Kidney Stone Pain And How To Treat It
Heather LindseyIgor Kagan, MDAnna Koldunova/Shutterstock
Pain is the most common symptom of kidney stones, and, unfortunately, it can be excruciating. Many women describe the pain of passing a kidney stone as worse than childbirth, notes Seth K. Bechis, MD, an associate professor of urology at UC San Diego Health.
That said, the pain does vary from person to person, adds Dr. Bechis. If the stone does not cause a blockage as it moves through the urinary tract, a person may not experience any pain. Others may have pain in their back near the kidneys, which sit on either side of the spine below the rib cage, or in their lower abdomen or groin, he says.
How Do You Pass Kidney Stones As Soon As Possible
The best home remedy to encourage the stone to pass is to drink plenty of fluids, especially plain water and citrus juices like orange or grapefruit. The extra fluid makes you urinate more, which helps the stone move and keeps it from getting bigger. You should aim for at least 2-3 liters of water per day.
Is kidney stone pain worse when lying down?
In some cases, the symptoms can be very subtle and slowly build up. In other cases, they may appear suddenly, without warning signs. This pain can be intense and lead to nausea or vomiting, or both. People often experience sharp, throbbing pain, and common measures such as rest or lying down do not relieve it.
How Long Does It Take A Kidney Stone To Form
You can have kidney stones for years without knowing theyre there. As long as these stones stay in place within your kidney, you wont feel anything. Pain from a kidney stone typically starts when it moves out of your kidney. Sometimes, a stone can form more quickly within a few months.
Talk with your healthcare provider about your risk factors. They might do a 24-hour urine test to check how quickly you develop stones.
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How Long Does It Take For A Kidney Stone To Pass
Around 60% of kidney stones pass naturally. If theyre small enough, they may pass with only minor symptoms. Whether or not kidney stones pass and how long it takes depends mostly on their size. Stones that are 4 mm or smaller are likely to pass on their own, usually within 30 to 60 days. Larger ones may require medical intervention. Stones that are 6 mm or larger usually dont pass on their own and require some type of treatment.
Preventing Future Kidney Stones
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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.
What Kidney Stone Pain Feels Like And Where Youll Feel It
Not all kidney stone pain is the same. For example, the location of pain can change as the stone moves from the kidney to the bladder, says Lieske. When a stone is moving into the ureter, people may feel pain in their flank, or side, or their back, he says.
Notably, if the stone is stuck where the kidney connects to the ureter, the pain can be severe, says Ralph V. Clayman, MD, a urology professor at the University of California in Irvine. On a scale of 1 to 10, pain can be a 10, he says. There is no position in which the person is comfortable.
This type of pain has a tendency to come and go in 10- to 30-minute cycles. It can also radiate to the groin area and the front of the thigh, he adds.
As the stone moves down the ureter, it can also mimic the pain of other conditions, says Dr. Clayman. For example, if the kidney stone is on the right side of the body, it may feel like appendicitis or inflammation of the appendix. If the stone is on the left side, people may mistake the pain for diverticulitis, inflammation, or an infection within the small or large intestine, he says.
And as the kidney stone migrates into the bladder, symptoms can be similar to a urinary tract infection, says Clayman. People may experience painful urination, along with frequent urination, and the urgent need to urinate, he adds.
Fortunately, from this point, the stone can usually pass from the bladder out the urethra, which is typically twice the diameter of the ureter, says Clayman.
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Getting A Kidney Stone To Pass
After identifying the size and location of your kidney stone, follow the recommended treatment by your doctor. The vast majority of small kidney stones are able to be passed without medical intervention and can be helped with these steps:
Drinking water: By consuming as much as 3 liters of water a day, this will help flush out your renal system.
Take pain medication: Kidney stones can be extremely painful, therefore, taking pain medication like ibuprofen can help make the passing less agonizing.
Get an alpha-blocker from your doctor: An alpha-blocker can help relax your ureter and progress the kidney stone through your system.
Cut out the right foods: Removing high-oxalate foods like spinach, beets, potatoes, and nuts, as well as animal protein can help limit kidney stone minerals from forming.
Drink juice: Consuming juices from lemons, basil, and dandelion roots can provide compounds that regulate uric acid levels and help breakdown calcium deposits.
For larger stones , medical treatment is often required to enable kidney stones to be passed through the body. Common methods of care include soundwave therapy, surgery, and using a ureteroscope.
