How 'bout them kidney stones?

I had one when I was 21. I can't imagine a better description for the feeling that the one you gave - dead on. Not fun.

I know a guy who's got them bad - I hear they really suck.
(this guy has had them so bad, they couldn't remove them all in one surgery and had to leave some behind - his biggest was golf ball sized) He's got a prescription for Morphine.

I've heard from women who are mothers and also have passed a kidney stone, that passing a stone is MUCH worse than child birth.

What's the plan with yours? Waiting for it to pass? 3mm - that's going to hurt.

The guy I know with the major problem told me that one of the first things they tried was breaking them up with some sort of sonic wave - Maybe you could do this at home by pumping a low F# through some 18s with a couple thousand watts.
Maybe JT or somebody could hep you out?

I'm 38 now and had my first stroke at 20. They come from time to time and I have all of my "offsprings" (with the exception of the first, which was destroyed for analyzing it), with their "date of birth" (last was June 11/2004). I'm not a doctor, but after 18 years living with this disease, I can tell you EXACTLY about the symptoms. The worst part is when the stone just gets out of the kidney, when it's in the upper part of the urether. Then that intense pain comes, which makes you move constantly, looking for a relief you won't find. When the stone reaches the lower part, the colic dissappears and it's replaced by an annoying sensation of constantly wanting to pee, and you feel like if you're being hurt with a needle, but that's nothing compared with the previous stage. Most people think that releasing the stone is extremely painful, and they're wrong. You only feel a little annoyance, but the relief is incredible.

At first, every time I had a stroke I went to the hospital, but I stopped because it really doesn't help you, unless you don't know what to do to fight the pain. They keep you there for two days, take some X-rays (after purging you with that horrible ricin oil) and tell you: "Sir, you have stones in your kidneys". I KNOW!! Now I keep some ampoules (I had to look for this word in the dictionary - never used it) of Profenid (Ketoprophene) at home. That's the best analgesic I've found for me.

I know this will stay with me for the rest of my life. The only way to get rid of it would be to stop eating milk derivates (I hate pure milk), but I can't.

Just in case you're curious: The average size of my stones is similar to a short pinkie's nail, and they're VERY ROUGH! they really hurt.

I've got a 4 mm one sittin somewhere in my right kidney. I get them from time to time and oh lord have mercy do they hurt like hell when they pass. They say its equivalent to a man giving birth. I'm gonna so hate life even more when that 4 mm bastard passes.

cassanova said:

I've got a 4 mm one sittin somewhere in my right kidney. I get them from time to time and oh lord have mercy do they hurt like hell when they pass. They say its equivalent to a man giving birth. I'm gonna so hate life even more when that 4 mm bastard passes.

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Drink lots of water or, even better, beer. It'll pass quickly.

I've had 2 episodes with stones. Once when I was 18 and then at 21. I that to have 3 ESWL's (the sonic wave thing) the first time and 2 the next. The best thing to do to prevent them is to drink lots of citric acid (lemonade and orange juice, etc...) and 2-3 liters of water a day.

EwwwwWWOOOUUCH! I really could have went the rest of the year without seing this thread. Had on 2 years ago that felt like getting stuck in theat uper part of the aforemention urether. for a couple of days. Of course it started its journey out on a Friday night of all nights!!!! (I'm a bigger guy,) they satrted off with 4 shots of Demerall (sp)...then they gave me a nitro pill, then a shot of Morphine then and only then did it take the edge off. Half hour later in x-ray pain came back and another shot of Demerall for me....by then I wasn't feeling any pain...actually...I wasn't feeling anything at all! I loved life then! Anywaysthe day came they were gonna take it out...did the pre op x-ray and guess what. GONE...it passed the next day into the toilet bowl with a nice lil, tink, against the porcelain!

I had a 3mm one a couple summers ago. I woke up at 6 am with QUITE a sore back, and noticed I was laying pretty goofy since the wife was hogging the bed. I bitched at her, and went back to sleep. An hour or so later, I woke up in the WORST pain I have ever been in in my life. I thought my appendix exploded or something. I normally have a very high threshold for pain, but this made a real bitch out of me real quick. I had the wife take me to the emergenct room where I got some torodol (sic?) and I felt better. I passed it later in the day.

Part one when it is in the kidney is pretty uncomfortable. It feels like a severely pulled muscle in your back, but it is tolerable.

Part 2, when it goes between the kidney and the bladder is absolute murderous pain. It's like a small piece of sharred glass, traveling through a tube the size of uncooked spaghetti, wrenching it down trying to help move it.

After all of that, once it made it to the bladder passing it was nothing.......didn't even feel it, but that could have been in part due to the meds.

I STILL don't know what causes these, but I sure as hell hope I never get another. I'd rather let someone hit my nuts repeatedly with a hammer. Not kidding.

PS, golf ball size? You talking gall stones?

I'm sitting here practically crying from reading this thread. This is one of those things where you hurt all over when you read about it. I'm scared

Stinsok said:

They suck! I have a 3mm kidney stone that hurts like hell. It feels like--if your nuts were in your back, and someone is squeezing them really hard. I have some Oxycodone, but I they make me hung over after taking them. I can't imagine being addicted to them.

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believe it or not, i have a friend who had a stone at the age of 17 (or 18, something like that). i can say two words to help you:

CRANBERRY JUICE

i am almost 29 years old and i have had 7 of them. the last one being when i was on a business trip in colorado 2 years ago. it was the size of a #2 pencil eraser and it took me 2 weeks to pass it. i had to stay on hydrocodones for about 12 straight days. i passed it the day before they were gonna go in and get it.

only thing my urologist says it to drink plenty of water and citric acids.

Tim Cole said:

I STILL don't know what causes these, but I sure as hell hope I never get another.

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Tim, One thing that causes these lil bastards is a high mineral content in drinking water. IIRC from my Science of Human Nutricion class another is drinks high in sugar content, such as Iced Tea, Soda Pop, etc. I'm sure there are other things that cause them but these two are what was embedded in my memory banks. In short, I can't remember what the other things are.

scorpionldr said:

CRANBERRY JUICE

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That's one of the best things you can drink to prevent both a kindey stone and/or bladder infection. It is also helpful when you already have one.

I had a kidney stone about 1 yr ago. Didn't even know I had one until they saw it on an X-Ray I had taken one day. Mine didn't come with much pain at all. It was a nice smooth one, just like a marble. Passed it no problem.

cassanova said:

Tim, One thing that causes these lil bastards is a high mineral content in drinking water. IIRC from my Science of Human Nutricion class another is drinks high in sugar content, such as Iced Tea, Soda Pop, etc. I'm sure there are other things that cause them but these two are what was embedded in my memory banks. In short, I can't remember what the other things are.

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Bad assimilation of calcium is another one. At least, that's what I understood as the reason for reducing my daily milk ingest.

When you pass a kidney stone, if you can retrieve it and take it to your doctor, they can analize it and tell you what kind it is (there are several different types) He can then make suggestions on altering your diet for further prevention.

My Wife has / had one. very painful, given its relatively minute size (under 4mm)... it was giving her kidney infections and all that, and alot of pain. She has to go for a followup in a week or so, so they can get to the bottom of it. She doesn't believe she's passed it.

The one I had a few years back took exactly one week and five hours to pass. Second-worst pain I ever felt in my life.

At least we live in a day and age where we can get painkillers to get us through it. I can't imagine what it would have been like without the Toradol.