Are Home Remedies Effective For Kidney Stones
For some people who have had many kidney stones, home care may be appropriate. When passing a kidney stone, drinking lots of fluid is important. In fact, this is the most important home care measure. Medications may help control the pain . However, if it is the first time one has had symptoms suggestive of a kidney stone, it is important to see a doctor right away.
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Watch Your Sodium Intake
Following a low-sodium diet, about 2,000 to 2,300 milligrams a day, can help prevent kidney stones. Having too much sodium in your diet can trigger kidney stones by increasing the amount of calcium in your urine.
Watch the types of food you eat. Pizza, pastas, breads, bacon, sausage foods that are processed, preserved, cured, canned or pickled have high amounts of sodium.
We really get the vast majority of our daily sodium from just whats contained within the foods that were eating, says Loboda. And unfortunately, a lot of things contain a lot of sodium.
One way to cut down on the amount of salt in your diet is to start reading labels and thinking about serving sizes.
Pay attention to serving size on the labels, thats something that can trip you up, says Loboda. If you dont read the serving size, then you might look at the label and see 100 milligrams of sodium but maybe theres three or four servings in that package. Its important to pay attention to both.
Home Remedies For Kidney Stones
While there are different methods available for passing kidney stones, what works for you usually depends on the size of the stone. You will get good results from home treatments if you have stones less than 3 mm in size. Only 20% of stones may pass with home treatment if they are at least 8 mm in size. You will require professional medical treatment to get rid of stones larger than 1 cm in size.
Here are some effective home remedies you can trust for passing kidney stones.
1. Drink Adequate Water
Drinking plenty of water will always help flush out kidney stones. You may have to drink up to 2.8 liters a day to see results. If you notice clear urine when you make a bathroom visit, it usually means you are drinking enough water.
2. Use Lemon to Break the Stone
While increasing your water intake, you can also squeeze a lemon into water to help break the stone. Lemon juice contains citric acid that helps break up calcium-based stones and make it easier for you to pass stones. You should aim to consume up to 125ml of pure lemon juice a day.
3. Reduce Salt and Protein Intake
Limit intake of salt and meat protein because salt increases calcium in your urine, whereas protein increases levels of oxalate, calcium and uric acid in the urine. Meat protein contains loads of sulfur that makes problem worse.
4. Add Fiber to Your Diet
5. Avoid Soft Drinks
6. Do Proper Exercise
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Whats The Outlook For People With Uric Acid Stones
The outlook for uric acid stones and other kidney stones is positive. Many times, stones pass on their own. You may not even need treatment. If you do need treatment, the treatment options are very successful. Youll likely make a full recovery.
But there is a risk of the stones coming back. Talk to your provider about dietary changes and other steps you can take to prevent another stone.
Can Kidney Stones Be Prevented
It’s not always possible to prevent some types of kidney stones.
But all kids who’ve had kidney stones should:
- Drink a lot of liquids throughout the day. Avoid dark sodas, soft drinks, and sports drinks. If their pee is almost clear, that’s a sign they’re drinking enough. Ask your doctor how much your child should drink.
- Limit the salt and protein in their diet.
If dietary changes don’t prevent kidney stones, medicines can help. Depending on the type of kidney stone your child had, the doctor can prescribe treatments or medicines to lower the levels of crystal-forming substances in the pee.
Doctors will keep an eye on kids who have had kidney stones and try to prevent new ones. The doctor might have your child use a 24-hour urine collection test. This measures the volume of pee within a 24-hour period and checks what’s in it.
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How To Avoid Kidney Stones
Here are the five ways to help prevent kidney stones:
Drink plenty of water: Drinking extra water dilutes the substances in urine that lead to stones. Strive to drink enough fluids to pass 2 liters of urine a day, which is roughly eight standard 8-ounce cups. It may help to include some citrus beverages, like lemonade and orange juice. The citrate in these beverages helps block stone formation.
Eat calcium rich foods: Dietary calcium binds to oxalate in your intestines and thereby decreases the amount of oxalate that gets absorbed into the bloodstream and then excreted by the kidney. This lowers the concentration of oxalate in the urine, so there is less chance it can bind to urinary calcium. That leads to decreased risk of kidney stones.
Reduce sodium: A high-sodium diet can trigger kidney stones because it increases the amount of calcium in your urine. So, a low-sodium diet is recommended for the stone prone. Current guidelines suggest limiting total daily sodium intake to 2,300 mg. If sodium has contributed to kidney stones in the past, try to reduce your daily intake to 1,500 mg. This will also be good for your blood pressure and heart.
