Diagnosis: Too Much Calcium In The Urine
Possible treatments:
Thiazide diuretics
These drugs help to decrease urine calcium excretion. They also help to keep calcium in the bones, reducing the risk for osteoporosis. The most common side effect of thiazide diuretics is potassium loss, so in many cases your doctor will prescribe a potassium supplement to go along with the thiazide diuretic.
Lower sodium intake
The human body carefully regulates its sodium levels. When excess sodium is excreted in the urine, calcium is also excreted proportionally. In other words, the more sodium you consume, the more calcium that will be in your urine. Your goal should be to reduce your sodium intake so that you consume less than 2 grams of sodium per day. Watch out for silent sources of salt, such as fast foods, packaged or canned foods, softened water and sports drinks.
Normal calcium diet
People who form stones sometimes think that because there is too much calcium in their urine, they should restrict their calcium intake. There is no research that supports this practice. Your body needs dietary calcium to support the skeleton. You should be encouraged to consume two servings of dairy or other calcium-rich foods to maintain bone stores of calcium.
Increase fluid intake
No matter what your diagnosis, you should drink enough water to produce at least 2 liters of urine per day.
Moderate To Severe Cases
You will likely need hospital treatment if you have a moderate to severe case. The goal of treatment is to return your calcium level to normal. Treatment also aims to prevent damage to your bones and kidneys. Common treatment options include the following:
- Calcitonin is a hormone produced in the thyroid gland. It slows down bone loss.
- Intravenous fluids hydrate you and lower calcium levels in the blood.
- Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory medications. Theyre useful in the treatment of too much vitamin D.
- Loop diuretic medications can help your kidneys move fluid and get rid of extra calcium, especially if you have heart failure.
- Intravenous bisphosphonates lower blood calcium levels by regulating bone calcium.
- Dialysis can be performed to rid your blood of extra calcium and waste when you have damaged kidneys. This is usually done if other treatment methods arent working.
How Do Doctors Treat Kidney Stones
The treatment for a kidney stone depends on:
- The size of the stone
- The type of stone
- If the stone is causing you pain
- If the stone is blocking your urinary tract
If your kidney stone is small, your doctor may have you take pain medicine and drink fluids to help push the stone through your urinary tract and out through your urine .
If your kidney stone is large or if it is blocking your urinary tract, a different treatment may be needed. Treatment options include:
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Why You Get Stones
Part of preventing stones is finding out why you get them. Your health care provider will perform tests to find out what is causing this. After finding out why you get stones, your health care provider will give you tips to help stop them from coming back.
Some of the tests he or she may do are listed below.
Medical and Dietary History
Your health care provider will ask questions about your personal and family medical history. He or she may ask if:
- Have you had more than one stone before?
- Has anyone in your family had stones?
- Do you have a medical condition that may increase your chance of having stones, like frequent diarrhea, gout or diabetes?
Knowing your eating habits is also helpful. You may be eating foods that are known to raise the risk of stones. You may also be eating too few foods that protect against stones or not drinking enough fluids.
Understanding your medical, family and dietary history helps your health care provider find out how likely you are to form more stones.
Blood and Urine Tests
Imaging Tests
When a health care provider sees you for the first time and you have had stones before, he or she may want to see recent X-rays or order a new X-ray. They will do this to see if there are any stones in your urinary tract. Imaging tests may be repeated over time to check for stone growth. You may also need this test if you are having pain, hematuria or recurrent infections.
Stone Analysis
What Is Calcium Carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a supplement that provides calcium to people who do not get enough calcium in their diet. It is also used as an antacid. Susan Ott, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington explains that some manufacturers use calcium carbonate as a supplement while others use calcium citrate, but the intestines equally absorb both kinds 3. It is cheaper, however, for manufacturers to make calcium carbonate in a form that takes longer to dissolve. Dr. Ott writes about one patient who found an undissolved calcium tablet in her apron pocket after the apron had been through the washer and dryer.
- Calcium carbonate is a supplement that provides calcium to people who do not get enough calcium in their diet.
- Susan Ott, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington explains that some manufacturers use calcium carbonate as a supplement while others use calcium citrate, but the intestines equally absorb both kinds 3.
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Should I Cut Out All Foods That Have Oxalate Or Calcium
No, this is a common mistake. Some people think that cutting out all foods that have oxalate or all foods with calcium will keep stones from forming. However, this approach is not healthy. It can lead to poor nutrition and can cause other health problems. A better plan? Eat and drink calcium and oxalate-rich foods together during a meal. Doing this helps oxalate and calcium bind to one another in the stomach and intestines before reaching the kidneys, making it less likely for kidney stones to form in the urine.
