Kidney stones, again!
Discussion
Ouch, they bloody hurt.
Always happens at the wrong time.
Busiest period of the year, for near 30 years now.
Only thing that works is alcohol. Pee like a waterfall.
Hate taking time off, but ouch!
Feels like being kicked in the nuts.
Anybody got any hints?
My doc always said low alcohol beer, flushes them out.
It does work but the last thing i feel like doing is drinking beer.
(it actually does work, but feels wrong)
Always happens at the wrong time.
Busiest period of the year, for near 30 years now.
Only thing that works is alcohol. Pee like a waterfall.
Hate taking time off, but ouch!
Feels like being kicked in the nuts.
Anybody got any hints?
My doc always said low alcohol beer, flushes them out.
It does work but the last thing i feel like doing is drinking beer.
(it actually does work, but feels wrong)
Renal colic is not much fun - been there and done that. First ever experience of injected morphine and don't want to go there again either. Don't see how beer is any better than water - just keep hydrated. This is also said to stop it coming on again - they say a couple of litres a day!
Also reminds me of my hairdresser who is a chronic sufferer who has been known to fish stones out himself with tweezers from his own Japs eye. How's that for eye watering!!
Also reminds me of my hairdresser who is a chronic sufferer who has been known to fish stones out himself with tweezers from his own Japs eye. How's that for eye watering!!
The_Burg said:
You have never had them then, like being booted in the balls by Elton John with his Pinball Wizzard boots on.
Apologies, I thought you'd get the typically poor pun 
I've not got first hand experience but have seen 'hard' men reduced to tears by them so can only imagine.
Edited by Council Baby on Tuesday 19th February 08:07
k me that was painful. Mine never show up on scans, passed quite a few,
Only ever had one they found which i had infra-sonically blasted. Very uncomfortable during the process, (like being punched in the kidneys continuously for the period), have to say it worked brilliantly though.
Been OK all day and the pain is just beginning again as it becomes time for sleep
Another sleepless night beckons.
Happy days!
Only ever had one they found which i had infra-sonically blasted. Very uncomfortable during the process, (like being punched in the kidneys continuously for the period), have to say it worked brilliantly though.
Been OK all day and the pain is just beginning again as it becomes time for sleep
Another sleepless night beckons.
Happy days!
OH is midway through this - he has a 9mm stone stuck between his kidney and bladder - it all kicked off two weeks ago. A&E and hospital were very good - we were at A&E early Sunday morning, he had a scan late on the Tuesday and by the time we had driven home they had rung to arrange to admit him the next day - they were really concerned about backflow and kidney damage.
He had a stent fitted on the Thursday and all is well at the moment. He's due back in at the end of March for removal of the stent and hopefully the stone.
Seemed to be a bloody painful thing to have.
He had a stent fitted on the Thursday and all is well at the moment. He's due back in at the end of March for removal of the stent and hopefully the stone.
Seemed to be a bloody painful thing to have.
Defcon5 said:
Well this thread has suitably terrified me.
How do you prevent kidney stones?
You can`t really.How do you prevent kidney stones?
If you are prone to getting them, then you will get them.
Maintaining a higher than normal fluid intake is the best option.
Many people will produce tiny stones and pass them without even being aware of it, the problems come when you have one that`s too big to pass through.
My doc told me that the likelihood was that once I started having them I would probably have them again at some point, increasing in frequency as I get older.
I`ve heard Renal Colic compared to childbirth and gunshot wounds, in fact one guy on a forum we were discussing it on said he`d rather be shot (again).
I had a quadruple dental extraction that was far less painful!
You are right to be terrified, they are utter, utter bstards. I had several nurses tell me they would much rather give birth than pass kidney stones.
First time I passed some I had one 8mm. I went to A&E barely able to walk with the pain. When I gave a urine sample I very nearly passed out, I'd pee'd pure blood. Lot's of it. Absolutely THE worst thing you ever want to see coming out of there. I had as much injectable morphine as they could administer and was still in a foetal position with the pain, which I guess was handy for the anal pessary that was then administered. Apparently it took 2 1/2 hours to get me stable enough for the blues & twos ambulance ride from Rugby to Coventry, but the only part I recollect following the blood sample is every single bump in the road on the way.