Avoid stone-forming foods: Beets, chocolate, spinach, rhubarb, tea, and most nuts are rich in oxalate, which can contribute to kidney stones. If you suffer from stones, your doctor may advise you to avoid these foods or to consume them in smaller amounts.
It’s Not Just The Oxalate
Oxalate is naturally found in many foods, including fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, grains, legumes, and even chocolate and tea. Some examples of foods that contain high levels of oxalate include: peanuts, rhubarb, spinach, beets, chocolate and sweet potatoes. Moderating intake of these foods may be beneficial for people who form calcium oxalate stones, the leading type of kidney stones.
A common misconception is that cutting the oxalate-rich foods in your diet alone will reduce the likelihood of forming calcium oxalate kidney stones. While in theory this might be true, this approach isn’t smart from an overall health perspective. Most kidney stones are formed when oxalate binds to calcium while urine is produced by the kidneys.
It is important to eat and drink calcium and oxalate-rich foods together during a meal. In doing so, oxalate and calcium are more likely to bind to one another in the stomach and intestines before the kidneys begin processing, making it less likely that kidney stones will form.
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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:
Is It Possible To Prevent Kidney Stones
One may not have ureteral stones unless he has kidney stones. If you dont have a kidney stone, you should be aware of the causes and risk factors of kidney stones. With sufficient knowledge about stones can help you prevent formation of cysts by making necessary alterations to your diet and lifestyle.
Preventing ureteral stones includes preventing and curing kidney stones before moving it to the ureter. In such a condition, you need to make some changes in your diet which goes as
- Take more fluids to help your kidneys clear wastes properly.
- Lower your animal protein intake.
- Lower your daily sodium consumption.
- Limit oxalate-containing foods intake.
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Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy :
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is mostly used to treat kidney stones that are between 4 mm and 2 cm in diameter. Here are the steps on how ESWL is performed to treat kidney stones.
- General anesthesia is given to the patient by an anesthesiologist.
- High energy shock waves are transmitted through water and directed at the kidneys to break the stones into smaller pieces.
- The small pieces of kidney stones can now pass easily through the urinary tract.
Once the procedure is done, the patient may take several weeks to pass all fragmented kidney stones. However, patients may need to undergo a revision or a second procedure in a few cases.
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How Are Uric Acid Stones Treated
Small stones may pass on their own. It can take up to three weeks to pass. Even if the stones pass on their own, its still important to talk to your provider so you can prevent stones from forming again.
The most important step in uric acid stone treatment is drinking plenty of water to:
- Reduce the concentration of minerals in urine. Fluids dissolve the minerals, allowing them to leave your body through urine.
- Encourage you to pee often, which flushes away materials that may form stones.
Providers recommend that you drink enough to produce about 2.5 liters of urine. To produce that much urine, you need to drink a little more than 2.5 liters of fluid. Thats because you lose fluid through sweating or exercise. Aim for drinking about 3 liters of fluids per day.
Although drinking any fluid counts, its best to drink water. Your provider may prescribe medications as well to make the urine less acidic.
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What Are Kidney Stones Symptoms Causes Diagnosis Treatment And Prevention
Kidney stones are common if you havent had a kidney stone, you likely know someone who has. Kidney stones affect 1 in 11 people in the United States. Overall, about 19 percent of men and 9 percent of women in the United States will develop a kidney stone by the time they are 70 years old.
Kidney stones are hard, rock-like deposits that form in the kidneys, two organs that filter waste and extra fluid from the body. Kidney stones typically develop when there is too much waste and not enough fluid in the kidneys.
Passing a stone the process of the stone moving out of the kidney and into and through the ureter can be excruciating. Some women say the pain is worse than childbirth, says Naim Maalouf, MD, an associate professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Your bodys waste can include minerals and other substances that combine to form stones, ranging in size from a grain of sand to the size of a pea, or even as large as a golf ball.
Measuring The Kidney Stone Size
To successfully pass a kidney stone through your system, it is essential to have a gauge of size to know if exterior intervention is necessary.
Typically, any stone 4 millimeters or less in length will pass on its own within 31 days. Between 4 mm and 6 mm, only 60 percent will pass without medical intervention, and on average take 45 days to exit your body naturally. Anything bigger than 6 mm will almost always need medical care to help remove the stone. If passed without care of a urologist, the severe pain can last upwards of a year.
