OT - Passing a kidney stone
I'm going to be passing a 5mm stone that's currently stuck in my ureter within the next few days. Looking for veterans that can tell me what to expect.
Is it worst in the ureter or the urethra?
Outside of the pain meds, is there anything I can do to make it more bearable?
Any other suggestions. I ended up in the ER last night because of the excruciating pain of having it taversing my ureter. Not looking forward to more of this.
Yes, I know this isn't a medical board. But, I'm utterly miserable with pain and this is my online "home" so to speak. There's something comforting about seeing the layout when you're in agony.
I truly believe that this thread is one of those "Only On MGoBlog" moments, so well done to the OP and on the serious side, hopefully things begin to improve and you pass the stone soon enough.
Somewhere, someone is lamenting OT season, I am sure, but you can't deny that you learned something here.
it was more of a probing, than flying, fuck.
Sorry that happened to you, but I am literally crying laughing in my office.
1. Stop drinking sweetened drinks
2. Start taking Vit C. and Magnesium (chelated forms are best). There are studies out there that show they dissolve kidney stones and other calcium deposits.
World's largest kidney stone? 17 centimeters. View at your own risk.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1124329/Pictured-The-2-5lb-kidn…
A good friend of mine (Tim Hall, PhD) leads a really innovative group in Biomedical Engineering at Michigan that is developing significant improvements to Lithotripsy to help make the stone passing easier. Leaders and Best to help future patients through this painful process! Here's a few links to their publications. You can also read a story about the general technology, which is being pursued by a large group of Michigan researchers, here or here. They are all great scientists and great people personally. You may eventually receive the benefits from the company they founded.
I've had 4 and they are awful. What was worse in my case was that I had hyperparathyroidism, a condition that was causing my body to pull too much calcium from my bones and dump it into my vascular and urinary systems. Upshot: lots of kidney stones, and if left unchecked, could have led to brittle bones/osteoporosis. It's also conceivable it was causing some damage to my heart (too much calcium in your blood = not great for your heart).
So, it might be worth it to look up hyperparathyroidism....it's somewhat rare, but if you're tired a lot and producing multiple stones in a year or two, I'd ask your medical professionals to check it out. It would involve:
- having your blood calcium level checked via blood test (done in most annual physicals)
- having your Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) level checked via blood test (not typically done in most blood work-ups)
- having your urinary calcium level checked via a 24-hour collection test/kit
Good luck. And don't take too much ibuprofen, because if you get to the point of excruciating pain, I'd like to endorse what someone else said about Toradol -- it was magic stuff for me.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have been tested for hyperparathyroidism twice and this is not my problem, but it is worth checking for those with repeated kidney stone episodes.
I have also have had five Litholink 24 hour urine collections and analysis while efforts continued to modify my urine chemistry to reduce stone formation. These tests confirmed I have hyperoxaluria (excess oxalate in the urine).
I agree that Toradol is very effective for kidney stone pain or other urinary tract pain. This was also the pain killer favored when I had a recent prostatectomy. However, if you have impaired kidney function, Toradol is contraindicated because it may contribute to renal failure.
I'm on collection #3 with them......I wish you all the luck in the world. The pain (and damage) from kidney stones is so rough.
I didn't know that about Toradol.....thanks for passing that along.
Toradol is your friend. If you haven't gotten your urologist to get you a prescription for Toradol yet, then do it. Now.
Toradol is like Advil (Ibuprofin) on steroids. It is especially effective at taking away pain from kidney stones. It is the ONLY thing that takes away pain for me from kidney stones. Morphine doesn't even touch mine.
You don't want to take it for more than about a week because it can be really bad on your stomach, but hopefully by that time you will have passed the stone. In the meantime, hopefuly, taking the Toradol as needed will eliminate most of the pain for you.
As someone upthread mentioned, there are 3 points where stones really tend to hurt, and then it is mostly smooth sailing. The part where you would think it would be horrible (the part where it actually comes out) is a walk in the park).
Kidney stones are the only thing in my life that have ever hurt so much that I vomited due to pain. (That's happened twice. Fun stuff).
