Post virus kidney pain - anyone else?

[fuzzyKitty]

I had symptoms of coronavirus about a month ago, a few days after DH.

I was fortunate that it didn't seem to affect my lungs very much, but I felt terrible, dizzy, tired, joint pain, occasional fever, nausea, very gurgly tummy!

After about a week, I developed intermittent lower back pain, including horrible swueezing/scrunching feelings. After a few days, I rang GP, who thought kidney infection and I had a week of antibiotics that didn't make much difference. Less pain, still sore on/off, focused on two balls of tightness/pain in back.

Has anyone else had kidney issues after the virus? GP eventually decided to test me for kidney stones, so I'm waiting for results, but he was very skeptical the pain was anything to do with virus.

I've now had on/off kidney pain for >3 weeks :(. No other urinary issues, no blood in urine, drinking tonnes of water.

Wondering if anyone else had this, and how long it took to recover!

[notrub]

It's quite likely to be long-covid
www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4470

The bad news is that since nobody knows the cause of this, there is no treatment on the horizon. There'll be a myriad of snake-oil "cures" hitting the market - best avoided.

The good news is that you haven't gotten worse, so you needn't worry about impending organ failure.

All you can really do is seek medication to control the pain.

[SheepandCow]

Anyone who thinks it's Long Covid - if symptoms continue ask for a referral to a Long Covid clinic. I don't know when they'll be up and running but it's worth getting on any waiting lists they might have.

[Resisterance]

Def give up caffeine! That will be making it much worse. Water, herbal tea treat yourself like you would a baby. You've survived a hideous illness. You need to really look after yourself.

[Flippetyflipok]

Yes, I've had blood tests, an xray and an ultrasound. No stones.

[1WildTeaParty]

Kidney stone pain varies.

It can be excrutiating and unbearable and like the worst moments of childbirth but it can also be an ache or backpain.

It depends on where the stone is and how stuck it gets.

If you have been ill, you might have become dehydrated. This can cause/increase the size of kidney stones.

A scan would help find this out.

[Flippetyflipok]

@Resisterance thank you so much, you've given me some hope! I didn't drink alcohol for 3 months but started again moderately since it didn't seem to make a difference, maybe will give up again. I did think I should try to give up caffeine, that's probably my biggest remaining source of inflammation in my diet, but it'll be hard :).

[Resisterance]

Also I think covid attacks weaker areas of the body so if you've already had issues with you're kidneys I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't affected them again.

[Resisterance]

@flippetyflipok I've had every possible test going re covid... xray on lungs, ecg, ultrasound on kidneys, ct scan coming up but they can't see anything with kidneys. Essentially think it's all in blood vessels so problems don't show up on scans etc.

I didn't drink any alcohol for 7 months, drank lots of water, slept and napped, hot water bottles on kidneys and electric blanket but as mentioned the main things that gave helped are Chinese herbs through jade screen project and cranio sacral osteopathy. Plus turmeric in everything.

It has been so painful and I really understand how you're feeling but I'm 7.5 months in now and (despite a relapse this week) feeeling generally so much better. You'll get there. X

[GabriellaMontez]

Sounds like its notoriously hard to distinguish. Sounds likes you've googled already but there are some suggestions here for how to differentiate.

www.healthline.com/health/kidney-pain-vs-back-pain#back-pain

[GabriellaMontez]

But arent they both on the right?!

[Flippetyflipok]

I've had several months of believing it's nothing sinister while it was slowly improving. Just recently it got a bit worse for a while and just doesn't seem to be going away. I don't think I'm tense but it's hard to tell with general pandemic worries! Been doing mediation and yoga, daily walks, sorted out diet (low carb so essentially anti inflammatory) , lost weight, daily walks so other than ongoing kidney buzz feel better than have done for a while.

Inittial doctor guess based on phone consult in April going off my reported symptoms was kidney stones (after strong anti bios in case of UTI made no difference). I'm glad it wasn't a stone after reading all the awful things about how painful they are....

The "pain" is basically where the sonographer checked my kidneys.

@GabriellaMontez definitely got two kidneys :).

[GabriellaMontez]

either side of spine.

This does sound very like back pain. Wouldn't kidney pain all be on the right side?

[Ansumpasty]

@Flippetyflipok

Sorry if I’ve worried you more by bringing it up!