I was hospitalised for a week while it made its way out, and the pain came in waves every couple of hours. I got close to having a stent fitted a couple of times, but each time the surgeon decided it was too risky - I have Sarcoidosis, essentially a hyperactive immune system, and therefore very high risk that the stent would have caused more problems than it solved. Lucky me, I just had to "deliver" my little package au naturel.
I had a smaller one that remained zapped by ultrasound, but I currently have a couple of 4mm ones, and have had hypercalcuria for almost two years which doesn't help - Sarcoidosis buggers up your calcium metabolism. Kidney stones will be a recurrent feature in my life unfortunately. Which is nice.
Oh, one thing worth knowing, if you are passing a biggie of the right sort (calcium based); once it makes its way to the bladder the worst is over, but peeing the bugger out isn't that pleasant either. At this point drink a LOT of cola, the acid will turn a calcium stone to mush and make the final passage much smoother. Poo-poo'd by experts, but I know it worked for me.
First time I passed some I had one 8mm. I went to A&E barely able to walk with the pain. When I gave a urine sample I very nearly passed out, I'd pee'd pure blood. Lot's of it. Absolutely THE worst thing you ever want to see coming out of there. I had as much injectable morphine as they could administer and was still in a foetal position with the pain, which I guess was handy for the anal pessary that was then administered. Apparently it took 2 1/2 hours to get me stable enough for the blues & twos ambulance ride from Rugby to Coventry, but the only part I recollect following the blood sample is every single bump in the road on the way.
I was hospitalised for a week while it made its way out, and the pain came in waves every couple of hours. I got close to having a stent fitted a couple of times, but each time the surgeon decided it was too risky - I have Sarcoidosis, essentially a hyperactive immune system, and therefore very high risk that the stent would have caused more problems than it solved. Lucky me, I just had to "deliver" my little package au naturel.
I had a smaller one that remained zapped by ultrasound, but I currently have a couple of 4mm ones, and have had hypercalcuria for almost two years which doesn't help - Sarcoidosis buggers up your calcium metabolism. Kidney stones will be a recurrent feature in my life unfortunately. Which is nice.
Oh, one thing worth knowing, if you are passing a biggie of the right sort (calcium based); once it makes its way to the bladder the worst is over, but peeing the bugger out isn't that pleasant either. At this point drink a LOT of cola, the acid will turn a calcium stone to mush and make the final passage much smoother. Poo-poo'd by experts, but I know it worked for me.
Edited by VictorMeldrew on Monday 25th February 21:09
VictorMeldrew said:
You are right to be terrified, they are utter, utter bstards. I had several nurses tell me they would much rather give birth than pass kidney stones.
First time I passed some I had one 8mm. I went to A&E barely able to walk with the pain. When I gave a urine sample I very nearly passed out, I'd pee'd pure blood. Lot's of it. Absolutely THE worst thing you ever want to see coming out of there. I had as much injectable morphine as they could administer and was still in a foetal position with the pain, which I guess was handy for the anal pessary that was then administered. Apparently it took 2 1/2 hours to get me stable enough for the blues & twos ambulance ride from Rugby to Coventry, but the only part I recollect following the blood sample is every single bump in the road on the way.
I was hospitalised for a week while it made its way out, and the pain came in waves every couple of hours. I got close to having a stent fitted a couple of times, but each time the surgeon decided it was too risky - I have Sarcoidosis, essentially a hyperactive immune system, and therefore very high risk that the stent would have caused more problems than it solved. Lucky me, I just had to "deliver" my little package au naturel.
I had a smaller one that remained zapped by ultrasound, but I currently have a couple of 4mm ones, and have had hypercalcuria for almost two years which doesn't help - Sarcoidosis buggers up your calcium metabolism. Kidney stones will be a recurrent feature in my life unfortunately. Which is nice.
Oh, one thing worth knowing, if you are passing a biggie of the right sort (calcium based); once it makes its way to the bladder the worst is over, but peeing the bugger out isn't that pleasant either. At this point drink a LOT of cola, the acid will turn a calcium stone to mush and make the final passage much smoother. Poo-poo'd by experts, but I know it worked for me.
