Kidney Stones

[Defiler]

I'm sure some of you guys and *maybe* some of you gals have had kidney stones before. I would just like to hear some of your experiences and if you have any suggestions for dealing with the pain or preventing them.

The first time I had a kidney stone was in my early 20s, and honestly, I thought there was something seriously wrong with me and that I was going to die. Saw a doc, did a quick urine dipstick test to check for blood or infection, which was clear, so I was prescribed Myprodol and advised to drink at least 2-3L of water a day. Ok, great, that seemed to help, but every few months I would get another stone, so I just kept popping Myprodol before and at work since my job was quite physically demanding as a techy/installer.

Skip 15 years til now, I wrecked my stomach lining (chronic gastritis) from taking too many NSAIDs, so non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are out of the question, and they also lost their efficacy. Got a bad UTI about three years ago, which antibiotics only partially cleared up, so was booked for an ultrasound, which picked up a 5-6 mm kidney stone, got booked for a CT scan, which found a "Nonobstructive 6 mm right upper pole renal caliceal calculus."

Doc prescribed me a box of tramadol for pain and valium for relaxation and sleep and advised I drink plenty of fluids and sent me on my merry way... Got another bad UTI earlier this year, so saw a new doc, dipstick test picked up an infection, got antibiotics and some more tramadol, and I was sent for another ultrasound, which picked up a 13mm stone and some smaller ones (under a mm in the other kidney). Since I'm not on medical aid, I went the public route this time, which wasn't too bad through Victoria Hospital, if you don't mind waiting in a queue for a few hours. Another ultrasound, then scheduled for CT scan the following week.

Get the results, speak to the urologist, "non-obstructive 7mm kidney stone", get told that it won't cause any pain where it's located, and it's also too far inside the kidney to perform any procedures. Back to square one. It definitely causes pain, and I can pinpoint exactly where it is (feels like a piece of glass stuck deep inside my body just under my ribs), so if I bend down in a weird position or pick up something heavy, it pokes and causes severe pain for a few days until things return to normal, so I'm 100% aware of it all the time.

Been out of tramadol for a few months, which is the only painkiller that offers some mild relief, so I'm probably going to have to go back to the doctor just to get another script.

I'm also in the process of moving and had a particularly busy day yesterday, which must have moved some smaller stones, which I passed later in the evening after chugging water, a couple of beers, and valium. It was three stones that felt like fire coming out, and I didn't have enough juice in the tank, so to speak, to get the last one out. Not pleasant at all, and I feel raw and painful today, so I'm taking it easy.

So let's hear some of your stories/suggestions!

 

[DarkStarMonday]

Beetroot juice - drink as much as you can.

 

[Jam Sandwich]

Beetroot juice - drink as much as you can.

I just googled that as I quite like beetroot but it says its bad for you if you are prone to stones?

Why Beetroot Juice Can Be Harmful

• High Oxalate Content: Beets are packed with oxalates, naturally occurring compounds that bind to calcium in your urinary tract to form crystals, leading directly to stones. [1, 2]
• Concentrated Risk: Juicing removes the natural fiber found in whole beets, leaving a highly concentrated liquid dose of oxalates that your body absorbs much faster. [1]

 

[marine1]

Nothing helps, dont believe this rubbish on the internet.
I have had them 3 times and its worse than being shot, I was shot .
It is the most excruciating pain I have ever had.
Stay away from carbonated drinks, energy drinks especially are bad for it, Spinach also isnt good if you have had them before.
I was told if you had kidney stones once, you will get them again, not sure how true this is.
Kidney stones = penis bullets

 

[Defiler]

I think I'll skip the beetroot juice as it just might make things worse (I have already cut out spinach from my diet, even though I love creamed spinach). I do go through quite a few lemons, though.

 

[Defiler]

Nothing helps, dont believe this rubbish on the internet.
I have had them 3 times and its worse than being shot, I was shot .
It is the most excruciating pain I have ever had.
Stay away from carbonated drinks, energy drinks especially are bad for it, Spinach also isnt good if you have had them before.
I was told if you had kidney stones once, you will get them again, not sure how true this is.
Kidney stones = penis bullets

Yeah, when you try to tell people how bad the pain actually is, no one understands unless they have personally had kidney stones before.

