Kidney Stones

[acredsfan]

Ok, I just got some this last weekend... Man, I've been through a lot of pain in my life, but I've never felt so helpless. Anyway, at first I was really kind of reluctant to talk about it to people, but slowly after my coworkers and friends started to pry into why I missed 3 days of work, I started telling them what happened. Some of them had advice, but most just asked stupid questions like "did it hurt?" or "did you feel like you were giving birth?" Anyhoo, I was just wondering from other people around here what can be done to prevent them. The Urologist is taking too long to get results for me, I'm an impatient guy... If anybody has any advice I would really appreciate it. I've heard that when you get them once, you are prone to getting them again, so I'd like to keep that from happening...

[Reds Fanatic]

I know what you are going through I had one in January and it was the most painful thing I have ever went through. As far as preventing them my doctor just recommended drinking a lot of water. They recommend 8 full glasses of water a day. That won't guarantee you won't get another one but it can help to prevent them. Other than that since it was my first kidney stone they sent it off for analysis but usually they don't do a lot of tests unless you get more than one kidney stone. So they only real recommendation is drink a lot of water every day.

[flyer85]

drink lots of water, supposedly that will help.

All I know is that the pain is incredible and I have statered drinking more water and less soda.

[oneupper]

Mine got stuck on its way down to the bladder. They had to go in and get it (imagine which way).

When I woke up and went to relieve myself after that procedure, I saw (and felt) the devil.

As for advice, drink water, avoid caffeine and well...that first stone probably took at least 20 years to form so...

[rotnoid]

Mine got stuck on its way down to the bladder. They had to go in and get it (imagine which way).

Same here, laser and all. I think worse than that though was when the remove the stent. You'd think there would be some sort of sedative involved there... Nope.

I'm almost exclusively on water these days. Well, that and beer. One urologist actually suggested that beer does a good job cleaning out the kidneys and ureters (I'm not saying it's true, but let's just say I haven't had another kidney stone). Also told me if my stream is anything but about the same color as a pair of khakis to drink even more water.

[RedsManRick]

I passed a small stone during college. I was literally sitting in class and felt like I had a combination of a horrible cramp and really needing to go to the restroom. I went the restroom and sat there for about an hour in the worst pain of my life.

I did not have a cell phone and couldn't walk (I was hunched over from the pain). I blacked out visually twice. Afterwards I walked down to the Student Health Services and they ran their tests which basically confirmed that it had happened. I was told to lay off the coffee (which I haven't) and keep pumping at least 8 glasses of water a day. Not much else I could do.

[BRM]

Coffee is a cause as well or just the caffeine in it? I pretty much just drink water and beer these days anyway.

[acredsfan]

I appreciate all the feedback. I seriously cut back on my caffeine intake about two years ago, I know that may have been too little too late though. I already go through a ton of water a day, so that is good. Right now they are testing me to find out what caused them. The bad part is I have to pee in a stupid container for 24 hours. Oh well, hopefully it leads to more answers.

RedsManRick, I can't imagine being in such a bad spot. I originally thought mine was a back spasm or something, but before long I was unable to stand up and having a hard time breathing. I was lucky enough to be at my girlfriends house, and she took me to the hospital. I was in pain for a good two hours and had to beg them to speed up and get me the pain killers. The weird thing is my orthopedic doctor was amazed at my pain tolerance when I went through shoulder trouble and surgery. Something as small as a grain of sand knocked me on my tush... Actually there was more than one. Luckily they only lasted 2 days, I've heard horror stories.

[Edskin]

Ugh. You all are scaring me big time.

Several years ago, I had some GI issues and the ran some X-Rays. Everything was negative but the doctor did say that it looked like I had some minor calcium build-up in my kidneys. He said no big deal, but that maybe down the road it could give me problems.

I drink a decent amount of water, but I also drink Diet Dr. Pepper like it's going out of style. Every time I get the slightest twinge, I think, "here they come....."

[TeamBoone]

I had one sever years ago... staghorn calculus (it was BIG).

I was in the hospital for two weeks, drugged up to high heaven the first week and a half while they were trying to flush it into a position where they could go in and grab it with a "basket" (didn't work).

I ended up having it surgically removed and spent several more days all drugged up trying to recover from the surgery and its resultant pain.

Mine was sent to the lab and found to be mostly calcium. I had to cut back on my calcium intake.

[rude]

I've had a hernia, two knee surgeries and open-heart surgery to repair a dissecting aortic anuerism (same thing John Ritter died from) and nothing compared to the pain of my kidney stones.

[Red Leader]

I've had kidney stones twice. I'm prone to them from my Mom's side of the family.

The first time I was really lucky. I was in the bathroom taking a leak and I wizzed all over the back of the seat. That's not normal for me. I looked down only to see a little pebble emerge from the hole. It shot out and landed on the floor. There was no pain involved at all so I laughed about it and thought "man, what a bunch of wusses. Everyone complains about that?"

Second time I had them was one week before I got married. I went out to breakfast with my (then) future wife and future in-laws. I had some dull back pain while eating but didn't think anything of it. I walked out of the restaraunt and it was like I was in the freakish part of Natural Born Killers (when they show LSD images). The clouds turned purple, the sky turned red, everything else felt black and white with red and blue highlights. I couldn't see green colors at all. It was weird. Shortly after that, I was doubled over in pain and gasping for air. Worst back pain I've ever felt. My (then) future wife drove me back to her parents house, we loaded the bags and headed home. I was in agony for 3 1/2 hours as she drove back to our home. We got off the highway exit and I begged her to take me straight to the hospital. We got there and they found that I had a huge stone. They zapped it and broke it up. I passed 4 stones about 5 hours after that.

Doctors recommend drinking buckets and buckets of water. My Mom, my Aunt, my Uncle, all my cousins and my Grandfather (before he passed) all carry around water bottles with them 24/7, 365. They drink water non-stop. I don't drink water that much, but I do drink at least 5 bottles a day. Haven't had any re-occurances since then, but occasionally I do feel a little back pain. I think I have another stone in there, but it hasn't given me any problems since it formed.

Mine are all calcium based as well. What's interesting is that I'm lactose intolerant. I occasionally eat ice cream and eat cereal every now and then. It's usually right after that where I will feel the dull back pain for an hour or two. My Dad suggest I take lactaid if I'm going to eat cheese, yogurt, cereal, ice cream, or any dairy product. To this point I haven't yet, but try to steer clear of dairy products as much as possible.

[Dom Heffner]

My stepfather passed one the size of the Hope Diamond.

It was gigantic (he was so amazed he showed everyone at work; you would have too if you would have passed something that big).

Which led to other questions, of course.

Anyway, from what I hear, your best bet is drinking water. His doctor told him that tea was a big culprit, but who knows.

[WVPacman]

acredsfan,bud I know exactly what you're going threw.I don't know the exact number but I have passed somewere around 23 or more b/c of the medicine that my sezier doctor put me on once.See I take seziers and my doctor wanted to try me on a new pill and he told me that the pill could cause kidney stones.Well anyways I tried the pill and about a month or so later I was watching tv in my room and the pain came and all I could do was fall to the ground and start hollering.I went to the hospital and and they said it was a stone.Well I passed it and I had to go back in another month or so and I passed two at the hospital,yes I said two at once!! I believe that whole hospital heard screaming my mom and the doc came and said what happened and I told him and my mom that I had twins .To make a long story short I told my sezier doctor to get me off that pill and he did and I have never had another one since then (knock on wood).

My uncle has passed some stones and had to have surgery and he said his doctor said to stay away from pennuts and dairy products like milk