When I had my kidney pain (stone) that was obviously 100% kidney and not back, it was tucked into my side and radiated into my front. If I lifted a leg on that side, the pain got worse.

I have another stone on the opposite kidney and always dread it moving and so any pain in that area freaks me out. Over the last 6 years, since finding out about the stone, I’ve had various pains there and none have turned out to be the kidney pain, so far. Bowel pain can cause similar pain, which is what I’m hoping mine is this time, although I’m on antibiotics for a uti just incase. Also, obviously just muscular and skeletal back pain.

I read that Covid can cause inflammation in the intestine that eventually goes away- are you sure it’s not that? Also, any tension in that area can cause pain, for example, if you are tensing it because you are worrying about your kidneys. I’ve found that tension induced pain doesn’t act like normal muscular pain and I can feel it when resting and not just when stretching, etc. Sometimes get shooting pains with it, etc.

If all your tests are normal, I really would be very reassured that what you have is just back pain. Sometimes accepting and believing that a pain isn’t anything sinister is enough for the brain to eliminate the pain, as crazy as that sounds!

[BangersAndMush]

I can't remember the specific names they gave me, but it was essentially lower back pain caused by me sitting hunched in an office chair for 40 hours a week. It really surprised me because at the time I would have claimed to be very physically fit - I did long distance running and pole fitness. So I hadn't considered that it would be to do with my posture.

The physio helped a lot, as did adjusting my office chair.

[Flippetyflipok]

@BangersAndMush can I ask what your back diagnosis was please? Then I can go google it while I lie awake worrying about my kidneys/not kidneys!

[Flippetyflipok]

@BangersAndMush yes, I think both the Dr and me were hoping it was back pain not kidneys, so when I saw him in person eventually, he asked me to show him exactly where the problem was, and I had to do a few bends etc.. Bending, stretching etc. makes no difference to pain. Wish it was my back!

[BangersAndMush]

Is it definitely kidney pain, and not back pain? I only ask because I remember having some tests done for my kidneys a few years ago, because I was in a lot of pain for weeks on end. I'd had kidney infections before and the pain felt similar so I was fairly certain. Quite far along into the process a doctor asked me to show them exactly where the pain was. I showed them and they said it was nowhere near my kidneys. Anyway, long story short it turned out that I was having problems with my back, and some physio sorted it out very effectively.

Whatever it is, I hope you get it sorted OP. It's a nightmare getting anything medical done at the moment.

[Flippetyflipok]

Bit eeeek my symptoms have persisted so long that they've made a zombie thread :(. Stupid zombie kidneys.

Maybe time to bug my GP again, though in the midst of second wave timing not ideal.

[Flippetyflipok]

@GabriellaMontez
It's two distinct balls of pain, either side of spine. Right area according to Dr when eventually saw him ftf. Exercise or none makes no difference. At start was some definite squeezing going on in same area, just never got totally better. Yes, might not be kidneys but seems most likely from symptoms.

@Resisterance glad to hear you are better! Did you get any explanations from your doctor? I'm hoping my symptoms just go :(.

[Ansumpasty]

@GabriellaMontez
That’s true- maybe it’s not actually kidneys, just same area?

[Resisterance]

I've had huge issues with my kidneys post covid. Had various tests with NHS including an ultrasound on my kidneys but nothing's shown up. I've had Chinese herbs and cranio sacral osteopathy which have both really helped plus loads of fluids but it took 7 months for the pain to go.

[GabriellaMontez]

Oh zombie thread...

[GabriellaMontez]

How do you know its kidney pain? If it doesn't respond to antibiotics, and you have no other symptoms and the pain doesnt match, what makes you so certain that is the source?

[Flippetyflipok]

(am OP, name change now mislaid password)

All my tests (including kidney xray and sonography) came back normal. No stones, no swelling, no blood or protein in urine, blood tests normal.

Still mild daily kidney discomfort. I asked the Dr before my scan what if it shows nothing, he said if so chalk it up to covid. A GP friend says there's no treatment for long covid other than breathing help (my breathing is unaffected).

A few other people with similar long covid kidney issues on Body Politic slack, similarly no answers. I'm thankful it doesn't appear to be a sign of kidney failure but it is hard to know for sure. It has been six months. Pretty tedious.

A few people have mentioned that post soft organ swelling sometimes pain persists for months cos of pain pathways. No idea if correct or how you disambiguste from an actual problem.