Kidney Stones

I can't speak on either the pregnancy or k.s. fronts, but Kevin Murphy in his book A Year at the Movies describes a kidney stone he suffered at one point in such vivid detail that frankly I hope to god in heaven that I never ever ever EVER once have one.

my cousin elizabeth had one, the year before having her daughter. she says the kidney stone was worse.

as dyson said, the amount of pain isn't uniform, it depends on the shape/size of the stone, some of which are more cruelly shaped than others. Mine was no picnic, a triangular razoredged 5mm arrowhead, but the some of the images I've seen online make me feel grateful, things that look like spiny pufferfish and mutant unicorns, nightmares.

the bastard wouldn't give me the extra morphine he was prescribed by his doctor either.

xpost

Turned out eventually the stone was too big to pass. Surgery, etc. So I think maybe they come in different flavors, so to speak.

I'm sure you're in good hands and will be fine, and the relief after the stone will be better than sex.

With this and the puffins, I worry about d.b.

(Cue Sean C photoshop kung-fu)

I could swear this was a Woody Allen monologue.

when mine passed friends wrote me a series of delightful haikus alternately praising and admonishing the stone

http://www.herringlab.com/photos/stone1.gif

This stone looks appetising, like milk chocolate with puffed corn.

!!!

as far as the pain goes, it wasn't anywhere near a 10, but it did feel like i got kicked in the balls for two weeks (the time it took to give me all the tests and undergo the procedure to break it up)

after all was said and done, the doc told me that i got it from drinking too much dark soda and not enough water. at the time i was working at a record store that was next door to a pizza joint. we could go in, buy a soda and refill it all day for free. i was working 8-12 hour shifts. i was drinking up to 6 cokes a day.

(the best picture i could find isn't really that good)
http://www.bladestextures.com/propreplicas/images/props/gob_a.jpg

In the olden days ppl would go for an esp. energetic horse ride to help pass their k stones

Because of all the kidney hassle I had when I was little I'm terrified of ever having to go there medically again.

(yes, stay away from too much caffeine and balance your diet)

It's a different thing for different people(sizes can range from very small to about the size of a robin's egg!)...mine was pretty intense the first time around, just watching movies over at a friends house, an hour later had to ambulance me outta there. Second time i managed to get to the hospital by car, still pretty painful. Stay away from caffeine, and try to bear with the twinges you'll feel in your side afterwards, that never ending reminder...

Take it easy, and oh, i just read your book on SOTT. I intended to spread it out over a weekend, i read it in one sitting. Nice work, be proud man!

Yesterday I went to the hospital a few hours after eating lunch with Donut Bitch, Stockholm Cindy, and Elvis Telecom

I'm ok now, just a little achy and have antibiotics and painkillers (and lemonade yum yum!!). I've had menstrual cramps worse than this.

my new favorite phrase to say!

drink lots of POM!

Ugh the darvocet is making me feel woozy but I still feel crampy. Ugh.

holy fuck!
i've been laid up for three days with this shit. my advice is don't get a kidney stone.
i have a lot of painkillers though!

How do I get a kidney stone?

i have to pee pee into a stainer o_0

Ugh. I developed one quite recently (read that account right here. ) I thought I'd passed it, but evidently I haven't -- it had only moved from my kidney and is now en route to my bladder (lovely, eh?) What happens next is the source of no small amount of terror. Is the excruciating pain of passing awaiting me? Or might I simply pass it without incident? I'm seeing a urologist on Monday afternoon. Until then, discomfort is the order of the day and sleep is a rarified luxury.

Daamn, I'm really sorry to hear that. Good luck gettin through :-\

condolences. when my prostate problems began five or six years the initial symptoms resembled k-stones...unbelievable.

urology is a bleak science.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Fuck the world.

Sorry, I'm in tremendous discomfort at the moment.

A guy I work with spent the past week dealing with one - time, painkillers, and gallons of cranberry juice. I'm sorry you're suffering Alex, and hope it passes soon.

My kidney stone a couple of years ago felt like someone hitting me in the lower back with a bat, then repeatedly kicking me while I was on the ground. I had three attacks before my scheduled sound wave (!) treatment for a stone apparently too big (6mm) to pass (the urologist told me usually he'd just prescribe a six-pack and tell me to wait it out). Before and after the procedure I had a stent in, which thank god was inserted while I was knocked out asleep.

After the ultrasound procedure I peed blood for a few days, which I thought perversely amusing whenever I was out and about and using public restrooms. Pity the fool that followed me!

Barely a week goes by, to be honest, where I don't feel some weird twinge that makes me feel another stone is on its way. Fortunately, I have my leftover meds waiting for me in the closet. From what I hear, a follow-up stone is nigh inevitable for anyone who's had one already.

We had good insurance, btw, but had I not the whole ordeal would have cost close to $20,000, which is as much as my first kid would have cost. Ironic symmetry there.

Had a cat-scan today. Yep, there's currently a kidney stone ("a small one") in my bladder. It may be small, but it feels like an angry blowfish.

May the tides flush out the cantankerous blowfish, Alex. This shall pass.

