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.

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.