Plan Your Plate For Kidney Stones
Stone Former Sex Ratio
The blue bars show male to female ratios among stone formers. Remember this is counted from the sex of the person whose stone was analyzed. A survey based on symptomatic rates of stone passage, by contrast, might give different results altogether.
In childhood, men have slightly more stones than women . In the teen years and up to age 39, women predominate over men . After age 40 men predominate, until at age 90 and more, in this and perhaps most things, the sexes come into a near perfect alignment. Averaged over all of life, men have more stones, which appears to be because of their midlife excesses .
The fraction of all stones formed for both sexes combined is highest from age 20-69, with only a small fraction in childhood or old age.
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Overview Of Calcium Phosphate Stones
Kidney stones composed predominantly of calcium phosphate constitute up to 10% of all stones and 15%20% of calcium stones, 80% of which are composed of calcium oxalate. Calcium phosphate is a minor component of up to 30% of calcium oxalate stones as well . The importance of calcium phosphate as an initiator of calcium stones has been highlighted by recent work showing that the vast majority of calcium oxalate stones form as overgrowths on Randalls plaque. Randalls plaque is an amorphous apatite that forms in the interstitium of the papillae, and it grows until it ruptures through the papillary urothelium and becomes exposed to urine calcium oxalate crystals nucleate and grow into kidney stones . Some data suggest that calcium phosphate stones have increased in prevalence. If true, the reasons are uncertain and have been attributed to treatment with citrate supplements or adverse effects of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy . Lithotripsy has been hypothesized to lead to defective urinary acidification, but this effect is highly speculative.
Does Calcium And Vitamin D Cause Kidney Stones
Kidney Stone Risk Associated With Long-Term Vitamin D And Calcium Intake. A new study presented at The Endocrine Societys 94th Annual Meeting in Houston reveals that calcium and vitamin D supplements are linked to high levels of calcium in the blood and urine, which could raise the risk of developing kidney stones.
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Calcium Supplements Tied To Kidney Stone Risk
But don’t stop on your own if doctor recommended them, experts say
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Oct. 13, 2015 — People with a history of kidney stones may have a higher risk of recurrence if they use calcium supplements, a new study finds.
The findings, based on records from more than 2,000 patients, add to evidence linking calcium supplements to kidney stone risk.
But researchers also said that people taking calcium under a doctor’s advice should not stop on their own.
“We’re definitely not advocating that people stop taking calcium supplements if their doctor prescribed them for their bone health,” said Christopher Loftus, the lead researcher on the study and an M.D. candidate at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
Loftus is scheduled to present his findings next month at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual meeting in San Diego. Data and conclusions presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Kidney stones develop when high levels of crystal-forming substances — such as calcium, uric acid and a compound called oxalate — build up in the urine. Most kidney stones contain calcium.
Doctors used to advise people who are “stone formers” to cut down on their calcium intake, said Dr. Mathew Sorensen, an assistant professor of urology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Calcium supplements, on the other hand, have been tied to an increased risk of kidney stones in some studies.
Hour Urine Test For Urine Calcium Levels
There is a test to measure the amount of calcium in your urine. This is almost always done by having you collect your pee in a jug for 24 hours and keeping that jug in your refrigerator the entire time . This test is supposed to tell your doctors if you have too much calcium in your urine, and from this they are supposed to tell you if you are at risk for more stones. The concept being that people with higher calcium in their kidneys are more likely to get kidney stones. Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple and this test is pretty worthless. Let’s take a look at the 24-Hour-Urine results for 10,000 of our patients who had hyperparathyroidism. This graph shows the amount of calcium along the bottom X axis from a low near zero up to 1000 mg/24 hours . The normal range is less than 350, but you can see that most patients with hyperparathyroidism have urine calcium that is in the normal range. We then made every patient with kidney stones have a red dot, and those that never had a kidney stone have a blue dot. And guess what, they are exactly the same. The amount of calcium in the urine is the same for those with kidney stones and those without kidney stones.
As a review from above, even mildly elevated calcium in the BLOOD will dramatically increase your risk of kidney stones , with the risk being related to the duration of high calcium , and not related at all to how HIGH the blood calcium is in the BLOOD or in the urine.
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Who Gets Kidney Stones And Why
The lifetime risk of kidney stones among adults in the US is approximately 9%, and it appears that global warming may be increasing that risk. There are four major types of kidney stones: calcium oxalate/calcium phosphate, uric acid, struvite , and cystine.
A risk factor for all stones, regardless of type, is dehydration. Anyone who is prone to kidney stones should pay attention to good hydration. A randomized trial has shown that drinking 2 liters of fluid a day reduces the likelihood of stone recurrence by about half. The American Urological Association guideline for medical management of kidney stones recommends that patients who form kidney stones should aim to drink more than 2.5 liters of fluid per day.
