The basics (according to this site: Kidney stones are comprised mostly of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate. They form when crystals of these mineral salts get trapped in the kidney, forming a stone. This is the most common form of stone, though another type, the struvite stone, forms as a result of infection of the urinary tract.
Kidney stones can be hereditary, with the condition known as hypercalciuria most responsible for hereditary-based stone formation. Whites are more likely to be afflicted by kidney stones than blacks, and men have a greater chance of suffering them than women. (Liberals: Think about this the next time you wish ill on white males.)
Coffee, tea, leafy vegetables, wheat bran, red wine and chocolate may be trigger foods. Isn't that great? Most of the foods that you either should eat, need to consume in order to be able to start the day, or might plain enjoy at snacktime are on the "watch" list!
The good news about kidney stones is that, in addition to feeling higher than heroin once the pain stops, only rarely do they require surgery. Most stones will pass on their own or they can be easily removed or encouraged to break up (using shock waves).
I think kidney stones are nature's way of letting one know to not sweat the small stuff. Regardless of kidney stones are, how they form or what's responsible for their formation, once you have experienced one, you will know that you can handle just about anything life throws your way.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - bhw
My husband had a kidney stone before he was my husband, when he was only 22. His parents took him to the hospital, where the Demerol helped him not care about the pain. The doctors told him that kidney stone pain is akin to labor pain, so I can sympathize with how much it hurts!
BTW, broccoli is supposedly on the kidney stone watch list. So my husband still uses that as an excuse not to eat it, even though he has never had a second attack. He says that's because he never eats broccoli.
2 - Justene
Ride it out? ER, IV morphine, probably some other antinausea drug by IV. Last time, I was admitted for five days. After all the fluids to flish the first one, a second on the other side loosened. It was a little tough at 3 am to convince the nurse that I was scamming more morphone when I was suddenly doubled over and holding what appeared to be the "wrong" side.
I am unclear why they hurt. They are essentially harmless. What evolutionary switch gave us pain receptors there? Your liver can deteriorate away and it won't hurt at all but that harmless kidney stone is indeed the worst pain there is.
3 - Mark Edward Manning
Justene: "Ride it out? ER, IV morphine, probably some other antinausea drug by IV."
I think this piece came back to haunt its author, big-time.
It turns out my kidney stone hell wasn't over, after all ... it flared up again just a few hours after writing this, would you believe it! It got so bad that I called an ambulence for myself.
I spent fifty hours in hospital, spilling blood for the doctors to test and getting X-rays taken, and even needed morphine at one point. I just got out of hospital today (Saturday, May 14). I'm now on a course of anti-inflammatories and anti-biotics.
4 - Dan
I'm on my second stone attack. The first one was 2 years ago and it was also the first time I vommited from pain. I had to go to the ER day before yesterday. They gave some pain killer and anti-nausia drugs in an IV which kicked in pleasantly fast. Tonight, I've taken my 3rd Tylox. There's only one left and one refill. Though it's dangerous, when ever the pain gets intense, I place a tennis ball or shoe under the kidney and lay on it. I discovered years ago that some forms of pain can be minimized by applying extreme pressure to the affected area. I don't recomend this to anyone as it could cause extensive damage to your organ/s but, it's okay for someone like me because I place personal comfort far above personal health. Also some forms of pain can be used to counter other pains but, again, it isn't a wise thing to do. I do it because I'm stuborn and flatly refuse to live in discomfort no matter what the cost. Some of the things the rest of you mentioned in your comparison to the pain actually sound to me like something that would relieve the pain...to a certain point anyway. I remember the attacks I had before how they made by already spastic colin hurt so badly that I actully began to hate the collin itself and had little fantasies about destroying it to releive the agony. That was how intense it was. This time wasn't as bad but, it was bad enough to give me dry heaves. The worst part is after the x-rays and cat scan the doc told me I have one in the ureter and two more in the kidney itself. Guess I'm in for a lot of severe pain and hectic days to come. :(
5 - tash
its really good
6 - Macgrath
Kidney stones are solid accretions (crystals) of dissolved minerals in urine found inside the kidneys or ureters. Also known as nephrolithiasis, urolithiasis or renal calculi. They vary in size from as small as a grain of sand to as large as a golf ball. Kidney stones typically leave the body in the urine stream; if they grow relatively large before passing (on the order of millimeters), obstruction of a ureter and distention with urine can cause severe pain most commonly felt in the flank, lowe
7 - Rob
After watching my father suffer through 2 attacks, the second one inflamming his prostate so badly it needed surgery, my biggest fear is having a stone to pass. I have never seen anyone in that much pain before and I was present at the births of both my sons.