I doubt its the acid doing the job as it wont make it to your bladder in any decent concentration or you'd already be in trouble. The diuretic effect of caffeine in the coke could help.First time I passed some I had one 8mm. I went to A&E barely able to walk with the pain. When I gave a urine sample I very nearly passed out, I'd pee'd pure blood. Lot's of it. Absolutely THE worst thing you ever want to see coming out of there. I had as much injectable morphine as they could administer and was still in a foetal position with the pain, which I guess was handy for the anal pessary that was then administered. Apparently it took 2 1/2 hours to get me stable enough for the blues & twos ambulance ride from Rugby to Coventry, but the only part I recollect following the blood sample is every single bump in the road on the way.
I was hospitalised for a week while it made its way out, and the pain came in waves every couple of hours. I got close to having a stent fitted a couple of times, but each time the surgeon decided it was too risky - I have Sarcoidosis, essentially a hyperactive immune system, and therefore very high risk that the stent would have caused more problems than it solved. Lucky me, I just had to "deliver" my little package au naturel.
I had a smaller one that remained zapped by ultrasound, but I currently have a couple of 4mm ones, and have had hypercalcuria for almost two years which doesn't help - Sarcoidosis buggers up your calcium metabolism. Kidney stones will be a recurrent feature in my life unfortunately. Which is nice.
Oh, one thing worth knowing, if you are passing a biggie of the right sort (calcium based); once it makes its way to the bladder the worst is over, but peeing the bugger out isn't that pleasant either. At this point drink a LOT of cola, the acid will turn a calcium stone to mush and make the final passage much smoother. Poo-poo'd by experts, but I know it worked for me.
Edited by VictorMeldrew on Monday 25th February 21:09
I posted this in July 2011 but have copied it here for your reading pleasure 
I've had kidney stones. Complete misery is all I can say about it really!! I first realised something was wrong when one Saturday morning I got up out of bed and I couldn't wee, I just managed a steady drip. This wasn't nice! You know what it's like when you're bursting, well it was like an extreme version of that but lasted for 10 minutes each time. My body was trying to get rid, but hardly anything came out and my body would start to shake quite a lot (luckily I could only drip, or I've have peed everywhere smile ) and my muscles would start to cramp up.
I went to an open surgery morning and the triage nurse suspected it was an STI (not a Subaru!), which I knew it wouldn't be as I was in a monogamous relationship. I gave a wee sample (took some time!!) and they dipped an indicator paper of some sort in there and they confirmed I was 'clean'. I was then sent through to the Dr who proceeded to ram her finger up my arse (without even buying me a drink first!) to check my prostate. All seemed ok there but she said it felt slightly enlarged, so was put on a course of tablets for a month.
Not being able to wee was complete misery and made me not want to drink anything as I was scared of having to pee, it wasn't a nice experience. I also found out that the other 'fluid' I could eject from my body was affected in that the pain I experienced during this was by far more painful than anything I'd ever experienced before. I can tolerate pain, but this was something much worse (but it made showering much quicker!). During the few weeks I was on the tablets, I noticed a sharp stabbing pain in my lower regions, riding a bicycle would have been impossible as the stabbing pain seemed to come from the gooch area. This pain seemed to travel a little day by day and actually got closer and closer to the old boy and I had a horrible feeling that I had some kind of blockage that was forcing its way out. The stabbing feeling got closer and closer to its exit point from my body that when I realised it had moved so far, I knew I'd be able to see it, so had a peer down the japs eye and I could see something lodged in there. I was obviously slightly scared as I had no idea what it was, all I could see was that there was a dark coloured blockage....do I stuck the non-pointy end of a needle down there to see if I could 'coax' it out. As soon as the pin touched, I knew what it was, the blockage was solid even though from what I could see of it (it was a bit over 1/2cm away from the end), it looked like it may have been soft, but the penny dropped as to what it was. For the first time in my life I felt a little ashamed and refused to show my girlfriend despite her eagerness to have a look!
We looked at the options, and to be quite blunt about it, we knew that I'd treat my cock with more care and respect that somebody down at the hospital, so decided on doing some home surgery. From the bathroom cabinet I got out a prized pair of Ruby and Millie tweezers (we'd been through quite a bit of home surgery together, normally just the removal of splinters etc and the occasional taming of the mono brow), so I apologised to them in advance as they were just about to go on a voyage in to my old fella.
