They may stay in the kidneys or travel out of body through the urinary tract.
What causes kidney stones?
Kidney stones form when the normal balance of water, salts, minerals, and other matter normally present in urine changes. This can happen if a person does not get enough fluids - a condition known as dehydration. It may also happen if patient eats foods high in oxalate such as dark green vegetables. Kidney stones may also be inherited, meaning that if other people in your family have had them, you may have them too. Most kidney stones are calcium-type and they form when the calcium levels in your urine change. Once you become dehydrated, the salts, minerals, and other substances in the urine can stick together and form a stone. This is the most common cause of kidney stones that you can prevent. Beside this, many medical conditions can affect the urine balance and cause stones to form. People who have inflammatory bowel disease or who have had surgery on their intestines, may not absorb fat from their intestines as they normally should. This changes the way the intestines process calcium and other minerals, and it may lead to problems with kidney stones. If you eat foods high in oxalate, you may be more likely to get kidney stones. This may be even more of a problem if you do not get enough calcium in your diet. In rare cases, a person forms kidney stones because the parathyroid glands produce too much hormone. This hormone induces higher calcium levels which may possibly cause calcium kidney stones to form.
What are the symptoms?
Kidney stones often cause no pain while they are in the kidneys.
However, they can cause sudden, severe pain as they travel from the kidneys to the bladder. Each person who has symptoms of kidney stones should call the doctor right away. You have to watch for severe pain in your side, belly, or groin, or for pink or red urine. Some patients also reported feeling sick to their stomach or nausea, and may vomit as well. However, the most commonly symptom that kidney stones are causing is a sudden and constant pain . Stones may cause intense pain in the back, side, abdomen, groin, or even genitals. People who have had a kidney stone often describe the pain as the worst pain they have ever had. Another common symptom is blood in the urine, which can occur either while stones are in the kidney or they are traveling through the ureters. Frequent and painful urination may occur when the stone is in the ureter. or after the stone has left the bladder. Fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea or constipation, excessive sweating and fatigue are also symptoms of kidney stones. However, painful urination may also be the sign of an urinary tract infection. Other conditions with similar symptoms to kidney stones include appendicitis, hernias, ectopic pregnancy, and prostatitis.
How to diagnose kidney stones
It may happen that you find out you have kidney stones only after you have visited your doctor or even in an emergency room. Most of the patients diagnosed with kidney stones found it out when they went there with pain in their belly or side. If the doctor suspects you have kidney stones, he will ask questions about the pain and your lifestyle. He or she will examine you and may do some imaging tests such as X-ray. It is a common diagnostic method for checking your kidneys and urinary tract. You may need more tests if you have more than one stone. The same goes for those who have a family history of stones. To find out the type of stones you have, the doctor may order a blood test. After that he might ask you to collect your urine for 24 hours. This can help him find out if you are likely to have more kidney stones in the future.
How are kidney stones treated?
If the doctor thinks the stone can pass without help and patient feels he or she can deal with the pain, doctor may suggest home treatment. For most stones, the doctor will
If the stone is too large to pass on its own, or if it is stuck in the urinary tract, you may need some other treatment. This happens in one or two out of ten people with kidney stones diagnosis only. The most common medical treatment is the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or ESWL. This is a method in which kidney stones are broken into small pieces by using the sound waves, making them easier to pass out of the body in urine. Other times, a doctor will need to remove the stone or place a small metal tube in the ureter. It is the best choice to keep it open while kidney stones pass. If patient complains that the pain is too severe, the stones are blocking the urinary tract, or there is an infection as well, the doctor will probably suggest the following procedure. The doctors first pass a very thin telescope tube called ureteroscope up the urinary tract. It is used to point this to the stone’s location. Then they use instruments to remove the stone or break it up for easier removal. Occasionally, you may need a small hollow tube or ureteral stent placed in the ureter to keep it open and drain urine and any stone pieces. Ureteroscopy is common for stones that have moved from the kidney to the ureter. Open surgery is a procedure where the surgeon makes a cut in the side of the stomach to reach the kidneys and remove the stone. This treatment is rarely used.
What are the problems with kidney stones?
A kidney stone begins as a tiny piece of mineral in the kidney. When the urine leaves the kidney, it may carry the mineral out, or the mineral may stay in the kidney. If the piece of mineral stays in the kidney, more and more small pieces of mineral may join over time. If this happens, they form a larger kidney stone. Most of the kidney stones leave the kidney and travel through the urinary tract. When they are still small, they can be passed easily out of the body and no treatment is needed. Unfortunately, larger stones may become stuck. This may cause pain and possibly block the urine from flowing to the bladder and out of the body making kidney stones a huge problem. This kind of the pain often becomes worse over 15 to 60 minutes until it is severe and constant. The pain may ease when the stone no longer blocks the flow of urine. or go away completely when the stone passes into the bladder. Medical treatment is often necessary for larger stones to help them flush out. About 90% of stones smaller than 5 mm and about a half of the larger ones pass on their own. Patients need more than home treatment in only 10% to 20% of all the kidney stone cases. The average time a stone takes to pass ranges between one and three weeks. Two-thirds of stones are those that pass on their own, and they may pass within 4 weeks of the symptoms appearing. Almost half of all people who get kidney stones will get more stones within 5 years. This can be avoided by taking preventive measures. When someone has kidney stones several times over a period of a few years, the length of time between stones tends to get shorter. It is not possible to say for sure which patient will have more stones in the future and who will not have them.
How to prevent future stones
The fact is that, once you have had kidney stones, you are likely to have more. You can help prevent them by drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water each day. You should eat less of certain foods such as dark green vegetables, chocolates, and nuts and your doctor may give you medicine that helps prevent stones from forming. Almost half of all the people who had a stone will have more stones within five years unless they take preventive measures. The best tips to prevent future kidney stones are to drink many fluids and make changes in your diet. If you have risk factors for having more stones, such as a family history of stones, your doctor may suggest medicines that might help prevent future stones from forming. A recent study reported that using other medicines, such as nifedipine and Prednisone, while passing a stone resulted in more stones passing and fewer lost workdays. Taking preventive measures such as drinking a lot of fluid are much easier than the vists to the emergency room and having a surgical procedure. Some patients may require more treatment for kidney stones if they have continuing problems and many urinary tract infections, decreased kidney function, a single kidney, an impaired immune system or if they have had a kidney transplant. To prevent further collecting of kidney stones, try to increase the fibers in your diet. Fiber are found in oat and wheat bran, beans, whole-wheat breads, wheat cereals, cabbage, and carrots. You should also try eating less beef, pork, and poultry. It is important that you know that you should not be adding salt when you cook or eat, so try to remove the saltshaker from your table. Your doctor may do more tests before deciding whether changing your diet will help reduce your risk of developing another kidney stone.