Anyone with symptoms of kidney stones should be referred to a urologist. The initial evaluation will often include blood, urine, and imaging studies. Decisions about testing, and ultimately treatment, should be made jointly by the physician and the patient. Lets look at specific risk factors and treatment for each of the major stone types.
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How Should My Kidney Stone Be Treated
Historically, the treatment of kidney stones required major surgery and was associated with long hospitalization and recovery periods. However, in recent years an improved understanding of kidney stone disease, along with advances in surgical technology, has led to the development of minimally invasive and even noninvasive treatments for people with kidney stones.
At Johns Hopkins, we believe that the treatment of a patients stones requires an approach that is unique to that individual. We offer a complete range of state-of-the-art treatment options, including ESWL , ureteroscopy and PERC, and we will discuss with you the advantages and disadvantages of each therapy as they apply to your situation. Our goal is to provide each patient with a clear understanding of the nature of their stone burden as well as the most appropriate course of treatment.
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How Can I Prevent Kidney Stones
Here are a few steps you can take to prevent kidney stones:
- Drink enough fluids every day. Eight to twelve cups of fluid per day is enough for most people. If you have kidney disease and need to limit fluids, ask your doctor how much fluid you should have each day.
- Limit your sodium and animal protein such as meat and eggs. If your doctor can find out what your kidney stone is made of, they may give you a specific eating plan to help prevent future kidney stones.
- Take all of your prescription medicines as your doctor tells you to treat health problems that may make kidney stones more likely for you.
Never start or stop any new medicines or an eating plan without talking to your doctor.
Do it your way
How Will I Know If I Have A Kidney Stone
To find out the size and type of kidney stone you have, your doctor may do tests, including:
- Blood tests to show if there is too much calcium or uric acid in your blood
- Urine tests to show the type of wastes that are in your urine. For this test, your doctor may ask you to collect your urine over two days.
- Imaging tests, such as an ultrasound, CT scan or X-ray, to show kidney stones in your urinary tract
If you get kidney stones often, your doctor may ask you to urinate through a strainer to catch stones that you pass. Your doctor will then find out what they are made of to decide what is causing your kidney stones and how to prevent them.
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What Is Casr And What Is Its Relationship To The Parathyroid And Kidneys
CaSR is a protein made from the CASR gene CASR provides instructions that enable the body to produce CaSR.The CaSR protein is found on the surface of all parathyroid cells in the parathyroid glands, which produce and release PTH to regulate calcium in the blood. Calcium molecules can attach themselves to CaSR, which enables the protein to monitor and regulate calcium in the blood.
To activate CaSR, the blood calcium level must reach a higher level then what is appropriate for your body . Once activated the CaSR blocks PTH production and release into the blood stream. When CaSR is not activated because calcium levels are lower then expected then more PTH is produced and released into the blood.
In instances where the parathyroid glands are not working correctly, the CaSR becomes less sensitive to calcium , and so it takes a higher level of calcium in the blood to activate CaSR and stop PTH production. .
Additionally in one study, researchers found a direct correlation between kidney stones and two modifications of CaSR. They also discovered that patients coping with primary hyperparathyroidism were prone to kidney stones and CaSR modifications.
Dietary Supplements And Over
Taking too much vitamin D or calcium in the form of supplements can raise your calcium level. Excessive use of calcium carbonate, found in common antacids like Tums and Rolaids, can also lead to high calcium levels.
High doses of these over-the-counter products are the of hypercalcemia in the United States.
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Can Too Much Calcium In Water Cause Kidney Stones
Hi Marjorie, Genetic hypercalciuria causes stones and can cause loss of bone mineral, too. Actonel, a bisphonate goes well with a low sodium high calcium diet, which is good for bones. Thiazide, if diet is not adequate, helps preserve bone mineral. Potassium citrate, if otherwise desirable, is an alkali load and those help bone mineral.
Most people know about calciums bone-building properties, but this important mineral actually has quite a few health benefits you may not know about. Furthermore, there are many lesser-known sources of calcium aside from cows milk that ca.
Can they cause.
in calcium and oxalate, which when in excess is difficult to remove from the body and start depositing in the body, causing kidney stones to form. Consuming too much lycopene.
Drinking mineral water is fine it cannot cause kidney stones because it contains only trace elements of minerals. Dietary calcium and kidney stones. Only lower your calcium intake below that of a normal diet if instructed by your doctor. Decreased calcium intake is only necessary in some cases where absorption of calcium from the bowel is high.
Older women whose diet include too little calcium or water or too much salt have an increased risk of developing kidney stones,
In this condition, the kidney does not regulate minerals normally, causing an increase of calcium in the urine. Excessive sodium. High urinary.
Are There Risks to Drinking Too Much Coffee or Green Tea.