TYPES OF PREEMPTIVE MEASURES FOR KIDNEY STONES

Obviously, part of preventing stones is to find out why or how you suffer from them. Understanding your medical, family and dietary history helps your health care provider find out how likely you are to form more stones in your kidney organ. This is because once your health care provider finds out why you are forming stones, he or she will give you tips on how to prevent them and they may include changing your diet and taking certain medications.

 

1. DRINK ENOUGH FLUIDS EVERYDAY

In case if you are not making enough urine, your health care provider may suggest you drink at least 3 liters of liquid in a day. This is a great way to lower your risk of forming new stones. Knowing how much you drink during the day can help you have a grasp of how much you need to drink to produce 2.5 liters of urine. Therefore, you should try to drink more to replace fluids lost when you sweat from exercise or in hot weather. Although all kinds of fluids count toward your fluid intake, however, it is best to drink mostly low-calorie drinks and this may also mean limiting sugar-sweetened or alcoholic drinks.

 

2. REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF SALT IN YOUR DIET

Most frozen foods and meats including salty cured meats, deli meats (cold cuts), hot dogs, bratwurst and sausages are high in salt and should be eaten moderately. Besides, all types of cheese, breads, salty snacks such as chips, pickles and olives, canned and bottled sauces, rolls and pretzels also fall into that category. This is the tips for people with high sodium intake and high urine calcium or cysteine. Owing to the fact that sodium can cause both urine calcium and cysteine to be too high, your health care provider may advise you to avoid foods that have a lot of salt. After all, some medical experts suggest that people with high level of sodium consumption should not eat more than 2,300 mg of salt per day.

 

3. EAT FOODS WITH LOW OXALATE LEVELS

This may be a good choice for patients with high urine oxalate. Eating calcium-rich foods with meals can often control the oxalate level in your urine. Urinary oxalate can be controlled by eating calcium. However, if doing that and it does not control your urine oxalate, you may be advised to eat certain foods which have less high-oxalate. Actually, nearly all plant foods have oxalate, yet, only a few of them contain a lot of oxalate. These foods include spinach, rhubarb and almonds. Perhaps, it is not necessary to entirely quit eating foods which contain oxalate since it all depends on why your oxalate levels are high in the first place.

 

4. PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS

Changing your dietary pattern and increasing your amount of fluids intake may not be enough to prevent stones from forming. In fact, your health care provider may give you certain types of prescribed medications to take to help you with this. And of course, the type of stones and urine tests will help your health care provider decide if you need medications and which one is considered the best. In any case, some medications your health care provider may suggest are as follows:

- Thiazide diuretics. These are for the patients who have calcium stones and high levels of calcium in their urine. Thiazides lower urine calcium by helping the kidney take calcium out of the urine and put it back in the blood stream. When taking thiazides, you need to limit how much salt you eat, as these medications work best when urine sodium is low.

- Potassium citrate. This is for the patients with calcium stones and low urinary citrate, including for those with uric acid and cysteine stones. Potassium citrate makes the urine less acidic or more alkaline (basic). As it helps prevent cysteine and uric acid stones, this particular medicine also raises the citrate level in the urine; helping to prevent calcium stones.

- Acetohydroxamic acid (AHA). This is for the patients who produce infection stones. These stones form because of repeated urinary tract infections (UTI). AHA makes the urine hard for infection stones to form hence the best way to prevent them is to deter repeated UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections) caused by specific types of bacteria, and completely remove the stones with surgery if necessary.

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DEBUNKING SEVERAL MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT KIDNEY STONES

The fact that kidney stones have become quite a common medical condition is not a surprising thing since millions of people across the globe are suffering from it regardless of their gender, race, and occupation. Besides, it is reported that about one in 10 Americans, for example, will have a kidney stone at some point in their lives. Their painful reputation, combined with their growing prevalence, it simply means that people are interested in doing everything they can to avoid them. As a result, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions circulating around kidney stones for which not only can they lead to a serious attention, but also they can potentially harm the patient in the long run.

 

1. MYTHS: "Everyone must drink 3-4 liters of water in a day because this will help them to flush out the kidneys which prevent their stones from developing".

- FACT: Many sources of information which are mostly stemmed from non-medical expertise dogmatically emphasize and assert that humans consume 3-4 liters of water daily to stay well hydrated and thrive. Unfortunately, there is no a single evidence to be found pertaining to this dogma. Many people, (especially among the elders) who drink a lot of water tend to develop urgency, frequency, and often urinary leakage. This can be dangerous because it can lead to falls and their consequences, including fractures and head injury.

Water requirements, in addition, are based upon ambient temperature and activity level. If you are sedentary or someone who is not doing much physical activities in a cool environment, your water requirements are significantly less than when you are in the hot conditions. Heeding your thirst is one of the best ways of maintaining good hydration status. In other words, drinking when you feel thirsty and not the otherwise.

