a gallon of water a day, but I still got a kidney stone.
 
there is no consensus about how/why certain people form kidney stones and others dont

most are calcium (calcium oxalate). the books say 85-90% are calcium with uric acid and struvite forming most of the rest. in my clinical experience, uric acid and struvite are quite uncommen.

there are many theories about why they happen, but none are conclusive. they only hurt when they get stuck in the ureter and/or the ureter spasms. occasionaly they will get stuck in the urethra but that is less common and less painful. stones in the kidney do not hurt. ureteral stones hurt a lot, but if you ask most women, probably not as much as natural childbirth

treatment includes iv narcotics, toradol, antiemetics, and fluids. some are now advocating drugs like flomax to be included in the typical discharge regimen along with pain meds. not sure i am completely convinced about their efficacy though

a significant portion of stones are in the south (ie the stone belt) but there incidence seems to be growing elsewhere.

many theories have been proposed

hot weather in the south, the clay soil, genetics, ice tea etc

some blame oxalate, vitamin d rich diets or parathyroid abnormalities, that makes sense but does not explain a lot of cases

there are some medical conditions like inflammatory bowel disease or some anatomic/congenital conditons that increase your risk of having one

soda has been blamed

keeping hydrated is always a good idea but does not guarantee you will never have another

they seem to run in families, but there is no clear cut genetic pattern for most stone formers (afaik)
 
If the value of a stone were based on how much pain was experienced in order to "produce" it, then I think a kidney stone would be more valuable than a diamond. :D
 
I had kidney stones many, many, many years ago! I DO remember what that pain was like!! I have empathy AND sympathy for any one going through that.
 
backwoodsman said:
everytime that dad gets one I make him some catnip tea and it kills the pain,even when pain killer don't work the catnip alwas seems to.
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Catnip tea ?? What is the catnip supposed to do for you?

I had 2 stones during January and they had to give me morphine at the hospital to ease the pain. The pain was unbelievable and relentless. Drink lots of water every day ... trust me... You never want a kidney stone.
 
Oh yeah! Passed the stone out this morning! Whew! Here's a picture (ruler is in mm):
orig.jpg
 
Allow me to be the first to say OHMYGOD!!! No wonder that thing hurt (dare I say it) like the dickens.
 
That is about the same size (4x7mm) as the one that put my wife in the hospital for four days. She has a beign tumor on her parathyroid gland and it is raising her blood calsium levels very high. She is still waiting for a surgeon to schedule her to get it removed. Until then she can get another one any day and allready had three smaller ones.

Even if you drink lots of water and never touch carbonated drinks your parathyroid can still give you one of more K stones. So far med bills are $27K and she still has more imaging and the surgery left. It will be pound for pound as expensive as a diamond any maybe a whole lot more.

They can also spin off a whole collection of side problems. If they don't pass then they use a small plumbers snake and roto rooter them out, very nasty procedure.
 
For what its worth and I'll take an oath that it helped me:

Upon having the kidney stone pain begin I would stand up, stretch, twist, turn, and anything else to cause the thing to shift. It must have helped a couple times because the pain subsided. Usually when the pain comes it didn't go away quickly except when I tried twisting around. Trick is to do this quickly before it gets really bad. Of course it may have been coincidence, but I’ll be doing this again as needed.

Also if you have heartburn, watch the tums, etc they have lots of CA.
 
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