 

[Sinbad]

Prevention - drink LOTS of water and be physically active - the movements will help dislodge small stones before they get too big to pass.

I've had an obstructive stone once - I felt like I was dying. Emergency surgery to remove it.

I also had, recently, a non-obstructing 12mm stone - it was removed by means of firing lasers up the old jap's eye. Not a pleasant experience because they had to leave a stent in place for a couple of weeks and that hurt like an absolute bastard.

Your stone should be treatable with echolithotripsy - get a second opinion.

 

[B@rrels]

I have had 3 kidney stones,all removed by surgery and blasting the stones.Now I take a Puricos tab every day to stop the uric acid which causes stones and...gout.All clear since early 90's.

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

Had stones once and removed with lazers. Was treated by the expert in the field. Old oom Prof. He told me cooldrinks are not healthy, but if you have to drink some, have the ones with no colouring like Sprite.
I don;t drink a lot of cooldrink, but when I do, only Sprite or flavoured water. never had stones again.

 

[NR7]

I had them 3 times.

Two of them were pain in the urethra post urination as they got lodged, that passed after 20-30 minutes after I drank a ton of water to dislodge them on the next toilet trip.

One was a not so tiny one but not surgery-huge, that decided to wake me and give me waves of debilitating back pain on a beach holiday where the diet was mostly dehydration and coke. Passed after a very painful day in the hospital after a lot of hydration and painkillers.

My stones are not uric acid. One was analyzed to be calcium oxalate. So I :

- Only drink water or rooibos tea now, 3L when its cold and 3.75L when its warm (previously 2L of anything sugary).
- I avoid chocolates
- I drink lemon juice daily and A.Vogel's Alkaline powder sometimes
- I avoid sugary things and try eat healthier in general
- All easier said than done and this thread reminded me I'm been lacking in some of these things

 

[Defiler]

Prevention - drink LOTS of water and be physically active - the movements will help dislodge small stones before they get too big to pass.

I've had an obstructive stone once - I felt like I was dying. Emergency surgery to remove it.

I also had, recently, a non-obstructing 12mm stone - it was removed by means of firing lasers up the old jap's eye. Not a pleasant experience because they had to leave a stent in place for a couple of weeks and that hurt like an absolute bastard.

Your stone should be treatable with echolithotripsy - get a second opinion.

Sounds like fun.

Yeah, I'm hoping it doesn't get to a point where a stone becomes obstructive because I'm a stubborn bastard and won't see a doc unless I'm almost dead. I've gotten used to chugging a few litres of water every day and one or two beers for the diuretic effect, and then I piss like a racehorse.

I'm also pretty active daily, but yesterday I was moving fridges and furniture around, which I think dislodged some smaller stones.

I'll probably have to get another opinion (3rd), so I'll do some research about echolithotripsy and make sure to ask about it.

 

[DarkStarMonday]

I just googled that as I quite like beetroot but it says its bad for you if you are prone to stones?

Why Beetroot Juice Can Be Harmful

• High Oxalate Content: Beets are packed with oxalates, naturally occurring compounds that bind to calcium in your urinary tract to form crystals, leading directly to stones. [1, 2]
• Concentrated Risk: Juicing removes the natural fiber found in whole beets, leaving a highly concentrated liquid dose of oxalates that your body absorbs much faster. [1]

I have had 4 kidney stone operations in the past, 24, 28, 34 and 45.

Several kidney flushes as well.

I drank and partied hard as youngster and you have listed only the negative side effects and not the good things it does for a person.

@Defiler alternatively ask your GP for prescribed medical drinks ( I cant recall the name but it is a powder you mix ) looks orange in colour and is meant to clear your kidneys, tubes and bladder. **** works like a bomb.

BTW : I currently have 2 x small kidney stones floating in my right kidney somewhere lol ( 3mm each )

 

[PhireSide]

Had kidney stones last year. 0/10 do not recommend.

