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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:46:11 PM EDT
My wife thinks she just passed one
 .Her lower back has been hurting and feeling the need to pee since Wednesday. Saw her doc, got drugs for a unary tract infection. Then today the pain got worse. She said it hurt like HELL to pee, then the pain went away. Kidney stone? |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:47:08 PM EDT
[#1]
My mom got them once REAL BAD, and said it hurt worse than childbirth.
 I hope I never get them. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:48:09 PM EDT
[#2]
My mother had one when i was a teenager, she said and i quote: "I'd rather give birth to five babies in a day than do that again!"
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:51:22 PM EDT
[#3]
not had one myself.. but you said teach you about em.. ok.. take an icepick. have someone firmly stab you with it in one of your kidneys.. have the ambulance close by. tell them you fell on the icepick. if you don't want to go to the hospital, have someone nail your hand to a wooden plank with a stout nail. pain probably wont be as bad but you will get the general idea. had a friend in a resteraunt had one. pain hit literally knocked him on the floor and he was convulsing. thought he was dieing of a heart attack... |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:52:25 PM EDT
[#4]
<gram. nazi>
May HAVE had one, not may of had one. </gram. nazi> |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:53:12 PM EDT
[#5]
Caffeine increases risk of kidney stones; if she consumes a lot of it, she might want to cut down on it and drink more water instead.
ETA: Judging from the responses here, I do NOT want to get one of these anytime soon! I'm trying to phase out caffeine myself to prevent them. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:56:02 PM EDT
[#6]
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Posted: 8/25/2006 2:56:55 PM EDT
[#7]
I had a 3mm (relatively small) stone about 6 months ago.
I cried like a baby in the ER. They gave me morphine, percoset and vicodin at different times, none of which really helped completely. Hurts like a motherfucker puts it lightly. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:01:28 PM EDT
[#8]
I passed one about a year ago. I can honestly say that the pain was something you DON'T want to experience. I've heard that it's worse for men than women though. Not sure if that's true. Either way, it put me on the ground and I absolutely could not do anything but writhe in pain until the doc gave me some serious meds. I'm not sure about caffiene causing them, but they told me that drinking a lot of tea will sometimes cause it. In general they said that if I wanted to avoid having it happen again I should drink lots of water and generally stick to drinking light colored beverages instead of dark things like coke/pepsi or coffie, etc.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:05:14 PM EDT
[#9]
3mm is the same size as the one I passed. It definitely gave new meaning to the word pain... and I've had broken bones (including a compound fracture) before, so I can say that with knowledge of what other pain is like in comparison. Not to minimize the pain of broken bones, but I can honestly say that NOTHING has ever hurt me more than that kidney stone. I really thought I was gonna pass out. From what others have said, that does happen to some people. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:08:41 PM EDT
[#10]
Last year I had kidney stone episodes that ended up putting me in the ER, and given Dilaudid, then I got a CAT scan that showed I had 20 stones in my kidneys in total, and then I had lithotripsy on both kidneys, with stents installed between my kidneys and bladder.
None of my stones hurt when I passed them out of my body. All my pain was when stones tried to move down the ureter to the bladder but were large enough to cause a ureter blockage. Lithotripsy breaks up the stones and the stents keep "logjams" from occurring. Stents are mildly uncomfortable but when one's removed from you in the doctor's office, using a tool he shoves up YOUR tool to get it, that's CONSIDERABLY uncomfortable. CJ |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:11:06 PM EDT
[#11]
Well she has been on some good pain killers for her neck, so that could of eased the pain a bit. Plus she has a high pain tolerance.
She doesn't drink any caffeine. We do have a RO system for our drinking water. Have heard they cause them. I may need to spot drinking Pepsi and coke... |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:16:06 PM EDT
[#12]
OUCH!!! I did the ER, dilaudid (or something like that) and cat scan, but I only had one more still in there (hope there aren't more when I go back for the next "look"). So far I haven't had to have the other stuff done and I REALLY hope I don't have to. That does _not_ sound like fun.  About when it hurt... for me it was the same as you describe. Not when I was peeing.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:17:25 PM EDT
[#13]
I'm probably dumb for asking this... but what's an RO system?