 

2. MYTHS: "Larger stones are always more painful than the small ones".

- FACT: Size is only one factor in how painful and potentially dangerous a kidney stone can be. In fact, the location of the stones is the other element to consider. A smaller stone in the wrong place, for instance, can create a blockage that is incredibly painful and requires a trip to the emergency room. Again, depending on the location of the stone, some individuals may feel pain in their back or lower abdomen, or they may experience renal colic; excruciating and intermittent pain which occurs normally in the area between the ribs and hip on one side of the flank or back, as it spreads across the abdomen and often extends to the genital area where the pain tends to come in waves, gradually increasing to a peak intensity, and then fading about 20 to 60 minutes.

 

3. MYTHS: "Kidney stones always necessitate an immediate medical attention".

- FACT: Kidney stones often require an urgent medical treatment, yet, this is not always the case. Some individuals including those with a family history or who are associated medical conditions such as ulcerative colitis, for instance, are more likely to have chronic or repeating kidney stones. Besides, these people can actually develop strategies for safely managing pain and passing stones at home.

Individuals experiencing flank pain or the ones who notice blood in their urine can see a family physician or urologist for a urinalysis, ensuring that they are suffering from kidney stones and later on develop a treatment plan with their doctor. However, there are several symptoms that do warrant an emergency treatment. As an example, individuals should head to the ER if they are experiencing persistently severe pain, nausea, vomiting, and a fever which could indicate an infection.

 

4. MYTH: "Iced tea causes kidney stones and cranberry juice prevents them".

- FACT: There are quite a number of people who are convinced to believe that certain beverages increase the chances of developing kidney stones. As they argue that coffee, milk, soda, iced tea are all on the list of usual suspects, however, the reality is such triggers vary for everyone. Acidic drinks or the ones which contain high calcium or caffeine may be triggers for some, but they certainly are not for everyone.

Individuals suffering from kidney stones should have a conversation with their doctor and undergo some tests before cutting out foods or beverages entirely. When it comes to preventing kidney stones, lemon juice is actually better than cranberry juice. However, some previous studies also show that how much you drink has a greater impact than what you drink. Needless to say, you need to aim drinking at least 100 ounces of fluids in a day – whatever those fluids may be – to keep the kidneys flushed out and the concentration of stone-forming salts lower.

 

5. MYTH: "Milk causes kidney stones, but drinking beer can help pass the kidney stone".

- FACT: Milk is one of the best sources of calcium and kidney stones in contrast are formed of calcium oxalate. Unfortunately, many people relate to the fact that drinking milk can cause kidney stones which is totally a wrong idea. Because kidney stones are actually caused due to lack of calcium, adding at least one glass of milk or yogurt to your daily diet is always advisable to help you reduce the chances of kidney stones. Along with that, you may also consume magnesium to help prevent the chances of developing them.

On the other hand, drinking beer can trigger urination, but it has no direct connection with kidney stones. Many think that urination can help pass down small kidney stones, but any alcoholic beverage is not so recommended for the kidney. This is because drinking beer might lead to a dehydrating effect which escalates the risk of the patient’s condition during kidney stone period. After all, some particular beers contain high oxalate and therefore, you should avoid them.

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SYMPTOMS OF KIDNEY STONES – WHAT ARE THEY?

The typical symptoms of kidney stones include a sharp, cramping pain in the back and side. This feeling often moves to the lower abdomen or groin. The pain often starts suddenly and comes in waves. It can come and go as the body tries to get rid of the stone. Normally, if you are passing a kidney stone, there is a sudden severe pain that starts in your side, in the small of your back under the ribs or in your lower abdomen, and the pain may also move to the groin area. The amount of pain inflicted, on top of that, may last for minutes or hours followed by periods of relief. You may have nausea and vomiting. Also, you may have difficulty passing urine or see blood in your urine.

From medical lenses, many kidney stones are discovered accidentally when X-rays or ultrasound tests of the abdomen are done for other reasons. Sometimes, patients with large kidney stones that have not moved have few or no symptoms. As a result, the following lists are the signs of kidney stones which you may need to pay attention to.

1. A feeling of intense need to pass urine.

2. Passing urine more often or a burning feeling when you pass urine.

3. Urine that is dark or red due to blood (sometimes urine has only small amounts of red blood cells that can’t be seen with the naked eye).

4. A feeling of pain at the tip of the penis in men.

In addition, we need to understand that the kidneys are fist-size organs which handle the body’s fluid and chemical levels. Besides, we all have two kidneys embedded inside our body; one on each side of the spine behind the liver, stomach, pancreas and intestines. Healthy kidneys clean waste from the blood and remove it in the urine so when your kidneys are healthy, they properly control the levels of sodium, potassium and calcium in the blood.

The kidneys, ureters and bladder are part of your urinary tract. The urinary tract makes, moves, and stores urine in the body. The kidneys make urine from water and your body’s waste. The urine then travels down the ureters into the bladder where it is stored, and the amount of urine stored eventually leaves your body through your urethra.

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SOME CAUSES OF KIDNEY STONES

Kidney stones can develop when certain chemicals in your urine form a tiny crystal. The crystal may grow into a stone ranging in size from a grain of sand to a golf ball. Although most stones form in the kidneys, however, they can further grow anywhere in the kidney tract. This is similar when although there are very small stones that can pass through the urinary system without causing problems, larger stones travelling from the kidney through the ureter to the bladder however can inflict severe amount of pain.

