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. Skip high-oxalate foods. Such foods, which include spinach, beets, and almonds, obviously raise oxalate levels in the body. However, moderate amounts of low-oxalate foods, such as chocolate and berries, are okay.
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 . If sodium has contributed to kidney stones in the past, try to reduce your daily sodium to 1,500 mg.
How Successful Are These Treatments
In short dubious at best. There have been many reports of people using these natural methods, but the efficacy is unsubstantiated. Some people report success, but none of these treatments are based in scientific fact. For every anecdotal success story posted online, there are hundreds more stories of failures . So, what natural remedies DO work?
4. Lab Grade Chanca Piedra
Lab grade chanca piedra has shown high rates of success in kidney stone treatment. This herbal remedy breaks down and prevents the development of new kidney stones. The clinical benefits of all-natural Chanca Piedra are related to ureteral relaxation and to a putative reduction of the excretion of urinary crystallization promoters such as calcium. It first grabbed the attention of the scientific community in a 2002 study on rodents which demonstrated it slowed or halted kidney stone growth. Further studies indicated lab grade Chanca Piedra actually interferes with the process that would normally cause stones to form.
Professor Dr. Nestor Schor speaking about his research on lab grade Chanca Piedra:
Treatment with Phyllanthus niruri strongly inhibited the growth of the stones and reduced the number of stones
These results show that Phyllanthus niruri has an inhibitory effect on crystal growth
Kidney Stone Causes And Risk Factors
Both men and women can get kidney stones, but menâs chances of getting them are about double that of womenâs.
Itâs often hard to figure out what caused a kidney stone. But they happen when your urine has high levels of certain minerals. These include:
- Calcium
- Oxalate
- Uric acid
If you donât have enough urine in your body to water down the high concentration of minerals, stones can form. Think about stirring up your favorite drink from a powder mix. If you donât add enough liquid — say, water or juice — the powder will clump up and turn into hard, dry chunks.
Things that can raise your risk for kidney stones include:
- What you eat
- Some medications like triamterene , a diuretic that treats high blood pressure antiseizure drugs corticosteroids and protease inhibitors like indinavir sulfate for HIV.
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Prone To Kidney Stones Watch What You Eat
July 20, 2001 — Passing a kidney stone is said to be the only experience that approaches the painfulness of childbirth. One way the unlucky few who are susceptible to a certain type of kidney stone can prevent the grueling condition is to avoid certain foods. New research adds meat to that list.
Just like their name implies, kidney stones are small rocks that develop in the kidney. They are painful because they must be passed out of the body through the narrow canals, called the ureters and urethra, where urine flows first from the kidney to the bladder and then from the bladder out of the body. They occur when certain minerals in the urine come out of solution and form into a stone.
No one knows for sure why this happens, but people who have had kidney stones before or who have a family history of kidney stones are at high risk for developing them again.
The most common type of kidney stone is made up of calcium oxalate, thus preventing the buildup of oxalate in the urine could help prevent the development of stones.
About 10% of white men and nearly as many women will develop a kidney stone in their lives. People who are susceptible to oxalate stones can prevent the oxalate build up several ways:
New research from Europe adds meat to the list of foods to avoid. A study in Kidney International has linked high amounts of oxalate in the urine to eating meat in people known to be at risk of developing oxalate kidney stones.
Continued
Natural Remedies To Pass Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are hard, mineral-based masses that form into stones within the kidneys and urinary tract. Unfortunately, kidney stones are extremely common, as one in 10 adults will experience them at least once in their lifetime. Symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, fever, and blood in your urine are the tell-tale signs of kidney stones. Other symptoms include severe pain in your back and side, along with pain that radiates from your lower abdomen to the groin. Although this condition seems serious and painful, kidney stones can usually be passed at home. If you are dealing with kidney stones, here is how you can pass them safely with our top natural remedies.
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What To Eat To Prevent Kidney Stones
Passing a kidney stone is excruciating! Here are some tips to reduce the chances that youll ever have to endure that pain or relive past misery
As anyone who has ever had one can attest, passing a kidney stone is something youre not likely to forget … or remember fondly. Although dietary measures are not 100% effective in preventing stones, they can definitely reduce your risk.
Kidney Stone Pain: Firsthand Recollections Of The Experience
Ive never had a kidney stone. I dont know what its like. Thats why I spent hours reading personal experiences to understand kidney stone pain better. Wikipedia told me the basics, and ArsTechnica, StraightDope, and Reddit gave me the personal stories and recollections that created an overall picture of how unpleasant and dreadfully painful kidney stones can be .