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How Common Are Kidney Stones
Each year, more than half a million people go to emergency rooms for kidney stone problems. It is estimated that one in ten people will have a kidney stone at some time in their lives.
The prevalence of kidney stones in the United States increased from 3.8% in the late 1970s to 8.8% in the late 2000s. The prevalence of kidney stones was 10% during 20132014. The risk of kidney stones is about 11% in men and 9% in women. Other diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity may increase the risk for kidney stones.
How Common Are Uric Acid Stones
Researchers estimate that one in 10 people in the United States will have a kidney stone at some point in their lives. Theyre more common in men than women. For men, the lifetime risk is about 19%. For women, its about 9%.
Most people dont get kidney stones before age 30. But many cases can happen earlier in life, even among children.
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What Are Kidney Stones
If you have too much salt, certain minerals, or chemicals in your system and a lack of urine, the excess material can form crystals in your kidneys. Other particles can attach to the crystals and form a “stone,” a hard object that your body may try to pass.
About 1 out of every 10 people in the U.S. will have a kidney stone at some point in their lives.
Can Medication Treat Uric Acid Stones
Your provider may prescribe medications to:
- Reduce uric acid levels in your blood and urine.
- Keep your urine alkaline .
- Dissolve the uric acid stones.
Alpha blockers are a type of medication that may help stones in the ureter pass faster. Your provider will talk to you about this option if its right for you.
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How Long Does It Hurt After Passing A Kidney Stone
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What Are The Most Common Types Of Kidney Stones
The most common type of kidney stone is a calcium oxalate stone. This type happens when calcium and oxalate combine in your urine. It can happen when you have high quantities of oxalate, low amounts of calcium and arent drinking enough fluids.
Stones caused by uric acid are also fairly common. These come from a natural substance called purine, which is a byproduct of animal proteins .
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Alternate Remedies For Kidney Stones
Increasingly, more people are interested in attempting at-home treatments for kidney stones to decrease the use of medicines, procedures and surgeries. A number of alternative remedies have been acknowledged for the treatment of kidney stones. We will present these below and discuss their likelihood of success.
1. Lemon Juice and Olive Oil
Sounds awful, doesnt it? Some people do claim success in mixing a concoction of lemon juice and olive oil to help dissolve kidney stones as a home remedy. Proponents of this method claim that at the first notice of symptoms, mix five ounces of olive oil with five ounces of lemon juice. Drink this combination straight and then drink a glass of water. Repeat the process again in the late afternoon. Be sure to drink plenty of water as well through the day as well as extra lemon juice, if possible. Continue this treatment regimen for several days until the stone passes. It is thought that the lemon juice could help break down the kidney stones and the olive oil would aid in lubrication to pass the stone more easily. Extra-virgin olive oil is thought to be the best olive oil ingredient to use because it is the thickest and healthiest.
Warning: Lemons are very acidic and can destroy tooth enamel and contribute to heartburn or ulcers.
Our patient surveying indicates some success in a very limited number of kidney stone patients. We give it 2 out of 5 stars.
2. Apple Cider Vinegar
3. Coke and Asparagus
We give this remedy 1 out of 5 stars.
Complications Of Kidney Stones
Kidney stones can range in size from a grain of sand to that of a pearl or even larger. They can be smooth or jagged, and are usually yellow or brown. A large stone may get stuck in the urinary system. This can block the flow of urine and may cause strong pain.
Kidney stones can cause permanent kidney damage. Stones also increase the risk of urinary and kidney infection, which can result in germs spreading into the bloodstream.
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Kidney Stones In Children And Genetics
According to the medical literature, hereditary causes of kidney stones and chronic kidney disease are not common although they should always be considered as potential causes of kidney stone disease or chronic kidney disease in children, especially in cases of Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency, cystinuria, dent disease, familial hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis and primary hyperoxaluria.
Things That Can Help You Take A Pass On Kidney Stones
- By Matthew Solan, Executive Editor, Harvard Men’s Health Watch
If youve ever passed a kidney stone, you probably would not wish it on your worst enemy, and youll do anything to avoid it again. “Kidney stones are more common in men than in women, and in about half of people who have had one, kidney stones strike again within 10 to 15 years without preventive measures,” says Dr. Brian Eisner, co-director of the Kidney Stone Program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.
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