8 - Nancy
The first attack, morphine at the ER was a kindly assistance, along w/my system being washed out w/lots & lots of IV fluids. The next one, I glommed on to what the problem was early on, and drank lots & lots of water, and I was very lucky: it passed on its own; but I don't count on that kind of luck twice. Quelle pain!
9 - Mark Edward Manning
Dan, Rob and Nancy:
It has to be among the hardest of pain to endure - I'm not saying the hardest, but it's surely up there.
Morphine helped me. I felt pain returning before I felt like talking a walk around the hospital campus just to stretch my legs. The nurse gave me a shot of morphine just to ensure that I wouldn't be doubled over if it became bad. Well, even through the morphine, I had pain. It makes me shudder to think what state I'd have been in had I not had that shot.
My father suffered from a kidney stone attack too. He was in a very bad way. But to date, he's only had one attack and that was in 1998.
I've got to see a nephrologist [sp?] to determine the cause of my kidney stones, and I saw the urologist recently who determined that my stone had passed. From this stage on, prevention is the key for me.
10 - John Sept
So far I have passed 6 of them and one had to be blown up. They say that when they blow one up the next day you feel like you got hit by a car. I felt fine, but when i went the bathroom it was blood and tissue. Not the most attractive thing to see. Mine are calcium oxelate, so basically all the good things for you like vitamin c and calcium are bad for me. Great. I heard that sucking on lemons help the pain when attacked.
11 - Aaron McGraw
I just passed a stone on Saturday, and I think if someone suggested to me to suck a lemon at the time, I'd have stuffed their head into their chest. Yes, I'm a former army grunt now covered in tattoos and have had teeth drilled without novacaine...I got a chuckle out of the tough marine story, to say the least. I didn't find myself crying...but I was REALLY irked by my girlfriend's presence (I asked her to leave eventually) in the ER...the Turodol they gave me didn't do squat--I tossed and moaned until they started with the Demerol via IV every two hours. Puke? You bet greenish yellow crap to accompany the vermillion stuff I was passing out my penis in lieu of urine. I spent the night tossing and turning in the hospital...was awakened to be told that I'd be going in for surgery in half an hour, voided my bladder one last time and amazingly I passed a 5mm stone. It clicked when it hit the bottom of the plastic hand-held urinal.
Now, early Tuesday morning the effected kidney is still causing pain. I'm begining to wonder if this is normal.
Any thoughts? Or does the pain linger on...my back is still quite sore and it seems that I'm not peeing as much as I used to...the color is fine, and the pain isn't intense...but I sure as hell am sore.
12 - Aaron McGraw
Get your URIC ACID levels checked after passing stones. Seems that stones can be indicative of the onset of renal failure...Yeah. Bummer for me.
13 - amy
I Currently Have 2 Kidney Stones. 8mm In My Right. 5 Mm In My Left. I Had Pain 4 A Week. Then No Pain 4 A Week. And Now Constant Sore Kidneys/Back. Any1 Know If This Is Normal?
14 - Dil Barnett
Nothing to sell!! I stumbled onto a self-administered method that has been quick, almost painless, and consistently effective for many others and me . The freely offered method is at (www.jumpandbump.com)Best of stone luck!! Dil Barnett
15 - Jenny P
I haven't been diagnosed yet, but I am about 99% sure this is what I am suffering from right now. It's absolutely terrible, and what you say about how one feels when the pain stops is true. I live in a dorm, and have probably spent 10 or 12 of the last 48 hours sitting/laying on the floor in the shower, letting scalding hot water burn the pain away. That, and contemplating how to best kill myself in case the pain never stops.
Thank you for this. I would say I'm glad to see I'm not alone, but I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
16 - KB
I am just recovering from kidney stones and hope I am through the worst right now. I was addmitted in hospital and had a total of 9 injections for pain in 2 1/2 days. I did not eat for 2 days and was given fluid IV continuously. When i passed it my urine was dark brown (coffee color) and had lots of sand looking particles in it. I felt much better after, but still have back spasms.
I would not wish this thing on mine enemy.
I am not the type of person to contribute in this manner but the pain I endured has compelled me to share.
17 - Rob
Monday morning I woke up pain free for the first time in a week, so am still on the post-stone high, I spent most of yesterday grinning inanely to myself
So in the spirit of sharing..
Pain started on a sunday night.. after a day of tests and wandering from Xray to CT to Doctor to Urologist I was scheduled for ESWL on the Tues morning. Since my stone was Xray opaque, it could not be seen on Xray, so I was injected with a dye that would help show where in my ureter the stone had stopped. Problem was that the was so blocked, that the dye didn't flow down from the kidney to the stone. Finally after a morning of increasing pain the treatment started about 3pm and by 4pm I was in ward.
