Kidney Stones
Wretched things. I wouldn’t wish a kidney stone on my worst enemy - Adam Young
image by: National Kidney Foundation
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Got Kidney Stones? You're in Good Company
Kidney stones are one of the most common maladies to befall men, but lately women have been catching up. Over the past two decades, the incidence of kidney stones has doubled in both men and women -- more than 10 percent of men and 7 percent of women in the U.S. have had a kidney stone.
Your Diet is Likely the Culprit
In that time, we have learned much about the cause of kidney stones, and diet is the most important factor. What we eat will dictate what will ultimately pass into the urine and the concentration of these various chemicals becomes important in stone formation. A simple way to think about this is to imagine a glass of iced tea. We can add sugar…
Resources
What Foods Should I Avoid to Prevent Kidney Stones?
Since most stones contain calcium, doctors historically advised patients to limit the amount of calcium in their diets. It was a logical recommendation, but it was wrong. Drink more fluids, consume less sodium and eat a diet that includes calcium-rich foods. The rest depends on the chemical composition of your stones.
Antibiotics May Raise the Risk for Kidney Stones
The prevalence of kidney stones in the United States has increased 70 percent since the 1970s, and a new report suggests that the use of oral antibiotics may be part of reason.
Kidney Stones Grow Just Like Real Stones, Recording Your Health Through Time
Recent research found that kidney stones have many more similarities with real stones than anyone previously thought. The team of both medical students and geologists were able to piece together how kidney stones form, their changes through time, and how they can record the health of a person's kidney.
Kidney stones under the microscope look like jagged spikes of pain
Kidney stones develop when your urine can't dilute all of the substances in it, like calcium and uric acid. Those substances stick together and form these terrifying, spiky crystals. If a stone pushes itself out of the kidney and into the ducts that take urine to the bladder, it can cause a significant amount of pain until its passed out of the body through urination.
Doctors Take Aim At Epidemic Kidney Stones With Lasers
Since kidney stones aren't fatal, the problem doesn't get much attention. But they're no joke.
Here is an unexpected consequence of climate change: kidney stones
When one thinks of the warming climate, the phrases that pop into mind probably aren't “nausea and vomiting,” “sharp, stabbing pain,” and ...
How a painful operation inspired the 18th-century equivalent of a horror movie soundtrack
With a deceptively simple series of musical interludes, Marais describes the moment of first sight of the operating table, summoning up one’s courage, the restraints being tied, the incision and introduction of forceps, the drawing of the stone and the flowing of blood, through to the blessed relief of release and bed. Crossed your legs yet?
Kidney stone pain, as experienced by a man and a woman
A few months back, I had two patients, a man and a woman, present to our emergency department, within an hour of one another, with the same illness. Unrelated, they were both suffering with kidney stone pain. Pain that was sudden. Pain that radiated from the flanks toward their groins. Pain that they both graded a ten out of ten.
Kidney Stones: Are They Part of a Team?
For example, many of us think of kidney stone disease as affecting only one organ and requiring a single treatment, but recent studies suggest that kidney stone disease is a complex disease which affects multiple organs and systems in the body.
Lessons From a Kidney Stone
My kidney stone ordeal lasted more than a month. I missed end-of-summer parties, my daughter's back-to-school family picnic, and the most perfect beach days. But I also learned a few things.
Medical Student Curriculum: Kidney Stones
Number of days to pass stone (mean} and % Likelihood of eventual need for intervention...2mm or less - 8days - 3%... 3mm - 12days - 14%... 4-6mm - 22days - 50%... > 6mm -- 99%...Two-thirds of ureteral stones that pass spontaneously pass within 4 weeks of the onset of symptoms.
Oh, Great: Rising Temperatures Will Give Us Kidney Stones
Warming temperatures means the "kidney stone belt" will expand across America.
One in seven kidney stone patients end up back in the hospital
At some point in their life, about 27 million people – 8.8 percent of the population – will have the unpleasant experience of passing a kidney stone. That makes the removal of a kidney stone one of the most basic, most common procedures in the United States – not the type of thing that you'd think would land you in the emergency room a few weeks later.