Definitely the worst pain I have felt, and I had a ruptured appendix in my youth that paled in comparison with the pain levels of a kidney stone.

Urologist told me to drink lots of water, beer, take it easy on the coffee and stay away from energy drinks.

So far, so good.

 

[LazyLion]

Come and listen to an expert my son.
Ignore all these other poephols.
I had 17 kidney stones between the age of 27 and 50.
I had so many stones, it was not unusual for me to drive myself to the hospital, pop a stone, and be back before breakfast.
Then finally I had my last stone during COVID (during my daughter's wedding), and the Urologist decided to put a stent in.
Now listen, I had never had a stent before, and the stent was WORSE than the kidney stone itself.
And what was worse, they couldn't take it out for six weeks. At that stage I said, never again!

So here is the solution.
If your kidney stones are made up of Urea (Uric Acid), then ask your doctor (Insist) to be put onto Allopurinol (Puricos). Even though it is usually for the treatment of Gout long term, it will reduce the amount of Uric Acid in your body.
Secondly, you REALLY need to step up your water drinking game. No more mucking about, water is going to become your staple drink. Give up on everything else (if you really plan to be serious about this). I put a small bar fridge in next to my office desk and next to my bed, and set up a constant supply of good tasting and cheap bottled water.
Thirdly, get fresh lemons (The best ones are from Woolies called Seedless Lemongold) and squeeze a bit of lemon juice into your water. Lemon Juice is Citric Acid, and Citric Acid is the BEST thing that actually breaks down Uric Acid. Urinary Alkalinization: When your body metabolizes citric acid (often consumed as Potassium Citrate and Citric Acid or naturally through lemon juice), it increases your urine's pH level. A higher pH transforms the environment to make it easier for existing uric acid crystals to dissolve. This is a game Changer. If you can make yourself addicted to lemon juice in water, you will never suffer with kidney stones ever again.

 

[DarkStarMonday]

Had kidney stones last year. 0/10 do not recommend.

Definitely the worst pain I have felt, and I had a ruptured appendix in my youth that paled in comparison with the pain levels of a kidney stone.

Urologist told me to drink lots of water, beer, take it easy on the coffee and stay away from energy drinks.

So far, so good.

And fizzy energy drinks.

Now and then drink some water with lemon juice.

 

[DarkStarMonday]

Come and listen to an expert my son.
Ignore all these other poephols.
I had 17 kidney stones between the age of 27 and 50.
I had so many stones, it was not unusual for me to drive myself to the hospital, pop a stone, and be back before breakfast.
Then finally I had my last stone during COVID (during my daughter's wedding), and the Urologist decided to put a stent in.
Now listen, I had never had a stent before, and the stent was WORSE than the kidney stone itself.
And what was worse, they couldn't take it out for six weeks. At that stage I said, never again!

So here is the solution.
If your kidney stones are made up of Urea (Uric Acid), then ask your doctor (Insist) to be put onto Allopurinol (Puricos). Even though it is usually for the treatment of Gout long term, it will reduce the amount of Uric Acid in your body.
Secondly, you REALLY need to step up your water drinking game. No more mucking about, water is going to become your staple drink. Give up on everything else (if you really plan to be serious about this). I put a small bar fridge in next to my office desk and next to my bed, and set up a constant supply of good tasting and cheap bottled water.
Thirdly, get fresh lemons (The best ones are from Woolies called Seedless Lemongold) and squeeze a bit of lemon juice into your water. Lemon Juice is Citric Acid, and Citric Acid is the BEST thing that actually breaks down Uric Acid. Urinary Alkalinization: When your body metabolizes citric acid (often consumed as Potassium Citrate and Citric Acid or naturally through lemon juice), it increases your urine's pH level. A higher pH transforms the environment to make it easier for existing uric acid crystals to dissolve. This is a game Changer. If you can make yourself addicted to lemon juice in water, you will never suffer with kidney stones ever again.

Only 17 HAHAHAAH ?

