Table of Contents
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.