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:20:20 PM EDT
[#14]
Well, they suck donkey balls, and hurt like hell. I had one a few years ago. At first I thought it was a pinched nerve in my back, but then it just kept on getting worse and worse. I took some morphine (I have perscription pain meds because of IBS) when the pain got so bad that I couldn't stand it anymore. I puked about 3 minutes later because the pain was so bad. I have NEVER been in that much pain before. It would feel better for a few minutes, and then I'd puke from the pain again. After doing that a few times I was begging for death (seriously, it hurt that bad), but my parents took me to the ER instead. IV morphine helped, but I was pretty much maxed out on it. Passing it didn't really hurt though, it was mainly it moving from the kidney to the bladder that hurt so bad.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:28:55 PM EDT
[#15]
I don't know about you guys, but I'm reading this thread with a tall glass of water.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 3:50:24 PM EDT
[#16]
 Me too! 
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:08:28 PM EDT
[#17]
Healthy amounts of water consumption help the kidneys to filter (Don't drink too much). From my experience working in an ER facility, certain people seem to be prone to developing them. In areas where mineral deposits are high in the water table, the occurrence seems to be higher.
From my recollection, migraines & kidney stones stood out as being particularly painful conditions. Don't ever want to go there. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:18:24 PM EDT
[#18]
The pain is different for everyone.
I, like several others here, passed a 3mm stone. The pain wasn't when I peed, or when it passed. The pain is caused by backpressure on the kidney. Doc told me the kidneys do not tolerate ANY backpressure at all, and they let you know it. If it hurts when she pees, it sounds like a urinary tract infection. Checking for blood in the urine won't differentiate, because I pissed dark red blood when I first noticed my stone. Luckily for me, X-rays didn't show any more waiting to get me later. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:18:53 PM EDT
[#19]
She may have passed it or it could have moved somewhere else. If in fact it was one. Does she have a history of them? she may need to strain when she urinates so if it is, it can be anaylized. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:27:13 PM EDT
[#20]
Kidney stones make you want to die. They hurt like nothing else, and I am saying that as a man who has been shot before. I would rather deal with the pain of being shot again than have another kidney stone. They do make you feel funny when you pee but only BEFORE they get into your ureters good. They hurt like something out of a horror movie, especially your first one. With mine, I sweated through a parka, threw up constantly, and darn near passed out from the unrelenting pain when the attack was worst. (The "attacks" come when the kidney stone starts moving through the ureters...the tubes between the kidneys and the bladder) Typically the pain is over once it hits the bladder, as they can pass through the urethra (the tube between the bladder and the outside world) without too much pain. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:31:11 PM EDT
[#21]
Actually, the lithotripsy doesn't hurt. You're just a little sore around your kidney afterwards, like a light bruise. You're OUT when they do it.
