What are the Kidney Stones, Causes, Symptoms and Prevention? Mine daily health |

If you have ever had kidney stones before you may worry about getting them again what causes kidney stones how long does it take to pass a kidney stone and how do you get rid of them. Today I will answer all of your burning questions on kidney stones.

 Intro

I’ll dive into the cause’s symptoms and five ultimate ways to prevent kidney stones what are kidney stones and who gets them.

 

Kidney stones are also called urinary stone disease and medical lingo. they are hard stones that form inside the kidney in the tube draining urine from the kidney the ureter or in the bladder, they are quite common affecting one or two people out of a thousand every year kidney stones are roughly twice as common in men as in women in males stones tend to happen between the ages of 40 to 60yearsand in females don't start in their late20sand if you have ever had a kidney stone you have a one and three chance of getting another stone within the next five years what the hell causes kidney stones waste products that are in the urine can form tiny crystals that clump together over time to make small stone stones are much more likely to happen in chronically dehydrated people.

 

This makes the urine more concentrated so those working or living in hot conditions also in people who have problems with their plumbing structure so a scarred kidney or urinary tract stones tend to run in families are more likely if you have repeat kidney or urine infections suffer from gout obesity or take water tablets like diuretics.

 

What foods and drinks cause kidney stones?

 

So stones are made with different ingredients. most commonly they calcium in the form of calcium oxalate but they also come as calcium phosphate or even have bacteria in them called infection stones where am I going with this all these ingredients tend to come from your diet and lots of studies have been done on different diets to reduce your chances of getting future stones.

the latest evidence suggests that having a moderate intake of calcium and reducing salt is more effective than reducing oxalate in your diet I will be talking more about this in detail coming up so don't worry if you have very high amounts of oxalate in your urine you may need to limit some oxalate-rich foods like spinach silverbeet and rhubarb.

 

What are the symptoms of kidney stones?

 

You may have heard that kidney stone pain is similar to the pain of having a baby or like having a knife stuck in your back being twisted all around something akin to this well it's probably not far wrong. Renal colic is the medical term and it starts with sudden onset pain in your flank that is extremely severe and may make you feel sweaty or vomit. There always a background of pain with severe spasms over the top and it tends to track downwards into your groin as the stone passes through also you may notice blood in the urine. Most people cannot tolerate the intensity of the pain and usually seek help at the hospital.

 

How long does it take to pass a kidney stone?

 

This depends on the size and location of your stone. eighty percent of smaller stones that are less than four millimeters will pass by themselves after about 31days. Sixty percent of bigger stones that are between four to six millimeters will pass after 45 days. However, some of these will need treatment; most stones larger than six millimeters will require intervention to move them along also remember there are two bottlenecks when it comes to passing stones. One is just after the kidney and the other is just before the bladder. You often know where the stone is based on where you are feeling the pain if it's down in the groin it's very close to the bladder which will grind up the stone quite nicely.

 

Are there tests for kidney stones?

 

if you have kidney stones the standard tests that will be done in the hospital are a urine test to check for infection and crystals. A blood test to measure if the kidneys are working properly and look at the levels of your calcium and uric acid in the blood from there it's standard to have either an x-ray or CT scan. CT scans have a higher pick-up rate of stones because some stones cannot be detected on an x-ray.

 

What are the treatments for kidney stones?

 

Okay, let's be honest in the crisis moment of pain you will need painkillers? oh, this is hitting me, my insides feel like velvet depending on your other health conditions and medications the emergency doctors are likely to give you diclofenac 75 to 100 milligrams of morphine plus some iv fluids. If you are vomiting or dehydrated the next treatment steps are really important in trying to either break up the stones or pass them.

So firstly if the stone is small enough medicine called doxazosin is started two milligrams. Each night this medication helps open up the ureter so that the stone can pass more easily. It will need to be taken for four to six weeks until the stone passes. If the stone is too big there are four treatment options the doctors may use

 

A lithotripsy is a shockwave machine that breaks up the stones into smaller pieces So that you can pass them naturally. Three types of surgeries are done while you're asleep sounder a general anesthetic these are called ureteroscopy,  percutaneous, nephrolithotomy or open surgery drsam what can I do at home to get rid of them and prevent them from coming back love to leave the most important bits to last.

Okay if you're still with me there are some very important things you should do at home here are

 Five tips

1)   drink lots of the water you need to dilute your urine to stop stones from coming back drink at least 10 to 12 cups of fluid each day water is best but milk low sugar drinks tea and coffee are also suitable may help to have about half a cup of lemon or lime juice each day. This makes your urine less likely to form stones you can add the juice to water plain or sparkling or freeze it in the ice cube trays and add the frozen cubes to your favorite drink. Avoid cola drinks tomato grapefruit and cranberry juices because these increase your risk of forming stones, this does not go well.

2)  Eat less salt, Salt is sneaky because today it's virtually added to everything salt increases the amount of calcium in your urine. This can cause stones to look for foods labeled assault reduced. No added salt or low sodium you can also check food labels for sodium content read the nutrition information panel on food labels and choose food with less than milligrams of sodium per 100grams of food. I mean it's one banana Michael what could it cost ten dollars, you've never actually set foot in a supermarket have you I don't have time for that.

3)  eat calcium-rich foods but not supplements some types of calcium supplements may cause stones but there's no proof that calcium-rich foods do in fact if you don't eat enough calcium-rich foods you're more likely to form stones milk and milk products such as cheese and yogurt are the best sources of calcium. I don't have the milk of mother's kindness in me anymore; yeah that otter's been dry for a while though.

4)  Reduce your meat too much. Animal protein from meat chicken fish and eggs will make your urine more acidic and more likely to form stones so just eat one to two servings a day that's about the size of your palm.

5)  Avoid over high doses of vitamin c supplements you can still take vitamin c supplements but just have less than a thousand milligrams per day, as this increases the amount of oxalate in your urine however, you can have as much vitamin can foods as you want.

 

Please let me know in the comments what you enjoyed about this information, or what you want to learn more about, and feel free to check out some of my other articles on health.

Thanks for reading.