 

I. LOW URINE VOLUME

Constantly having a low urine volume is a major risk factor for kidney stones. Low urine volume may come from dehydration (loss of body fluids) from hard exercise, working or living in a hot place, or not drinking enough water. When your urine volume is low, urine is concentrated and dark in color. Concentrated urine means that there is less fluid to keep salts dissolved. Increasing fluid intake will water down the salts in your urine. After all, adults who form stones should drink enough fluid to make at least 2.5 liters (2/3 gallon) of urine every day, which means you should drink about 3 liters (100 ounces) of fluid per day.

 

II. DIET

What you consume matters when it comes to your risk of forming kidney stones. One of the more common causes of calcium kidney stones is high levels of calcium in the urine. High urine calcium levels may be due to the way your body handles calcium. However, keep in mind that it is not always due to how much calcium you eat. Lowering the amount of calcium in your diet rarely stops stones from forming. This is because some previous studies have shown that limiting dietary calcium can be bad for bone health and may increase kidney stone risk. Having too much salt in your diet is a risk factor for calcium stones. The reason is because too much salt is passing into the urine, keeping calcium from being reabsorbed from the urine and into the blood. Reducing salt in the diet lowers urine calcium and therefore, this will make it less likely for you to form stones.

 

III. BOWEL CONDITION

Certain bowel conditions that cause diarrhea such as ulcerative colitis or surgeries on the intestines (gastric bypass surgery) can raise the risk of forming calcium oxalate kidney stones. Diarrhea may result in loss of large amounts of fluid from the body, lowering urine volume. Your body may also absorb excessive oxalate from the intestine; resulting in more oxalate in your urine. Both low urine volume and high levels of urine oxalate can help to cause calcium oxalate kidney stone formation.

 

IV. MEDICAL CONDITION

Some medical conditions can also cause an increased risk of kidney stones. Abnormal growth of one or more of the parathyroid glands which control calcium metabolism, for instance, can cause high calcium levels in the blood and urine. This can lead to kidney stones. Another condition called distal renal tubular acidosis, for which there is acid build-up in the body, can raise the risk of calcium phosphate kidney stones.

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KNOWING YOUR KIDNEY ORGAN

When it comes to asking how significant our kidneys are, they are as much important to our health as our heart or our lungs. This is because kidneys remove waste products from our body, regulate water and produce hormones. Each kidney is reddish brown in color, shaped like a kidney bean, and about the size of our fist. However, when there is a serious problem occurred within the organ, it is literally referred to "Kidney Stone".

First of all, kidney stone disease is one of the most common problems of the urinary system. The number of people in United States with this particular health issue is reported to be rising. In the year of 1980, for example, previous studies illustrated that about 3 in every 100 people got a kidney stone at some point in their life. Additionally, that said figure rose in the year of 1994 whereby up to 5 in every 100 people. At this stage, 1 in 10 Americans will have a kidney stone to the point where even children who are suffering from the disease has also become more common in recent years. Bottom line, kidney stones are often very painful and such a race, gender, as well as ethnicity play a contributing part in who may have the disease.

Talking about from medical perspectives, kidney stones can become a costly problem in terms of time and money. Our urinary system is made up of the kidneys, the ureters, the bladder, and the urethra. Each plays an important role in helping our body to eliminate waste products in the form of urine. Because the main job of the kidneys is to remove waste products from our blood and return the cleaned blood back to our body, the ureters carry the waste products in the form of urine from the kidneys to the bladder. At this point, the urine is stored in the bladder until we urinate (pee), as it passes out of the body through a tube called the urethra.

Furthermore, kidney stones may start small and may not cause any issues at an initial phase. However, kidney stones can grow larger in size, even filling the inner hollow structures of the kidney itself. Some stones, perhaps, stay in the kidney and will never cause any problems. However, if the stone becomes lodged in the ureter and blocks the urine flow from your kidney organ, then this is where you may find it painful to bear with.

What are Kidney Stones made of?

By nature, kidney stones come in many types and colors. The way your kidney stones will be treated depends on the type of stone you have. What’s more, the path to prevent new stones from forming will also depend on your stone type. When questioning what the kidney stones are made of, calcium stones are the most common type. There are two types of calcium stones; one is calcium oxalate and the other one is calcium phosphate. Calcium oxalate is more prevalent. Some people have too much calcium in their urine, raising their risk. Even with normal amounts of calcium in the urine, calcium stones may form for other reasons. Whatever it is, the amount of calcium stones which contribute to the formation of kidney stones is about 80 percent.

On the other hand, uric acid stone which contributes roughly around 5 to 10 percent is a waste product that comes from chemical changes in the body. Uric acid crystals, in addition, do not dissolve well in acidic urine but it will form a uric acid stone instead. Perhaps, there are some causes of how acidic urine may come from, such as:

- Being overweight.

- Chronic diarrhea.

- Type 2 Diabetes (High Blood Sugar).

- A diet that is high in animal protein and low in fruits and vegetables.

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