Had a kidney stone? Tell me your story!

In My Humble Opinion
41

I’ve had two bouts. First was one 2mm stone. Hurt like hell but small potatoes compared to stuff described above. Comparable to a copperhead bite on my little toe, except with that the pain was easier to mitigate.

2nd was a 1cm stone that thank goodness didn’t descend, though that made it trickier to diagnose. ECSWL pulverized it into gravel of max 2mm, which I had a fun week passing.

The best thing about stones is you know it’ll pass and you’ll get better. That’s a huge comfort to me, anyway.

My tips:

  1. Ibuprofen. 800 mg 3 times a day. Works far better than morphine. Reduces pain, reduces swelling & inflammation, and best of all, suppresses peristalsis.

  2. Hot bath or hot tub. For me, it was like a pain eraser. Immediate total relief, but sadly, can’t be tolerated very long.

  3. … um, I know there’s a 3rd one, but I can’t remember!

42

Heating pad?

I’d forgotten about using one until reading your post. I didn’t do hot baths, but I did lay on a heating pad for a couple of days straight. Ahhhh.

43

I had two last spring. Started out as lower back pain while I was sleeping. Went to GP and got an MRI which diagnosed the stones. One was about 4mm and the other was 1cm. Had them both lasered away. Had to keep a stint in for about a week.

Went snow skiing for the week after the surgery with the stint in. The stint just made me feel like I had to pee all the time. Actually, skiing took my mind off of the peeing sensation, until I would get to the lift line, and then it would come back.

All in my experience wasn’t that bad.

44

Obligatory xkcd link.

45

1988 - Kidney stone. Thought I was gonna die. Started out as a mild twinge in my lower back. Within 15 minutes, I’m on the couch crying in pain and my wife is calling the ambulance. Had the roto-rooter procedure for it, and that is a whole 'nother story in and of itself.

2000 - gallstones. Thought I was gonna die again. Had my gall bladder out, much better procedure than the kidney stone.

No problems since then. I developed the habit of drinking at minimum of a liter of water a day to keep myself flushed out.

46

Well doh! I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

47

Lol. I made the mistake of underrating my pain when I got bit by the copperhead. I said 4-6. For me, 10 is based on reading what a 911 survivor wrote about having much of her skin burned off by the initial blast. I haven’t ever had more than 7, and that only for a moment. Of course, it’s an exponential scale.

It was a mistake because they should have given me more/better/quicker pain meds! I know better now.