Kidney stones

[RiskItForABiscuit]

I've been suffering with them for 3 days now. ER sent me home with painkillers and said they should pass through after a few days.

I've no clue of how long to wait before going back again.

Anyone want to share their experiences of kidney stones with me?

I'm living abroad. But I did get checked by GP and then went to ER the next day. Gave bloods, urine, had ECG done but no scan. The doctor said that the antibiotic the GP gave me would fight the infection but that I had to wait to pass the stones. He said I can come back if it's unbearable and I'll be fast tracked for scans then.

The thing that gets me was that I went to the er as I thought this much pain was unbearable. They sent me off with a few injections to help the pain and some stronger painkillers. They are helping to keep it bearable but only just.

I'm currently in hospital with suspected kidney stones. My sympathies, it's bloody horrible. I've been kept in because they're not 100% sure of my diagnosis - initially thought it was my appendix. I'm waiting for an ultrasound scan and maybe a CT scan to confirm it's definitely kidney stones. Now I'm not too bad because I'm on great painkillers and get them promptly. If your painkillers are not managing your pain, you should go back to get meds that will. Don't suffer with this in silence.

I suffered from stones a couple of years back - Awful.

If the stones are small, they will pass by themselves. Painful, start taking pain meds as soon as you feel the pains starting, because in my experience, a stone moving takes about 2-3 hours to shift.

Get more exercise, and drink a lot - 2 litres minimum a day.

Take a look at your diet - although much depends on the type of stone you are hatching, you can do a lot to avoid certain foods that produce high levels of certain chemicals in your blood and urine...chiefly purins and oxelate. - cut down on rich foods such as pate, most offal. meat, asparagus, beans, peas, and spinach rhubarb, nuts and wheat bran. I was also told chcolate and strawberries, but I ignored that....

Cut down on alcohol. AVoid coke. Drink lemonade instead. Cut down salt.

Hope you feel better soon!

The two-three hours makes sense to me. I find I'm ok if I take the painkillers when the pain start to escalate. Leaving it gives agonising spasms.
I had been following a high protein/low carbs diet til recently which I've heard cause them too. I hardly drink anyway but the other tips I'll think about.
Thanks for the well wishes folks, good luck to the op too!

Sorry, should have said Accident & Emergency, not the ER. I've been out of the country too long and am forgetting the right names.

I was diagnosed with stones from the urine and blood tests. Seems they were right as one passed last night. My pain levels have dropped considerably now. I'm hoping that the lingering pain is just from that stone and that there is no more stones to come. I guess that is the beauty of the scan, no guess work.

Have you had them before? Does it take long to get back to normal, or how long do they take to clear out?

risk it, without a scan its hard to know - I had 3 large stones (too big to pass) and lots of wee ones. I had 8 sessions of lithotripsy, where the smash the big stones using sound waves. Then the fragments would pass.

I cant emph enough to drink loads in the next few days - that should shift any small stones brewing before they are large enough to cause pain. ANd get out for a nice long walk in the sunshine. make sure you take a drink with you.

If the pain is in the kidney area, you may well have a stone in the entrance to the kidney.

You may well feel tender for the next day or so - remember that the stone has bruised your pipes, possibly scratched them too, so keep your wee nice and dilute.

Thanks Hatti. Did you find the pain instantly gone afterwards?
I have started looking at my diet. I've been taking multivitamins for ages now as am breastfeeding a 10 week old. I've cut them out as maybe it was just too much. No appetite for chocolate since this started but I'm a chocoholic ordinarily. You mentioned some more that I didn't know about so I'll try to cut a few more.

Did you ever get them again? And did you change your diet to prevent them?

HaveALittle I hope they get you fixed up speedily. Horrible pain to be in. Let us know how you get on when you can.

I've been sucking down the cranberry juice a I read somewhere it can break them down smaller. Hope that myth has some truth to it.

Riskit, I think I will get them again as we have a family history of stones (grandfather, brother) and gout (dad) so we are prone to getting them.

I occassionally get a twinge now and then, but Ive found that I have developed good drinking habits over the years and this helps.

I was advised to cut out all sorts from my diet - but I havent. I never really ate a lot of offal or game meats, and while I do have a love of asparagus, I try not to eat it that often. Because I/they never managed to analyse one of the stones, we're not sure what type it is, so an elimination diet for one of the 3/4 stone types would mean that I would live on dust and water...! all things in moderation I say.

I'm waiting for my docs to decide if I should have another us pointless surely since it didn't show anything on Thursday or straight for CT. Will let you know.

Fingers crossed that they find the culprit this time HaveALittle

I am going to bring the stone to the lab for analysis. Hopefully that'll give me a better idea on how to prevent them reforming.

Today has been much better. Haven't needed painkillers today as pain is pretty mild. No more blood in my urine which is a first since last Friday.

Well I'm delighted to say I've been discharged after 9 days in hospital! The docs said to.avoid fizzy pop because it can make symptoms worse. They still weren't certain if it was stones that were too small to see on a scan or an infection so I'm on antibiotics and painkillers with the hope it'll ease. I am better and the pain is bearable now!
One thing I read was that a high protein/low carb diet can cause stones which I did for a few months so I won't be doing that again!
riskit I hope you're on the road to recovery!

HaveALittleYou must be delighted to be home. 9 days must have felt like eons. Good news that you're on the mend.

The lab said they'd get the results of my stone in 3 weeks as it was been sent to the capital for analysis. Hopefully then I can figure out how to adjust my diet to avoid them in the future. I've fully recovered, thankfully and hopefully never again.

Betel your experience sounded horrible. Glad you get tested regularly to avoid it in the future.

sorry to hear you have stones, but after you pass one you should be fine. If you're not feeling fine in a day or two, you may well have an infection in your UT and will need antibiotics.

I got KS after eating a diet rich in green leafy veges and now cannot eat Brussel sprouts or strawberries now. Sad.

I passed a stone after a truely horrific night in AnE: six hours waiting to be seen and six hours on a trolley, and was back out of hospital at 7am in time for the next breast feed (they gave me a rehydrating drip as I was vomiting everything for seven hours and drugs that didn't get in to breast milk - can't remember the name of them). Mine were diagnosed with an xray. Boy, did I sleep the next night, but I was sore for a few days.

Sympathies. You'll probably find out by trial and error what you can now eat: those protein rich diets can be very bad for kidney function as well as giving you stones, so do be careful of that. I second drinking over 2 litres of water a day, every day.