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This is a pain you never want to feel. Women say it's worse than labor pains. A kidney stone is a sharp piece of matter lodged in your delicate and nerve-rich urinary tract, which has spasms and tries to expel it. Ow!
And this condition tends to happen more often in summer. A summer diet of barbeque -- and extreme sweating that substitutes for urination -- can be the kidney stone's best friend.
"Extreme pain," confirms Wendy Weinstock Brown, MD, chief of staff of the VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System and a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College. "That's why people come in. My dentist even called me at 3:00 in the morning when he had a kidney stone," she tells WebMD.
What Causes the Agony?
Bryan N. Becker, MD, head of nephrology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the "profound degree of pain" can radiate down the side and belly and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. "It cycles," he tells WebMD. "It lets up, starts again."
Kidney stonesKidney stones are not hereditary. Becker says they usually contain the mineral calcium. The stones result when a person has a slight problem with how calcium traverses the kidney and the millions of cleansing tubes in there that are filtering out waste. Infection can also cause stones to build up, or a person may get a backup of uric acid, a normal substance in the body that can increase with ingestion of meats and alcohol, among other things. Uric acid can crystallize and form stones.
"A large percentage of people have calcium in their kidneys they never know about," Becker says.
"The stones are made up of lots of things," Jerry Yee, MD, division head of nephrology and hypertensionhypertension at the Henry Ford Hospital, tells WebMD. "Calcium, phosphate, uric acid, oxalate --all things we eat." Usually, if this is going to crystallize and attach to other elements in the urinary tract and form a stone, this happens in midlife, between age 25 and 50, he says.
Who Is Most Likely to Get Stones?
Although some doctors maintain that summer is the time when most people will experience a kidney stone, Becker says he has not seen data proving this. "I do know," he says, "they call the Southeast the stone belt."
Brown says hot weather and dehydrationdehydration are the culprits, so summer might be a likely time. "This is more common in the Southeast," she says. "But also among soldiers in Iraq."
How to Treat Kidney Stones
Often the pain of a kidney stone will land a person in the nearest ER, where narcotic painkillers may be required, Becker says.
The key is fluids. The patient will get IV fluids in an effort to flush the stone out. Small ones will pass on their own, although it is not comfortable.
If the stone is retrieved, Brown says, the lab can tell what it's made of and some dietary instructions for preventing a second episode can be issued.
If the stone is too big to pass and is blocking urine (a situation which can cause damage to the kidney), it may be broken up by sound waves. Or the doctor can insert a device into the urinary tract and grab the stone in a little unfolding basket and remove it. Surgery may also be necessary for some stones.
Prevention
The best way to experience a kidney stone is to never experience one. The key is fluids, especially in hot weather. "You should be excreting 2 liters of urine a day," Yee recommends. "That is equal to eight soda cans worth of urine. Of course, you will be taking in much more."
If you have ever tried to pass a stone, the doctors say, redoubling efforts to drink a lot of water and eat less salt and meat -- especially in summer -- should be no problem.
More men than women get kidney stones. A typical sufferer might be a jackhammer operator -- hours in the heat, then home to a steak dinner.
If he has not been consuming gallons of water during the day, it might be an interesting evening.
For optimal kidney health, it also doesn't hurt to exercise and keep your blood pressure in normal range.
Star Lawrence is a medical journalist based in the Phoenix area.
Published July 31, 2006.
SOURCES: Wendy Weinstock Brown, MD, chief of staff, VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System; professor of medicine, Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College. Bryan N. Becker, MD, head of nephrology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jerry Yee, MD, division head of nephrology and hypertensionhypertension, Henry Ford Hospital. American Kidney Foundation.