I still have all 25 stones and 4 stent tubes for show and tell.

 

[now05ster]

take it easy on the coffee

 

[Baxteen]

I had one in 2024.
went from nothing at all is wrong when I went to bed, to woke up from the pain at 3am.
woke up my wife and told her I have a kidney stone we need to go to the hospital. she was like "WTF how do you know?!" and I just said I know we need to go to the hospital now.

I was booked in. Dr saw me around 6am. surgery just after 2. spent the night went home the next day around 3. was booked off the next day, lucky that was a friday. the next Monday I was at work.

so there are different reasons why you get stones. mine was because I was not getting enough Tomato's and I needed to slow down on cranberry Juice.


it is a terrible experience, and I hope no one reading this ever needs to go though it.

 

[Nerfherder]

I'm sure some of you guys and *maybe* some of you gals have had kidney stones before. I would just like to hear some of your experiences and if you have any suggestions for dealing with the pain or preventing them.

The first time I had a kidney stone was in my early 20s, and honestly, I thought there was something seriously wrong with me and that I was going to die. Saw a doc, did a quick urine dipstick test to check for blood or infection, which was clear, so I was prescribed Myprodol and advised to drink at least 2-3L of water a day. Ok, great, that seemed to help, but every few months I would get another stone, so I just kept popping Myprodol before and at work since my job was quite physically demanding as a techy/installer.

Skip 15 years til now, I wrecked my stomach lining (chronic gastritis) from taking too many NSAIDs, so non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are out of the question, and they also lost their efficacy. Got a bad UTI about three years ago, which antibiotics only partially cleared up, so was booked for an ultrasound, which picked up a 5-6 mm kidney stone, got booked for a CT scan, which found a "Nonobstructive 6 mm right upper pole renal caliceal calculus."

Doc prescribed me a box of tramadol for pain and valium for relaxation and sleep and advised I drink plenty of fluids and sent me on my merry way... Got another bad UTI earlier this year, so saw a new doc, dipstick test picked up an infection, got antibiotics and some more tramadol, and I was sent for another ultrasound, which picked up a 13mm stone and some smaller ones (under a mm in the other kidney). Since I'm not on medical aid, I went the public route this time, which wasn't too bad through Victoria Hospital, if you don't mind waiting in a queue for a few hours. Another ultrasound, then scheduled for CT scan the following week.

Get the results, speak to the urologist, "non-obstructive 7mm kidney stone", get told that it won't cause any pain where it's located, and it's also too far inside the kidney to perform any procedures. Back to square one. It definitely causes pain, and I can pinpoint exactly where it is (feels like a piece of glass stuck deep inside my body just under my ribs), so if I bend down in a weird position or pick up something heavy, it pokes and causes severe pain for a few days until things return to normal, so I'm 100% aware of it all the time.

Been out of tramadol for a few months, which is the only painkiller that offers some mild relief, so I'm probably going to have to go back to the doctor just to get another script.

I'm also in the process of moving and had a particularly busy day yesterday, which must have moved some smaller stones, which I passed later in the evening after chugging water, a couple of beers, and valium. It was three stones that felt like fire coming out, and I didn't have enough juice in the tank, so to speak, to get the last one out. Not pleasant at all, and I feel raw and painful today, so I'm taking it easy.

So let's hear some of your stories/suggestions!

So I have them twice, both times I went to the hospital and both times I actually passed the stone. So my experience was quite different to you.

The first time was quite a shock and I did think I was dying, was all alone, drove myself to the hospital while having halucinations (that's an entire thread if we want to get into the story).
Second time I recognised the pain and went to the hospital early, they gave me drugs and I passed the stone.
Both of these were tiny though, I sent them to the labs and never got any usefull information back.
The urologist said, to treat them you need to know what kind as the diet change is very different (5 types).
He said I would get them every 5 years until I was about 60 then I wont get them again.