I jammed the tweezers down my cock hole and managed to get a grip of the stone. You know when you have a bottle of wine and sometimes the cork is a little stubborn so you wedge the bottle between your legs to brace it so you can pull harder with the corkscrew. Well this is very similar to the position I resumed on the stairs for the next 15 minutes. After a lot of bad language, shouting and very watery eyes, I got the bugger out.
It was a hard brown lump, about 6mm across, but a slightly irregular shape. I guess it almost looked like a small chunk of brown sugar as it was quite crystally looking and razor sharp in places. If you're on a health kick and wanting to stop adding sugar to your coffee, just think about this last statement!
I had my appointment at the Dr's a couple of days later and took the stone with me. They asked how things were, so I told them it wasn't a prostate problem, it was a kidney stone. They asked why I thought that, so I showed them what my cock had coughed up. They were surprised I was able to pass a stone of that size so I told them about the tweezers.
I did have a second stone follow shortly after. This passed through my body fine this time, I could still wee. The only difference was that this time the pain in my kidney was agonising...not as bad as getting a razor sharp stone out of your cock, but bloody nasty all the same. This pain floored me, so ended up back at the Dr's, so was sent off for cat scan. This was pretty much the end of my ordeal really.
The urologist explained in basic terms why people get stones. He did say that they don't know why some people are more prone to them than others, but likened a stone to a builders cup of tea. Imagine you have a cup of tea. You stir in one sugar, it dissolves fine. You stir in a second, it also dissolves fine, you add a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth...and you'll now see that there isn't enough tea to dissolve all the sugar with and you're left with gritty bits in the mug. This is what happens to the kidneys if you don't drink enough. All the things in there that you are trying to flush away can't be washed away which is why it's so important to drink plenty of fluids (water!!). He also said it would be a good idea for me to steer clear from a list of things, but I remember that cashew nuts and strawberries were on there. I still eat these things and have not had a problem. It is very rare to see me without a bottle of water with me now though as I used to go a whole day without drinking. Never again.
Incidentally, as nasty as the whole Kidney stones episode was, having some damage caused by kidney stones was equally as bad. I started peeing blood last year so went to the docs and back through the motions to diagnose whether it was a stone or other problem. After having ultrasound, xrays, CAT scans (with dye injected), they found nothing so wanted to check my bladder. They used a small telescope (flexible cystoscopy) to inspect my bladder but the opening to my bladder was too small to get in to as there was quite a bit of scaring due to a previous stones causing some damage on the way out. Having said scar tissue removed (under general anesthetic) wasn't really fun. My first un-catheterised wee was truly horrific but in the grand scheme of things nowhere near as pleasant as having to self catheterise on a weekly basis to ensure the surgeons handy work didn't cause further problems. Despite it not really hurting, there is something horribly wrong about slinging a foot of rubber tube through your japseye and forcing it in to your bladder, not nice at all!
Drink plenty of water
I've had kidney stones. Complete misery is all I can say about it really!! I first realised something was wrong when one Saturday morning I got up out of bed and I couldn't wee, I just managed a steady drip. This wasn't nice! You know what it's like when you're bursting, well it was like an extreme version of that but lasted for 10 minutes each time. My body was trying to get rid, but hardly anything came out and my body would start to shake quite a lot (luckily I could only drip, or I've have peed everywhere smile ) and my muscles would start to cramp up.
I went to an open surgery morning and the triage nurse suspected it was an STI (not a Subaru!), which I knew it wouldn't be as I was in a monogamous relationship. I gave a wee sample (took some time!!) and they dipped an indicator paper of some sort in there and they confirmed I was 'clean'. I was then sent through to the Dr who proceeded to ram her finger up my arse (without even buying me a drink first!) to check my prostate. All seemed ok there but she said it felt slightly enlarged, so was put on a course of tablets for a month.