For those of you playing along at home, tomorrow will be the soul-immolating ONE MONTH MARK of my trials with the kidney stone. Had a cat scan last week. It's supposedly on its way out (so to speak), but it's evidently taking its fucking time. SOMEBODY PLEASE COME AND KILL ME!!!

So what are the causes of these things? I've heard caffeine contributes, but what else?

I hear you can get them if you google too much

anyway I think you get it by ingesting too many minerals/vitamins without enough water - basically they're just crystallized minerals your body is trying to pass. so drink lots of water!

my own kidney stone story involves my high school cross country coach - dude who trained for the Olympics at one point and regularly did triathlons and would run next to us carrying his bike screaming at us for being a bunch of wussies - he got a kidney stone in class and fainted from the pain. they're no joke!

it hurts,yo!

I had gallstones about 6 years ago...that pain is the worst. I can't imagine kidney stones. It scared me when the puking started, I couldn't figure out what was wrong, because the pain wasn't in my stomach...It was my first ever trip to the ER, in a new country, and I'm lying on a guerney and no-one's giving a fuck about me and my puking, I had to fucking ask someone for something to puke in, some junkie on the bed next to me screaming her brains out and I'm lying there for what felt like fucking days...and finally a doctor wanders by, they prod me a lot, wheel me off for an ultrasound, and after more puking and crying they tell me I have gallstones. they say they can leave them in, or they can blow them up. if they leave them in, they might come back...BLOW THEM UP. OF COURSE BLOW THEM UP. I never want pain like this again. Payoff for my hours of torture: they shoot me up with demerol, man that was good shit....and then next thing I know I'm in the OR...and then I've got 3 little scars and that's it. The end.

I've had indigestion once or twice since and it still freaks me the fuck out.

I've been trying to pass a kidney stone for the past month. Nothing yet. Just feels like someone's stabbing me in my back at various intervals. It's mostly bad at night when I am trying to sleep. Two ibuprofen seems to dull the pain to the point of being manageable. I must have a high pain tolerance or else I'm just not in the thick of it yet. Or maybe it's because I had gallbladder stones 9 years ago that were much, much worse. Seriously, that was the worst pain I've ever felt. The first time it happened I no joke thought I was having a heart attack and begged, SCREAMED, for someone to call an ambulance.

Fuck, I'm terrified that this is just going to get worse.

i had a nagging one for awhile kinda like you. i was thinking this isn't so bad, until shit got real and it hurt like hell. nothing unbearable but not fun at all.

I just made a kidney stone shopping list.
- Beer
- Lemonade
- Asparagus
- Watermelon
- Grapes
- Unsweetened apple cider
- Magnesium
- B6 Complex

I am going to be pissing all weekend. Yay.

sorry ;_;

everything i learned about not wanting to have kidney stones i learned from this guy:

http://images1.cliqueclack.com/tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/al-swearengen-deadwood-749149-424x295.jpg

is that from DEADWOOD?????
does he get a kidney stone?

OT but I am going to Deadwood in May. I am going to pose for one of those phony sepia-toned old-timey photos.

yeah, al has kidney stones in season 2. i would not watch right now if i were you.

4. Watermelon Cleanse- This alternative treatment is not intended for diabetics because of the high amounts of natural sugars. The watermelon cleanse is one of the easiest ways to cleanse the kidney. You should first purchase at least 3-4 watermelons and fill your bath up with warm water. While in the bathtub, you should aim to eat as much watermelon as possible while you empty your bladder into the tub (gross but you could pass your kidney stones). The high water flush along with the acidic fruit has been known to pass kidney stones.

Well, there's a weekend plan for you!

Good luck, I hope you pass your stone as painlessly as possible.

fwiw, there's evidence that kidney stones are linked with high intake of protein. sorry you have to go through this, h2.

Samuel Pepys' diary begins shortly after he has a kidney stone (painfully) removed, and even though the guy is an ass, a letch and a lout, every year when the anniversary of the stone comes around he suddenly gets serious, finds God and is otherwise extremely thankful.

x-post Passing a stone for a month? Really? Youch. I assume you've had it checked out?

i have one of these

it doesnt hurt at all though

knock wood

i was peeing blood a couple weeks ago and convinced myself i had bladder cancer so its sort of a relief actually

well you havent passed it yet, right?

its just hangin out in your kidney?

don't knock wood might be a better incantation in this instance.

tsk tsk

this is one of the things that I live in fear of, some other things I live in fear of are falling out of an airplane and slipping on a banana peel into an incoming train

godspeed

gods peed

The Wizzing of Oz

this too shall pass

everybody must get stoned

i kid, i kid........................... ney

remember urine it to win it

Know your pee:

The word "urine" was first used in the 14th century. Before that, the concept was described by the now vulgar word "piss".

Not actual urine, the concept of urine.

question guys, how do you spell "i cup"

http://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/icp2.jpg

Dandelions used to be called "pissabeds", because they're a diuretic when made into a tea. Trufax.

my cat has these

When this happened to me a few years ago, I could not believe the pain. One minute I was fine, the next I was doubled over on the floor. And it's not like you're thinking, "Gee, should I go to hospital?" You're thinking, "Fuck I GOTTA get to hospital."