Passing the sand that results is painless. The stents are not painful but do cause some mild, constant discomfort. Peeing blood for a few days after the lithotripsy treatment is....disturbing. The color of the urine varies according to how much blood you're passing and how well hydrated you are. As time goes on, the red fades out. I've peed burgundy colored urine within a day or two of the treatment.  I needed more water! The dilaudid they gave me in the ER was nice. It gave me the best nap I've EVER had. It was a very comfortable and relaxed feeling. I don't think babies sleep that well. And it took away ALL of the pain, and a kidney stone attack is some SERIOUS pain that just doesn't stop! The episode that put me in the ER caused me to stop processing water. If I drank water, I just puked it back up. And for reference, prior to this attack the last time I'd vomited was in 1975! I was in so much pain that when I staggered into the ER, with my mother accompanying me and helping keep me steady, the lady attending the desk took one look at me and grabbed a wheelchair, put me in it, and pushed me straight into the admission office, bypassing EVERYBODY else who was waiting to be seen. She said it was THAT obvious that I was in extreme agony and was the priority case. I was dehydrated to the point that my voice was almost gone, too. Oh, and I vomited (into a bag provided for the job) while I was in the admissions office. That got some speedy service! I don't think I could have gotten faster service in the ER if I'd walked in with a knife sticking out of an eye socket! One of the nurses who helped me was a kidney stone veteran herself, so she made sure that I got the EFFECTIVE pain medication. My lithotripsy treatments ended up putting me out of work for FIVE WEEKS. Because there was no light duty available where I worked and I wasn't approved for anything but light duty. CJ |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:33:56 PM EDT
[#22]
My experience has been that everyone who has a kidney stone says that it is usually the worst pain they have ever experienced in their life. It doesn't sound like your wife has a kidney stone to me. If she had one, she would most likely being on the floor screaming for an ambulance. They really do hurt so bad that you think you might be dying the first time you have one. The pain comes from many things, not least of which is having your ureters stretched to ungodly proportions. ETA -- Everyone I have ever seen with a kidney stone was puking their guts up from the pain. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:36:00 PM EDT
[#23]
The pain level is REALLY right up there with a solid kick to the nuts....and it goes on for HOURS AND HOURS.
Really. CJ |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:37:24 PM EDT
[#24]
I managed to pass one that was 5mmx7mm. It was the size of a cooked black-eyed pea. I wanted to die and felt like I already had and went to hell.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:43:07 PM EDT
[#25]
I have never had a nut shot that hurt as bad as a kidney stone. But that is probably as close as most who haven't had one can come to understanding what it feels like. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:51:03 PM EDT
[#26]
I've read that drinking lemonade helps to reduce the chance that you'll get kidney stones. Something about the citric acid helps to dissolve any that may be forming.
A woman I work with got put out all this week with kidney stones; she's pretty hard core, doesn't miss work for much. Just reading this thread gives me the heebie jeebies.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 4:52:18 PM EDT
[#27]
WORST pain I've ever had. So bad I threw up. Don't even know if I passed it. Weird........
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:06:23 PM EDT
[#28]
That's interesting about lemonade. I wonder if there's any truth to that? I really did think I was gonna die when it happened to me. The dilaudid or whatever it was they gave me intraveneously (sp?) in the ER finally knocked the pain back, but I had to litterally be carried in there 'cause 'till then it hurt so bad I could not get up off the ground. NOT fun. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:09:19 PM EDT
[#29]
I got hit by a stone at three in the morning a few years back,got out of bed to walk off what I thought was just some minor back ache. I made it to the end of the bed when it hit full force.....damn!. I woke the wife up and she got an aid car on the way, all the while I was writhing in agony. Got a ride to the hospital in the aid car, Doctor looked, poked, prodded, and diagnosed "kidney stone"...and gave me some darvoset {?}
Nurse drops by with a one gallon jug, and tells me she needs a urine sample, "not likely" I told her...she left the jug and went away....I filled that jug with almost a gallon of dark red urine......I drink lots of water and juices now...I ain't gonna do that again.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:17:04 PM EDT
[#30]
Kidney stones can occur for different reasons. I believe dehydration is the most prevelant reason for the formation of stones. If you are constantly under severe stress your body can manufacture a sterocorticoid that can result in the production of renal stones in the kidneys. I've seen them in various stages from glass like in appearance to sulfur coloured to a darkish brown/black colour in all sizes and shapes. That is why they want you to collect the stone if possible to analyse it to try to determine the cause of the renal stone production. If the stone is less than 5mm in diameter there is a good chance that you can pass it without some form of surgery. The pain is from the back pressure of urine backing up and forcing the stone downward (with attendant cutting and stretching of the obstructed ureter). It is very painful and will also state my appreciation for the miracle of modern medical pharmaceuticals.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:31:22 PM EDT
[#31]
Well I wonder what it was?
