... help prevent/postpone the inevitable agony ..

October 20, 2005 1:14 PM

SeeAnMDFilter: I have the nagging dull ache in the lower right hand side of my back that tells me I'm possibly going to have another bout of Kidney Stones coming soon. Other than drinking lots of water (which I do) and staying off the soda (which I do), is there anything I can do/eat to help prevent/postpone the inevitable agony? Or am I just doomed?
posted by anastasiav to health & fitness (6 comments total)

Judging from my husband's experience, the familiar warning pains seem to occur when the stone or smaller particles are on the move. Once the discomfort starts, its just a matter of hours -- or a few days, at most -- before the thing passes.

It takes a long time for the stone to form; that's already happened in your present case.

My husband takes tylenol with codeine when the pain is bad. Do you think it would help to get a head start on your pain medication before the pain gets really intense?
posted by wryly at 2:04 PM on October 20, 2005

You're doomed. Sorry.
If you're feeling it, it's already moved out of the bladder and into the urinary tract. The reason why you're getting dull pain is that it's probably not that big of a stone and will probably (hooray!) be passable. If it were bigger, you would already be screaming bloody murder. Good luck. I've had 3 and am not looking forward to the next, inevitable, one.
posted by aacheson at 4:47 PM on October 20, 2005

It's probably too late this time, but you may want to talk to a nutritionalist about the types of food to stay away from in the future. They told my dad to actually cut back on the dark leafy veggies and chocolate. YMMV, it would depend on what they find from the analysis of the stone, so make sure you take it to your doctor.
posted by blackkar at 5:30 PM on October 20, 2005

Get a urine strainer from your doctor so you can catch the stone.
posted by neuron at 11:12 PM on October 20, 2005

Acupuncture and herbs have been known to address smaller sized stones. The herbs purportedly disolving the stones and the acupuncture facilitating the passing of any remainder and helping with pain relief.
posted by pointilist at 8:36 AM on October 21, 2005

I think it's hard to answer your question, so I'm not going to, except to say, don't psych yourself out.

Do you know what kind of stones you have? If not, you should catch the stone and submit it for analysis so you can find out what it is made of. Different kinds of stones respond to very different means of prevention.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:35 PM on October 21, 2005