I had one about 8 years ago. Cause was likely biotin supplements. I started having discomfort on a Friday, and passed the stone on the following Monday. It felt like I had a really bad bladder infection and nothing my doctor gave me was giving me relief (she thought it was a bladder infection). On Monday, I sat in a hot bath because that helped a little, and then half an hour later, I passed it with little fanfare. Suddenly, the symptoms were gone. I don't know if the male and female experiences are different regarding pain, but childbirth was way worse for me.
Don't stay thirsty, my friend. Drink a ton of water.
My grandfather had stones and that's what he drank.
can't you get them blasted to bits with ultrasonic waves?
It's not worth the effort of surgery if the stone is too small. And the surgery would probably do your body more harm than good if not needed.
They'll break it up if it's too large to pass through your body.
The second one was soo much pain I passed out, as luck would have it I was in the hospital. I I was sitting in a chair begging for pain meds after they got my IV in. Delauded was what let me loosen my grip on the chair I was in. I got so relaxed I passed the stone and pissed it out the next day.
The most painful part for me was getting the stone to pass between my bladder and kidney. As for pain I can tell you the only thing I can compare that to was this nerve near a tooth that went up the side of my face to the top of my head that went berserk every in between season like between winter and spring summer and fall this went on for years until I ran into the right Dr. who precribed me Neurontin It was gone and only came back once or twice after that.
Thereason I say that is I have had my hip replaced 4 x's on the rt side and my thigh bone was shattered trying to get the stem out which obviously should have never been removed. I know pain very well and my kidney stones have got to be in my top 2 maybe 3. All 3 of my stones were equally painful I just for what ever reason passed out on the second one, I think because they thought I was in there looking for a free high and they let me sit. My wife said when they heard me quit moaning and close my wide open eyes is when they strolled over and finally gave me something for pain ...Bless their hearts. So on a scale of one to ten I give kidney stones an 11.
For my 21st birthday this year I passed a 6mm kidney stone. The pain does live up to the hype but you can do it. Remember for future. Drink water and stay hydrated. Having one kidney stone means you are more suspecible to them in the future.
A neighbor drank at once a litre of diet coke, and a Bayer. Said the acid in the coke made the stone rounder and eased the pain. Best wishes to your nightmare.
I'd skip the Coke and just drink water. Cola can actually raise the risk of formation of certain types of stones.
http://kidneystones.uchicago.edu/the-coke-treatment/
Veteran of 4 stones myself. As soon as I feel symptoms in the kidney (like a backache that won't respond to changing position, massaging the area, or anything else) I start drinking lots of homemade lemonade with aloe juice/gel. The aloe performs the same lubricating function as olive oil and tastes more innocuous. Unfortunately, the pain isn't always in the same place - during one attack I went to the ER thinking it was appendicitis because it felt like the pain was deep inside the abdomen; but that's where the front of the kidney is located.
When I feel the pain coming on, I make sure to get home so I can take oxycodone/hydrocodone to stop it. You want to manage the pain before it's too severe; if you wait too long you may have to go to the ER for big guns like dilaudid or morphine or fentanyl.
I've never had pain last for more than 18-24 hours - even so, withdrawal from the opioids is nasty. Once the stone passes from the kidney into the bladder, there are no more symptoms and I eventually just piss it out - except for the last one, which managed to grow in the bladder until it was too large to pass from the bladder into the urethra, requiring a litholapaxy (transpenile robotic stone crushing). Thankfully that included general anesthetic.
Hang in there.
Now this is what I want you all to do:
If you got faults, defects or shortcomings
You know, like arthritis, rheumatism or migraines
Whatever part of your body it is
I want you to lay it on your radio, let the vibes flow through
Funk not only moves, it can re-move, dig?
The desired effect is what you get
When you improve your interplanetary funksmanship......
It's a muthafucka ain't it? I passed one and thought I was in hell. Luckily it went quickly. I'll never forget the lower back and hip pain, cold sweats, nausea, nearly passing out from the pain, etc. Sorry, man. It really sucks but it'll get better.
I have an appointment in 1 1`/2 hours with my Urologist to determine next steps since I have not been able to pass a 8 MM stone in the last month taking many of the meds listed above.........
And, memories aside, thanks for all the helpful advice..................
Seriously, it's a thing.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/09/for-kidney-health-ro…