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:39:19 PM EDT
[#32]
Girls especially are prone to a myriad of bladder and urinary tract infections and irritations. Some people do pass kidney stones with little trouble, but they are the overwhelming minority. Almost everyone who has a kidney stone knows for a fact that they had one because the pain was so intense they ended up in the ER to figure out if they were as close to dying as they felt. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:46:32 PM EDT
[#33]
I've heard that they can be caused by any number of things. My Dad has gotten them in the past. Most of the times it put him in the hospital until he passed them. My co-worker had one and said, "It's like pissing out a bowling ball with the texture of a moon rock". He doesn't drink much caffeine but he eats tons of cheese. So i'm guessing it was from all the calcium.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:53:36 PM EDT
[#34]
Because of 'plumbing' differences, women have a LITTLE easier time of it passing them. They are very painful. I've read of a case where they kept a guy on morphine for a week before they got him to the hospital. This was part of a story by Edward L. Beach (Run Silent, Run Deep, et. al.). Link below. http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/beach.html |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:55:47 PM EDT
[#35]
If you have a kidney stone - generally there is no doubt. An ER doctor diagnosed mine from 30 feet away by the look on my face.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 5:58:44 PM EDT
[#36]
There are no dumb questions. Only dumb mistakes. RO means Reverse Osmosis. They use a very fine membrane to filter the water. The membrane is so fine that water molecules can pass thru it but larger molecules cannot. This produces very, very pure water... so pure in fact, that the user must ADD some chemicals (usually table salt) to make it OK to drink. I worked at a plant where they used RO water to make computer chips. The workers there SAID that the water would make you sick if you drank it, or possibly even kill you if you drank a lot of it. I've also heard that that is bunk. YPYMYTYC*. *You pays your money, you takes your chances. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:00:58 PM EDT
[#37]
ive passed about one or two a year for the past 6 years. my last one took about 5 days to pass. worst week ever. constant nonstop pain.
my first one was my second day of my freshman year of highschool. i woke up, felt pain, tried to stand, collapsed and threw up all over myself. the pain in my back was so bad i couldnt walk. i was throwing up non stop for hours. ive passed one waiting in the emergency room. i was there for over an hour and still no doctor. ive caught most of mine, most in the 3-4mm size range, perfectly round and a yellow/brown/white color. i tried to keep one in a jar on my desk but it broke up and become powder in a couple of days. before my first kidney stone, i would piss 2-3 a day. now i piss 20 times a day. oh yea, just to mention, except for my first and last one, i used no meds, and no narcotics at all. i only took toradol those two times. im hardcore.  |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:03:40 PM EDT
[#38]
Here's a link to an article about kidney stones.
FIVE millimeters is almost .2 INCH-- OVER 1/8 inch! 0.197 inch, to be precise. Here's a link to a millimeter to inch calculator. Be well. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:06:11 PM EDT
[#39]
As my dad puts it feels like a
M |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:10:37 PM EDT
[#40]
Thats the thing when she took that PAINFULLY piss, the pain went away, completely. Who knows.... Thanks for letting me gross you all out. 
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:15:47 PM EDT
[#41]
in my experience the only time its painful to actually piss was when it was comming out. other then that its just the constant back pain. also i only saw visible blood in my urine when i was passing the stone. very dark blood red urine. before and after i couldnt see any blood. as soon as i passed my stones the relief was INSTANT. |
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:34:01 PM EDT
[#42]
 Thanks for the info. I had no idea what that meant.
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Posted: 8/25/2006 6:38:00 PM EDT
[#43]
Well anyone who can say they went through that with no meds has my vote for badass of the century.