So I got in 2010, 2015 and now its 2026 and I have part 3 of the story: I have gall stones as well.

ill get to the story but I just want to point something out:

It definitely causes pain, and I can pinpoint exactly where it is (feels like a piece of glass stuck deep inside my body just under my ribs),

Your kidneys are in your lower back and so kidney stones manifest as lower back pain that comes in waves.
The gallbladder is located just under your ribs and thats where my pain was when I got stones there.

So the gallbladder story goes like this.
I have been having acid reflux for some years now, thought it was diet and round tummy. So a doctor gave me some drugs to help.. it works when I use it.
Then recently I started getting massive pain in my stomach, like spasm and burning, so a relative died of bowel cancer recently, I decided to get a colonoscopy (im mid 40s). Both the up and down scopes were fine, which was odd.
Usually the pain goes away after a few hours, I had this like 3-4 times. It wakes me up at night so I always thought it was spicy food..
Then the other day I get the pain again but its sudden and gets worse very quickly. After 2 hours I give up and decide to go to the hospital because symptoms could be a heart attack. They do all the heart checks and I'm fine.
Then the do an ultrasound and they see shiny spots on the gallbladder... and the kidney but that seems fine.
When they put the ultrasound under my ribs I jumped through the roof - even though I had morphine up the wazoo.

So all the pain I was having was just the gravel coming out, I also have a 7mm stone sitting in there.
They gave me codeine, buscopan an anti nausea and something else for reflux.
I stopped all of it after a day as I felt fine but then about a month later I got the pain again and took the drugs, they knocked me out but I didn't have to go back to the hospital.

After the second time I booked an appointment with the surgeon and he said the best thing is to just take it out (gallbladder).
So i'm booking for that in the next few weeks.

its a constant worry as to when it will strike again because when it does happen, i'm stuffed.

I spoke to a few people and the pain is worse than giving birth.

 

[Defiler]

Come and listen to an expert my son.
Ignore all these other poephols.
I had 17 kidney stones between the age of 27 and 50.
I had so many stones, it was not unusual for me to drive myself to the hospital, pop a stone, and be back before breakfast.
Then finally I had my last stone during COVID (during my daughter's wedding), and the Urologist decided to put a stent in.
Now listen, I had never had a stent before, and the stent was WORSE than the kidney stone itself.
And what was worse, they couldn't take it out for six weeks. At that stage I said, never again!

So here is the solution.
If your kidney stones are made up of Urea (Uric Acid), then ask your doctor (Insist) to be put onto Allopurinol (Puricos). Even though it is usually for the treatment of Gout long term, it will reduce the amount of Uric Acid in your body.
Secondly, you REALLY need to step up your water drinking game. No more mucking about, water is going to become your staple drink. Give up on everything else (if you really plan to be serious about this). I put a small bar fridge in next to my office desk and next to my bed, and set up a constant supply of good tasting and cheap bottled water.
Thirdly, get fresh lemons (The best ones are from Woolies called Seedless Lemongold) and squeeze a bit of lemon juice into your water. Lemon Juice is Citric Acid, and Citric Acid is the BEST thing that actually breaks down Uric Acid. Urinary Alkalinization: When your body metabolizes citric acid (often consumed as Potassium Citrate and Citric Acid or naturally through lemon juice), it increases your urine's pH level. A higher pH transforms the environment to make it easier for existing uric acid crystals to dissolve. This is a game Changer. If you can make yourself addicted to lemon juice in water, you will never suffer with kidney stones ever again.

Great advice! I have made plenty of dietary changes over the last 10 years or so, including cutting out all dairy, which I used to love, because it affects my gastritis. I think all my stones are calcium-based, and I have read that not having dairy in your diet can actually increase the frequency of kidney stones.

And my man! I love lemons and citric acid and used to chug energy drinks, so these days I make my own from scratch as a treat, as I get a bit bored with plain old water and lemon day in and day out. A tiny bit of sugar, taurine, citric acid, vitamin B's, vitamin C, a couple of drops of flavour essence, and sometimes caffeine. No sugary carbonated crap, and one or two cups of coffee a day.
Also only drink bottled water. I aim for 2-3 litres of water a day, excluding other liquids.