Suffering from kidney stones? Riding Disney's Big Thunder Mountain rollercoaster could help
The study was carried out at Disney World after one patient passed kidney stones after each of three consecutive rides on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Summer's worst gift to America is the kidney stone
Even if you watch what you eat and drink, though, there are additional contributing factors that are unavoidable: genetics and family history matters, and men are more likely to develop kidney stones than women; being white is also a contributing factor. Age matters, too: both sexes are more likely to develop them after the age of 40.
The Doctor and the Kidney Stone
I would advise my patients with kidney stones to find a good urologist, one who is skilled at lithotripsy and surgery, but not too eager to use them.
We Don’t Know Whether Roller Coasters Cure Kidney Stones
But we do tend to accept even the smallest, most preliminary studies as fact. We should stop.
What Kidney-Stones Are And How You Can Prevent Them
New study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives suggests that the earth’s changing climate, which is getting warmer and warmer, may signal more kidney stones in our future.
Got Kidney Stones? You're in Good Company
Kidney stones are one of the most common maladies to befall men, but lately women have been catching up. Over the past two decades, the incidence of kidney stones has doubled in both men and women...
12 Facts About Kidney Stones
What kind of kidney stone you get depends on your diet, fluid intake, genetics, hereditary disorders, and even whether you take certain medications, but the vast majority of people get calcium oxalate stones.
KidneyStoners.org
KidneyStoners.org is a non-commercial website that was started to help patients better understand their condition and the options available for treatment and prevention. The information contained in this website is based on available medical research and is accurate to the best of our knowledge.
Rare Kidney Stone Consortium
The Consortium facilitates cooperative exchange of information and resources among investigators, clinicians, and patients, and researchers in order to improve care and outcomes for patients with rare stone diseases. The consortium promotes ready availability of diagnostic testing, pooling of clinical experiences, and availability of tissue banks in order to advance the science.
National Kidney Foundation
You want to try to get to a normal weight if you are overweight. But, high-protein weight loss diets that include high amounts of animal-based protein, as well as crash diets can add to the risk of stone formation.
National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse
•Kidney stones are caused by high levels of calcium, oxalate, and phosphorus in the urine. •You may have a kidney stone if you ◦have pain while urinating ◦see blood in your urine ◦feel a sharp pain in your back or lower abdomen
Urology Care Foundation
Kidney stone disease is one of the most common problems of the urinary system. Race, gender and ethnicity play a part in who may get kidney stones. Whites are more likely to get kidney stones than African-Americans or other races. Men get kidney stones more often than women, but recent studies show the number of women getting kidney stones is rising.
MayoClinic
Kidney stones have many causes and can affect any part of your urinary tract — from your kidneys to your bladder. Often, stones form when the urine becomes concentrated, allowing minerals to crystallize and stick together
MedicineNet
Most kidney stones eventually pass from the kidney through the ureter and bladder and finally through the urethra on their own. However, treatment is often required for pain control from kidney stones as they pass. The consumption of ample fluids helps facilitate the passage of kidney stones, but even with plentiful fluid intake, most people require some type of medications for pain control.
MedlinePlus
Calcium stones are most common. They are most likely to occur in men between ages 20 - 30. Calcium can combine with other substances to form the stone. Oxalate is the most common of these. Oxalate is present in certain foods such as spinach. It's also found in vitamin C supplements. Diseases of the small intestine increase your risk of these stones.
NHS
Most kidney stones are small enough to be passed in your urine, and it may be possible to treat the symptoms at home with medication. Larger stones may need to be broken up with X-rays or ultrasound in hospital, or you may need to have them surgically removed.
Parathyroid.com
Kidney stones occur in about 5% of the population and are usually made of calcium. Hyperparathyroidism is the number one cause of kidney stones and thus every person with a kidney stone must be tested for a problem with their parathyroid glands. Nearly half of all people with kidney stones have a parathyroid tumor in their neck that must be removed or the kidney stones will return... and many other bad things can happen. Learn what kidney stones are and what you should do to prevent them from coming back. Most doctors do not do the correct tests.
Patient
Renal calculi are formed when the urine is supersaturated with salt and minerals such as calcium oxalate, struvite (ammonium magnesium phosphate), uric acid and cystine. 60-80% of stones contain calcium. They vary considerably in size from small 'gravel-like' stones, to large staghorn calculi.
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