Not being able to wee was complete misery and made me not want to drink anything as I was scared of having to pee, it wasn't a nice experience. I also found out that the other 'fluid' I could eject from my body was affected in that the pain I experienced during this was by far more painful than anything I'd ever experienced before. I can tolerate pain, but this was something much worse (but it made showering much quicker!). During the few weeks I was on the tablets, I noticed a sharp stabbing pain in my lower regions, riding a bicycle would have been impossible as the stabbing pain seemed to come from the gooch area. This pain seemed to travel a little day by day and actually got closer and closer to the old boy and I had a horrible feeling that I had some kind of blockage that was forcing its way out. The stabbing feeling got closer and closer to its exit point from my body that when I realised it had moved so far, I knew I'd be able to see it, so had a peer down the japs eye and I could see something lodged in there. I was obviously slightly scared as I had no idea what it was, all I could see was that there was a dark coloured blockage....do I stuck the non-pointy end of a needle down there to see if I could 'coax' it out. As soon as the pin touched, I knew what it was, the blockage was solid even though from what I could see of it (it was a bit over 1/2cm away from the end), it looked like it may have been soft, but the penny dropped as to what it was. For the first time in my life I felt a little ashamed and refused to show my girlfriend despite her eagerness to have a look!
We looked at the options, and to be quite blunt about it, we knew that I'd treat my cock with more care and respect that somebody down at the hospital, so decided on doing some home surgery. From the bathroom cabinet I got out a prized pair of Ruby and Millie tweezers (we'd been through quite a bit of home surgery together, normally just the removal of splinters etc and the occasional taming of the mono brow), so I apologised to them in advance as they were just about to go on a voyage in to my old fella.
I jammed the tweezers down my cock hole and managed to get a grip of the stone. You know when you have a bottle of wine and sometimes the cork is a little stubborn so you wedge the bottle between your legs to brace it so you can pull harder with the corkscrew. Well this is very similar to the position I resumed on the stairs for the next 15 minutes. After a lot of bad language, shouting and very watery eyes, I got the bugger out.
It was a hard brown lump, about 6mm across, but a slightly irregular shape. I guess it almost looked like a small chunk of brown sugar as it was quite crystally looking and razor sharp in places. If you're on a health kick and wanting to stop adding sugar to your coffee, just think about this last statement!
I had my appointment at the Dr's a couple of days later and took the stone with me. They asked how things were, so I told them it wasn't a prostate problem, it was a kidney stone. They asked why I thought that, so I showed them what my cock had coughed up. They were surprised I was able to pass a stone of that size so I told them about the tweezers.
I did have a second stone follow shortly after. This passed through my body fine this time, I could still wee. The only difference was that this time the pain in my kidney was agonising...not as bad as getting a razor sharp stone out of your cock, but bloody nasty all the same. This pain floored me, so ended up back at the Dr's, so was sent off for cat scan. This was pretty much the end of my ordeal really.
The urologist explained in basic terms why people get stones. He did say that they don't know why some people are more prone to them than others, but likened a stone to a builders cup of tea. Imagine you have a cup of tea. You stir in one sugar, it dissolves fine. You stir in a second, it also dissolves fine, you add a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth...and you'll now see that there isn't enough tea to dissolve all the sugar with and you're left with gritty bits in the mug. This is what happens to the kidneys if you don't drink enough. All the things in there that you are trying to flush away can't be washed away which is why it's so important to drink plenty of fluids (water!!). He also said it would be a good idea for me to steer clear from a list of things, but I remember that cashew nuts and strawberries were on there. I still eat these things and have not had a problem. It is very rare to see me without a bottle of water with me now though as I used to go a whole day without drinking. Never again.
Incidentally, as nasty as the whole Kidney stones episode was, having some damage caused by kidney stones was equally as bad. I started peeing blood last year so went to the docs and back through the motions to diagnose whether it was a stone or other problem. After having ultrasound, xrays, CAT scans (with dye injected), they found nothing so wanted to check my bladder. They used a small telescope (flexible cystoscopy) to inspect my bladder but the opening to my bladder was too small to get in to as there was quite a bit of scaring due to a previous stones causing some damage on the way out. Having said scar tissue removed (under general anesthetic) wasn't really fun. My first un-catheterised wee was truly horrific but in the grand scheme of things nowhere near as pleasant as having to self catheterise on a weekly basis to ensure the surgeons handy work didn't cause further problems. Despite it not really hurting, there is something horribly wrong about slinging a foot of rubber tube through your japseye and forcing it in to your bladder, not nice at all!
Drink plenty of water
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