Shock Wave Therapy: A process called extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy creates vibrations targeted at kidney stones to break the larger minerals into smaller pieces that can be passed by the body.
Can Children Get Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are found in children as young as 5 years. In fact, this problem is so common in children that some hospitals conduct ‘stone’ clinics for pediatric patients. The increase in the United States has been attributed to several factors, mostly related to food choices. The two most important reasons are not drinking enough fluids and eating foods that are high in salt. Kids should eat less salty potato chips and French fries. There are other salty foods: sandwich meats, canned soups, packaged meals, and even some sports drinks. Sodas and other sweetened beverages can also increase the risk of stones if they contain high fructose corn syrup.
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Can Kidney Stones Be Prevented
Yes. Kidney stones affect more than one million Americans each year. People who have had more than one kidney stone are likely to form another. To determine the possible cause of stones, the patient may be asked to collect a 24-hour urine sample. Once the cause is found, the doctor may recommend drinking more liquids, dietary changes and medication.
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Pain In Kidneys At Night Know The Causes And Treatments
The kidneys are a pair of organs located below your ribs on either side of your spine. Their function is to filter the blood and get rid of excess fluids and wastes in the urine.
Some people ask, Why do my kidneys hurt at night? Any pain associated with one or both kidneys are usually felt in the flank or back, towards the edge of the lower ribs. Other typical complaints include pain in right kidney when lying down or kidney pain worse lying down.
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Treatment Of Kidney Stones
For smaller kidney stones, pain relievers may be the only treatment needed. On average it takes five to seven days to pass a kidney stone, says Dr. Abromowitz. It may pass sooner. And if the stone is very high in the ureter, it can take up to two weeks.
Larger stones that block urine flow or cause infection may require surgery, such as:
- Shock-wave lithotripsy, a noninvasive procedure using high-energy sound waves to break stones into fragments that pass out in the urine
- Ureteroscopy, in which an endoscope is inserted through the ureter to retrieve or break up the stone
- Percutaneous nephrolithotomy or nephrolithotripsy, used for very large or irregularly shaped stones. For both procedures, a small incision is made in the back to provide access for a nephroscope, a miniature fiberoptic camera, and other small instruments. Your doctor then either removes the stone or breaks up and removes the stone .
For ongoingprevention of recurring kidney stones, your doctor may prescribe increasing fluid intake, changing diet, controlling weight, and taking medication.
To learn more about kidney stones, talk to your doctor or health care provider or search for a provider.
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One may also ask, how can I pass a kidney stone at home fast? Natural Remedies
Why Do Doctors Examine The Contents Of The Stone
There are four types of stones. Studying the stone can help understand why you have it and how to reduce the risk of further stones. The most common type of stone contains calcium. Calcium is a normal part of a healthy diet. The kidney usually removes extra calcium that the body doesn’t need. Often people with stones keep too much calcium. This calcium combines with waste products like oxalate to form a stone. The most common combination is called calcium oxalate.
Less common types of stones are: Infection-related stones, containing magnesium and ammonia called struvite stones and stones formed from monosodium urate crystals, called uric acid stones, which might be related to obesity and dietary factors. The rarest type of stone is a cvstine stone that tends to run in families.
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Take Steps To Bypass Kidney Stones
Even though kidney stones can be common and recur once youve had them, there are simple ways to help prevent them. Here are some strategies that can help:
1. Drink enough water. A 2015 meta-analysis from the National Kidney Foundation found that people who produced 2 to 2.5 liters of urine daily were 50% less likely to develop kidney stones than those who produced less. It takes about 8 to 10 8-ounce glasses of water daily to produce that amount.
2. Eat more calcium-rich plant foods.Good sources include yogurt, soy products, beans, lentils and seeds. Dietary calcium binds oxalate in the intestines, so less gets absorbed and lower concentrations end up in urine.
3. Enjoy some lemons. Citrate, a salt in citric acid, binds to calcium and helps block stone formation. “Studies have shown that drinking ½ cup of lemon juice concentrate diluted in water each day, or the juice of two lemons, can increase urine citrate and likely reduce kidney stone risk,” says Dr. Eisner.
4. Watch the sodium. A high-sodium diet can trigger kidney stones because it increases the amount of calcium in your urine. Federal guidelines suggest limiting total daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams .
5. Cut back on animal protein. Eating too much animal protein, such as meat, eggs, and seafood, boosts can increase the risk of forming stones. If youre prone to kidney stones, limit your daily meat intake to a quantity that is no bigger than a pack of playing cards.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Kidney Stones
You can have a stone in your kidney for years and not know its there. But, when it starts to move or becomes very large, you may have symptoms. Symptoms of a kidney stone include:
- Feeling pain in your lower back or side of your body. This pain can start as a dull ache that may come and go. It can also become severe and result in a trip to the emergency room.
- Cloudy, foul-smelling urine, fever, chills or weakness which might be a sign of a serious infection.
- Blood in the urine.
Most pediatric kidney stones remain in the kidney, but up to a third may migrate from the kidney and get stuck in a ureter. Stones that remain in the kidney, although often painless, can be the source of recurrent urinary tract infections. Those that lodge in the ureter can create severe colicky pain.
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How To Pass Kidney Stones At Home
Kidney stones can only exit the body via urine. Stones that are smaller than 5mm can usually pass easily. Larger stones will generally require medical intervention. Depending on the kidney stones size and location, the length of time it will take to pass varies. Thankfully, there are many natural home remedies for passing kidney stones at home effectively.
How Are Children Treated For Kidney Stones
Most childrens kidney stones can be treated with the shock wave lithotripsy , a completely non-invasive procedure. Your child is placed under anesthesia and sound waves of specific frequencies are focused on the stones to shatter them into fragments small enough to be easily passed during urination.
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Whos Most Likely To Get Kidney Stones What Are The Risk Factors
White men in their 30s and 40s are most likely to get kidney stones. However, anyone can develop kidney stones.
There are several risk factors for developing kidney stones. These include:
- Not drinking enough liquids.
- Having a diet that includes the substances that form the stones .
- Having a family history of kidney stones.
- Having a blockage in your urinary tract.
Certain medical conditions can also increase your risk of developing stones. This is because they may increase or decrease levels of the substances that make up a kidney stone. These conditions can include:
- Hypercalciuria .
Certain foods can also place you at risk of a kidney stone. These foods include:
- Meats and poultry .
How Kidney Stones Are Diagnosed And Treated
Kidney stones can be diagnosed through X-ray, ultrasound, or CAT scan and are typically found after a person visits the emergency room or makes an appointment with their primary care physician because of the pain theyve been experiencing.
Dr. Propp says most patients pass their kidney stones, leading to significant relief of their symptoms. But some kidney stones require surgery to remove them. Doctors sometimes prescribe medication to either manage the pain associated with kidney stones or to help the stone pass. The smaller the stone is the more likely it is to pass on its own, not requiring surgery, says Dr. Coogan.
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A Thrilling Cure For Kidney Stones
Each year, more than 500,000 people head to emergency rooms due to kidney stones, according to the National Kidney Foundation. But recent research suggests stone sufferers head somewhere else to shake loose their stonesan amusement park.
After hearing from multiple patients who passed small kidney stones after riding Walt Disney Worlds Big Thunder Mountain Railroadroller coaster, researchers out of Michigan State University decided to test it out themselves.
They created an artificial kidney out of silicone and loaded it with actual kidney stones and then rode the coaster 20 times with the kidney in between them, sitting at the height a persons kidneys would typically be during the ride. The results were thrilling.
Sitting in the front of the ride shook out four of 24 stones placed in the kidney. But when riding in the back of the coaster, 23 stones shook loose.
There is a catch: the kidney stones must be smallno larger than 4-5 mm, or they can get stuck on their way out of the body.
If youve undergone extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy, a treatment method that uses shock waves to break a kidney stone into such smaller, passable pieces, a roller coaster ride just may be in order.
Dr. User provides patients with instructions on inversion therapy in hopes of passing these remnant stones. The practice involves laying inverted or upside down to allow gravity to aid in the passing of small stone fragments that may be stuck.
What Happens After Passing A Kidney Stone
Many people arent sure how to recognize when theyve passed a kidney stone. You may also wonder after passing a kidney stone what to expect. The most painful phase of kidney stones usually occurs between the time the stone forms and when it enters the ureter. During this period, you may experience symptoms such as pain in the sides, painful urination, or blood in the urine.
Once a stone enters the bladder, youre more likely to feel pressure than severe pain. The urge to urinate frequently is common at this stage. However, stones may make urination difficult. You may have to exert effort to expel the stone, which will be visible in the toilet. A feeling of relief usually occurs once the stone is passed.
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