I had hoped that was the end of it, but although I was peeing blood for a day there seemed to be little in the way of stone fragments in my urine. Over the next few days, I suffered chills, fever, nausea, vomitting and pain (don't forget the pain). Painkillers did help for a while, but to got to the point that I had to take them so frequently that my already traumatised stomach complained all the more - just adding to the misery.
Sometime early monday morning, something somehow felt different - hard to put a finger on why amd when I woke up later (courtesy of more pills) the pain had gove and finally there were bits of stone in my urine.
I have no idea why the fragments took so long to come down, but I will be asking my urologist when I see him
Only plus of the whole episode is that I did at least lose a couple of kilos in weight
18 - Bob
I went to the emergency room last week with what became diagnosed as a 9mm stone in my left kindey. They admitted me to the hospital and gave me a stint the next day. They controlled the pain with Delaudin(sp) and while the pain was intense, I guess I have a fairly high threshold since I remain convinced that child birth without drugs would be much more painful. I'm scheduled for the Lithotripsy next week (June 29th) and while I don't have any pain from the stone itself, I am experiencing other very uncomfortable symptoms in the meantime. Headaches, low-grade fever and chills, high urgency to urinate with very low output have become my life. I went back to the urologist with these symptoms and they did tests and found no infections and basically said this was normal.
I'm wondering, especially from those of you who have had more than one stone in the past, just how normal this is and if I can expect other more uncomfortable symptoms before the Lithotripsy? What about after?
19 - Scarlett Marenger
I have been passing stones for 25 years but they only started to kick it up since 2000. Have probabley passed 3 dozen stones Have had
laser blasting and Lithotripsy more than once.
When you have a severe attack with back pain it means that the stone is blocking urine flow from that side kidney. You need to get to the hospital because if it goes on long enough it can kill that kidney. They cannot seem to find out why I create stones. But I have researched a lot myself.
My Naturopath says drink lemon water to help dissolve them. Following is a list of the BAD stuff; Instant coffee and tea, black tea, broccoli, strawberry or any seeded fruits, Cocolate big time, spinach, whole wheat breads, nuts or nut butters, tons of stuff.
20 - tncali
One thing that helped me until it was a decent enough hour to drag my family to the er was standing in the shower with the hot water pounding the aching kidney. I hung on the door like that for about 2 hours...then went to the er looking like crap...but after the morphine I didn't care what I looked like. I had 3 very very small grains...but the pain was WORSE than the two children I gave BIRTH to.
21 - de amoy
Certainly feels very painful, to read these articles, it seems I have a feather occiput stand, the most egregious case, where we have always felt that untold pain as the sky will fall down on our heads. Of course will be very grateful if there is a medicine that can liberate us from all this suffering.
Although my family and I have never suffered from this disease, but of course I will feel very happy to know there are drugs that can cure this disease
22 - Mark Edward Manning
That's the thing: My stone was quite small as well, but jeez, did it hurt. Sometimes I wonder if it was a jackstone -- the really spiky stones. That way, it doesn't matter if it's small, it's the shape of the stone that causes the pain.
23 - Colleen
I just turned 25, and passed my first Stone 3 months ago. Upon further testing, they determined I still have a 5mm stone in my left Kidney..
The stone I passed was 2.5mm, and boy did it hurt!
I remember crawling on the floor for days because the pain was so bad! I was constantly hunched over because any upright position was just too painful! And I had no idea what was wrong with me!
I have a very high pain tolerance, and I could not grasp this as it felt like I was having my left side wrenched out!!
Because I had small amounts of blood in my urine, I figured the pain was cramps due to my period. After 3 days, I finally ended up in Emerg!
Passing the stone wasnt bad for me at all, In fact I remember very little of the pain..The docs had me on morphine..and I dont even remember it hurting! I just remember being SOOOO happy to have passed it and have the darn stone out of me!
( the week prior was the painful part)
Now back to my 5mm stone. The urologist told me it may take years before this stone ever bothers me, and to go for a yearly Xray to monitor it.
To be honest..Im worried. Im not looking forward to experiencing the joy of passing a kidney stone again; And knowing that this one is there ( and twice the size of my first) is a constant reminder to me. Its torture!
My question. Does anyone have an idea how long a stone will stay in your kidney before passing?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
24 - elayne
just recovering from 1st(and 2nd)attack of kidney stones,,,AGONY!!!the vomiting sure did come,the pain is like nothing ive ever had and hope to have again,the painkillers,anti spasmodic drugs and stuff have improved it(heres hoping!)
25 - Z
I am not looking forward to it, would be good if people gave coping advice....?? I mean at the end of the day, fair enough it clearly is very painful... but all of u got through it, do be proud of yourselves!