Was bad enough that I left the party and went to myoffice and spent a large part of the night rolling backand forth on the floor in my cube debating calling my ex to come get me. Sheended up laughing, then took me to the hospital. I still owe her for helpingme.
It was what I can imagine a knife stuck in my back beingtwisted all around would feel like.
A female nurse told me it’s the worst pain a man canever feel, because a man can’t go through labor. I had mine when I was 25 itlooked like a coffee grain. Before it passed, I literally thought I was goingto die. They gave me a morphine shot right in the vein, and it didn’t do athing. They followed that with Vicodin and I passed out. I woke up a few hourslater feeling just ok.
Someone told me that the pain from a kidney stone isclose to what a woman feels while having a baby. If that is true, I don’t blamethem at all for screaming.
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Add Lemon And Lime Juice To Water
Lemon and lime juice serve as kryptonite for certain types of kidney stones. They contain citrate, which both neutralizes acid in urine and can stop calcium stones from forming.
For example, uric acid crystals form and turn into stones in an acidic environment, Dr. De explains. So if your urine is alkaline , then uric stones wont form, and you can actually dissolve uric acid stones with high doses of citrate.
Add lemon or lime into your water whenever you can. Aim for getting a total of a half cup of lemon or lime juice concentrate into your drinking water over the course of a day.
Your Judgment Of Them
You will say if they matter.
Do you like them? Your family, will they happily eat them? Do you find them delicious, or at least acceptable? How hard are they to use? Are they a help in reality or just an ideal too difficult for a busy world. Given what they added to your stone prevention, is the price a fair price?
Please comment on the article. Without your feedback, how can Melanie know what to do beyond what she has done? How can I know if I am right in putting her recipe collection forward as useful. Melanie and I look forward to your comments.
Because of her training I know the recipes accord with the goals of the kidney stone diet. Her knowledge is sound.
But food is in the eating.
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Let Kidney Stones Pass
Stones typically take several weeks to a few months to pass, depending on the number of stones and their size. Over-the-counter pain medications, like ibuprofen , acetaminophen , or naproxen , can help you endure the discomfort until the stones pass. Your doctor also may prescribe an alpha blocker, which relaxes the muscles in your ureter and helps pass stones quicker and with less pain.
If the pain becomes too severe, or if they are too large to pass, they can be surgically removed with a procedure called a ureteroscopy. Here, a small endoscope is passed into the bladder and up the ureter while you are under general anesthesia. A laser breaks up the stones, and then the fragments are removed.
Tips: Kidney Stone Prevention
In summary, the most important dietary modification to prevent kidney stones is to drink more water. Become the person who carries around a water bottle everywhere you go. Second, eat a balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables to increase your citrate levels. Third, reduce your consumption of animal protein. Finally, dont avoid dairy or other calcium-containing foods as it is important to have in your system to maintain bone health.
No one wants to have kidney stones, and anyone who has had one in the past certainly wants to avoid another one. By following these recommendations and seeing a urologist when appropriate, we hope to keep you from a visit to the emergency room.
Resources
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The Causes Of Kidney Stones
Like many other ailments, a poor diet is the leading cause of kidney stone formation. While genetics and environmental factors can play a role, your diet is the easiest thing you can change.
Specifically, sodas and sugary drinks are major culprits behind the causes of kidney stones. This reason being sodas are filled with unhealthy chemicals, including high levels of processed bleached sugar, phosphoric acid, caffeine, and high fructose corn syrup. These ingredients are harmful to your body and especially harsh for your urinary system.
These drinks cause kidney stones thanks to the high fructose corn syrup which metabolizes into oxalate and increases excretion of uric acid and calcium. This combination encourages kidney stone formation at a higher rate than normal. Plus, the phosphoric acid in soda can create an acidic environment in your kidney tract, leading to more kidney stones. Diets high in sodium are also associated with this condition. The amount of calcium in your urine contributes to kidney stones and should therefore be reduced in your diet.
Instead, eat a diet for optimal urological health that is full of fresh vegetables and fruits. Avoid processed foods and sugar to avoid kidney stones and maintain a healthy urinary system. Dont forget to keep hydrated!