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Posted: 8/26/2006 6:50:45 AM EDT
[#44]
Thats what happened here. She has a super high pain tolerance. So who knows... ETA: just did a quick Google on the length of the urethra guys compared to girls. The Womans Urethra is in average 2.5-4 cm. While the mans is is about 15-16 cm. 
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Posted: 8/26/2006 7:00:08 AM EDT
[#45]
Kidney Stones:
At first, you think you're gonna die.... Then, you're afraid you won't. Actually I've had several. Two were AWFUL, like what I imagine labor to be like. Two were not bad at all. I had to have lithotripsy for one. |
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Posted: 8/26/2006 7:01:13 AM EDT
[#46]
Double post
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Posted: 8/26/2006 7:10:24 AM EDT
[#47]
Well, from a girl's perspective...
If she had passed a kidney stone there is NO WAY she wouldn't have known it. I started having back pains last year and the doctor did the X-ray and saw four stones on the right side and particles on the left. (he decided that this was due to my low carb, high protein diet that was laced with diet sodas and not enough water) Anyway ... he did a procedure that broke up the stones on the right but let me tell ya ... I still felt them and that was with me taking dimerol/phenergan at home. When they finally started passing I threw up, convulsed on the floor, and finally passed out and pissed on myself. A day later the last of them passed and while it wasn't as painful at that point ... I still threw up and could barely walk upright for a couple of days. I've never had children, but I can't imagine that popping a kid out could hurt any worse than passing a kidney stone. I can happily say that since this happened I have had nothing BUT water to drink. I don't touch anything but H2O. I don't drink tea, soda, *anything*. Occasionally I'll have a glass of milk, but I exist on water and haven't had any problems doing it. It actually makes food taste so much richer to drink water with instead of anything flavored. It was hard to adjust at first, but now I can't imagine having anything else. (and it's cheaper, too) |
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Posted: 8/26/2006 8:20:47 AM EDT
[#48]
Funny you ask...I just had an ESWL Lithotripsy last week for a stone that was 1cm across by 5mm wide. No way could I have passed that. I never really hurt, my back cramped up a bit and I had blood in my urine. I passed 7 BB size fragments last Monday morning. I think I still have one because I have had a little ureterospasms the last two nights.
For some people I understand it is the most excruciating pain imaginable. That was not my experience. I never took any drugs. I guess I just got lucky. When I told the ladies in the ER that I thought I had a stone, they laughed and assured me I didn't. I never would have gone to the ER had I not had blood in my urine. Hopefully I won't have any more to find out how bad they can be. Good luck. Blake |
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Posted: 8/26/2006 8:41:46 AM EDT
[#49]
You guys are such wusses
 I've had surgery twice to remove kidney stones. The first was 6-7mm in size, and considering the placement of the stone in the kidney they simply went in and did a manual retrieval. Honestly, that one hurt the worst with pain on my lower left back. The first time I hit the ER they told me it was just a kidney infection and sent me home with Vicodin and some antibiotics. The next night around 2 am I was back in and they located the stone. I had surgery a couple days later to remove it. My second surgery was to blast an 8mmX5mm stone into tiny fragments. I prefer that surgery overall! There was no resulting pain from it whereas I had a stent with the first and urinated blood for the first 24 hours. The second stone, although larger, was less painful. I was told by my urologist that the pain results from the sharp edges of the stone scraping through the kidney as it travels through your body. When the stone lays still, there is no pain. Several things can cause kidney stones and there are multiple tests they can perform to determine the cause of your wife's stones. One test is to examine the stone itself to find out what it's make up is. I have calcium based stones. I've also had blood tests and a 24 hour urine collection to see if any of my levels throughout my body were abnormal. The thyroid being off balance can also cause stones. Lucky me, I turned out to be part of the magical 2% of the population who gets kidney stones for absolutely no known reason. I've been told I'll be plagued with them for the rest of my life. I've passed many small stones with almost no pain whatsoever but I just sit back waiting for the next big one that's gonna land me in the surgical suite again. |
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