I got banged up with two shots of morphine, then a shot of dilaudid, followed by percosets. Almost made it worth it. Almost. I laid around high as fuck and in (less) pain for 8 hours and then when I felt like I could walk they sprung me. Walking home was weird because I was so high I could only shuffle along. Hadn't eaten all day and went to a diner and had matzo ball soup and fruit, eaten very slowly. They sent me home with 30 percosets and said, "drink water, take these."

When it passed the immediate relief was glorious, the stream of pee the most beautiful sight ever. By then still had more than 20 percosets to save for the next one. Of course, that was years ago, no stones since, and the percosets are long gone, heh.

ugh really hoping that doesnt happen to me

really don't ever want to ever get these again tbh

I had the same experience as Matos W.K. When I was admitted they said asked the usualy "what's the pain on a scale of 1-10." I said 6. An hour later, going by that scale, it went up to about 60.

urgh im petrified of getting these. are some people more predisposed to them then others?

I should add, I was lying around in the emergency ward, surrounded my about 80%mentally ill / drug addict street types, who were mostly begging the staff for the drugs I was getting. The guy next to me kept shitting himself and if I'd had the energy to vomit, I would have. It was hellish all around, but I left with a lot of respect for the hospital staff, they were very kind to me -- even when I started hugging the pretty doctor's legs and repeating "it hurts" over and over like a little wuss -- I was especially impressed that they can keep it together after enduring such abuse all day. The mentally unbalanced contingent of a big city emergency room, man, they say the nastiest, most vile shit to hospital staff.

ugh.

http://scienceroll.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/calciumoxalatemonohydrate.jpg

http://www.stonedisease.org/gfx/stone_calcium_oxalate.jpg

http://z.about.com/d/taoism/1/0/A/1/-/-/everlastinggobstopper.jpg

Those little contact mines are calcium oxalate crystals. You're going to get enough calcium and oxalate to potentially form these if you eat a healthy diet, so it seems the best prevention may be to make sure you also get magnesium, as magnesium oxalate is 567 times as soluble as calcium oxalate. Mg supplements work well in reducing kidney stone development, but you can also just improve the Mg/Ca ratio in your diet. Grains, beef, potatos and greens have high Mg/Ca ratios. Dairy and eggs have relatively low Mg/Ca ratios. (Traditional nigari precipitated tofu is in the first category, nearly all modern gypsum precipitated tofu is way in the later).

You wouldn't think that men weren't eating enough grains and beef, would you.

Or potatoes! Those just seem like no-brainer "guy" foods for most/all of the US.

the thought of one of those things coming out of my cock is making me ill.

Keep in mind, they're generally not as big as they look. But it doesn't take much to hurt like hell moving through your system! Or not, in my case. 6mm!

Push liquids. Best solution, best source of prevention.

mine didnt hurt THAT bad

gallstones hurt much worse

but again it all depends on the size of the stone

And remember kids, those calcium edges are SHARP, like the slicey edges of broken porcelin, ripping your urethra to shreads as it passes through, that's why you pee blood.

I went to a couple urologists and from those visits and a lot of reseach I've gathered there's not really anything you can do about them except to just keep drinking water and keep peeing so the elements are expelled before they form a stone. Diet has very little to do with it. The old adages about soda, meat, milk, etc., have all been disproven by now. If you're prone to 'em, it's kind of just the way you are.

The best "diet" rec I got was to, every morning, squeeze a whole fresh lemon into a glass of water and drink it down. The citris is good for preventing stones, and you get a lot of vitamins too. Not a bad hangover cure either.

isn't cranberry juice good at cleaning out your kidneys? and I heard vitamin C puts you at risk because all that ascorbic acid crystallizes in your kidneys..

It's all about the liquids. In fact, when I first went in for my stone the doctor told me typically he would just prescribe a six-pack of beer. Alas, I had a stent put in and they pulverized the stone with sound waves (the future!).

My pain, by the way, was not the passing (which I never had to do) but in my lower back, by my, you know, kidney. It felt like someone had hit me with a baseball bat, knocked me to the ground, then repeatedly kicked me in the same spot. Had to go to the hospital, since I had no idea what was going on. I had two more attacks before my procedure, and during them all I could do was lay perfectly still in bed while the vicodin did the best it could do.

They used to think coffee might be bad, but I think that's since been dispelled (thank goodness). Coffee, after all, is something like 99.9% water, and its diuretic properties (dehydration being the concern) are over-emphasized.

well the little bastard is trying to get out now

pain is not so bad (yet) (fingers crossed) but i feel super nauseated

ill keep you guys posted

MOTHERFUCKER.

Oh man, I feel so much better today. Thanks, dilaudid.

I've got one worming its way around my lower back. Had one before that hurt a lot more than this, but who knows if this will get worse. It's 4am and I'm hoping I don't have to go to the emergency room.

Fucking hell

Laying in a hot bath seems to help, apparently it relaxes the ureter? It's coming in waves, I'll think it's over but urgle fuuuuck

Yeah this fucking sucks.