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Will It Help Or Hurt To Take A Vitamin Or Mineral Supplement
The B vitamins which include thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B6 and B12 have not been shown to be harmful to people with kidney stones. In fact, some studies have shown that B6 may actually help people with high urine oxalate. However, it is best to check with your healthcare professional or dietitian for advice on the use of vitamin C, vitamin D, fish liver oils or other mineral supplements containing calcium since some supplements can increase the chances of stone formation in some individuals.
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Facts About Kidney Stones
What To Eat When You Have Kidney Stones
At some point in our lives, most of us know someone who has struggled through the pain of a kidney stone, and it makes us want to avoid getting one ourselves. There are steps you can take to minimize the likelihood of getting a kidney stone, but research has not determined a foolproof way to avoid them altogether.
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What Is A Kidney Stone
A kidney stone is a solid piece of material that forms in a kidney. A stone can get stuck as it leaves the kidney. It can lodge in one of your two ureters , the bladder, or the urethra .
Kidney stones may be the size of sand or gravel, as large as a pearl, or even larger. A stone can block the flow of your urine and cause great pain. A stone may also break loose and travel through your urinary tract all the way out of your body without causing too much pain.
There are four major types of kidney stones.
- Calcium is the most common type of stone. Calcium can combine with other substances, such as oxalate , to form the stone.
- A uric acid stone may form when your urine contains too much acid.
- A struvite stone may form after an infection in your urinary system.
- Cystine stones are rare. The disease that causes cystine stones runs in families.
How Your Diet Can Help Keep Away Kidney Stones
Posted on by Oxford Urology Associates
According to Harvard Medical School, approximately 19% of men and 9% of women will experience a kidney stone by age 70.
If you have never experienced the excruciating pain of passing a kidney stone, consider yourself to be very lucky. If you have had at least one, unfortunately you are likely to have another. In either case you should keep reading to learn how your diet can help keep these painful stones at bay.
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Is There Any Way To Make Them Pass Faster
The best home remedy to encourage the stone to pass is to drink lots of fluids, especially plain water and citrus juices such as orange or grapefruit. The extra fluid causes you to urinate more, which helps the stone move and keeps it from growing. You should aim for at least 2 to 3 quarts of water per day.
Smaller stones are more likely to pass on their own, so you should take steps to keep the stone from growing. This includes eating a diet thats low in salt, calcium, and protein.
However, you need all of these for your body to function properly, so talk with your doctor about an appropriate diet to help you pass the stone.
Passing a kidney stone can be very painful. Taking pain medication such as ibuprofen wont speed up the process, but it can make you a lot more comfortable while passing the stone. A heating pad can also help.
If you have a fever, significant nausea, or are unable to keep down liquids without vomiting, you should seek medical care.
Likewise, if you have only one kidney or known kidney problems or damage, see a doctor immediately.
An infected kidney stone is a surgical emergency. If you notice any signs of infection, go to the hospital.
Kidney Stone Diet Plan And Prevention
If you have kidney stones, you may need to follow a special diet plan. First, your healthcare professional will run blood and urine tests to find out what kind of risk factors you may have. Then your healthcare professional will tell you the diet changes and medical treatment you need to prevent having kidney stones come back.
A registered kidney dietitian can help you make the necessary changes in your diet plan and lifestyle.
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Diet And Calcium Stones
Follow these guidelines if you have calcium kidney stones:
- Drink plenty of fluids, particularly water.
- Eat less salt. Chinese and Mexican food, tomato juice, regular canned foods, and processed foods are often high in salt. Look for low-salt or unsalted products.
- Have only 2 or 3 servings a day of foods with a lot of calcium, such as milk, cheese, yogurt, oysters, and tofu.
- Eat lemons or oranges, or drink fresh lemonade. Citrate in these foods prevents stones from forming.
- Limit how much protein you eat. Choose lean meats.
- Eat a low-fat diet.
Do not take extra calcium or vitamin D, unless the provider who is treating your kidney stones recommends it.
- Watch out for antacids that contain extra calcium. Ask your provider which antacids are safe for you to take.
- Your body still needs the normal amount of calcium you get from your daily diet. Limiting calcium may actually increase the chance that stones will form.
Ask your provider before taking vitamin C or fish oil. They may be harmful to you.
If your provider says you have calcium oxalate stones, you may also need to limit foods that are high in oxalate. These foods include:
- Fruits: rhubarb, currants, canned fruit salad, strawberries, and Concord grapes
- Vegetables: beets, leeks, summer squash, sweet potatoes, spinach, and tomato soup
- Drinks: tea and instant coffee
- Other foods: grits, tofu, nuts, and chocolate