# Is there anyway to dissolve a kidney stone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602 "2004-03-21T21:23:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CoatOfArms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@CoatOfArms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoatOfArms)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/1 "2004-03-21T21:23:03Z")
Is there anyway to dissolve a kidney stone? Passed one. Still have one. Read about lime juice, lemon juice and vinegar concoctions on the web. Any recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/2 "2004-03-21T21:50:39Z")
sorry, no. Not in a useful time frame. Not for a stone causing problems at present. However, a competent doc should be able to test your stone to determine its type, test your urine for critical high and/or low levels of key metabolites, and suggest a dietary change/medication addition which could prevent future stone formation, and which could dissolve stones which are still sitting in the kidney and not yet causing problems. Uric acid stones can often be avoided by maintaining urine pH in the 6.5 to 7 range. Sodium or potassium citrate is often used to do this. If the stones are forming because of excess excretion of urate, restriction of dietary proteins may help. If not, then allopurinol might prevent future stone formation too. Pure calcium phosphate stones are uncommon and need further medical evaluation to determine why one is forming them. Mixed calcium phosphate & oxalate stones have a number of possible causes. All with different treatments. If they form because of concentrated urine, drink more fluid. If they form because there is excess calcium in the urine, then calcium levels in the blood should be checked. If blood calcium levels are normal, you actually probably need **more** dietary calcium, but in a form that’s retained in your body better, and not as calcium supplement tabs. If that fails, your doctor might recommend urine acidification or other drug therapy, like hydrochlorothiazide. But: If your mixed calcium phosphate and oxalate stones form because you are putting too much oxalate in your urine, then treatment will depend on just how much excess oxalate is in your urine. If only mildly elevated, you just might need to lower the oxalate in your diet and make sure you’re getting less than 2 grams of vitamin C a day. If medium, you might need an agent to bind the oxalate in your gut, and not let your body absorb so much. Cholestyramine works for this purpose. If real high, you may need high dose vitamin B 6 (pyridoxine) to to control it, and your liver should probably be evaluated to see why you put out so much oxalate. However: If your mixed calcium phosphate and oxalate stones are a result of **low** levels of **citrate** in the urine, then merely adding potassium citrate to your diet should suffice. Oddly enough: Sometimes, the first-mentioned excess urate in the urine causes not uric acid stones, but mixed calcium phosphate and oxalate stones! (is it not to laugh?) If that is what is occurring, then go ahead and treat with the measures recommended for treating uric acid stones. Now: There are a myriad of cases which are **not** so clear-cut as the above, so I won’t get into them here. In the meantime: Drink lots of water!!! QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/3 "2004-03-21T21:53:17Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > (a whole bunch of stuff) Wow, great post, Qadgop. Do you ever stop contributing? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/4 "2004-03-21T21:54:30Z")
BTW, here’s a rather technical link which helps one figure out what to do based on what type of stone, with a bit of background epidemiology. [http://fpnotebook.com/URO107.htm](http://fpnotebook.com/URO107.htm) And here’s the official website on kidney stones from the NIH, nicely broken into language more coherent than mine for the educated layman. [http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/stonesadults/](http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/stonesadults/) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/5 "2004-03-21T21:57:06Z")
> [@Freiheit](#): > > Wow, great post, Qadgop. Do you ever stop contributing? I just love to hear myself type, **Freiheit**. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/6 "2004-03-21T22:42:39Z")
I am off the check those sites, but do you happen to know off-hand was is the most common cause of stones in men in whose family this problems is common? ---
**Author:** ![CoatOfArms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@CoatOfArms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoatOfArms)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/7 "2004-03-21T22:54:20Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > sorry, no. Not in a useful time frame. Not for a stone causing problems at present. … > > \ > > … In the meantime: Drink lots of water!!! > > QtM, MD Thanks. Was really hoping. Ouch! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/8 "2004-03-21T22:54:25Z")
Mixed calcium stones are the most common type, representing 75-90% of all kidney stones. Of those type of stones, about 30-50% are due to over-concentrated urine. In other words, drink more fluid! Another 50% are due to excess calcium in the urine. If excess calcium is also present in the blood, hyperparathyroidism is the most common cause of that problem. However, excess vitamin D consumption, sarcoid disease, metastatic cancer, steroid use and Pagets disease should be considered. If the calcium level in the blood is normal while excess calcium is in the urine, the most likely reason is too much elemental calcium in the diet. The next most likely reason is idiopathic urinary calcium elevation (which means it’s high and we don’t know why 😃 ). Renal tubule acidosis and Dent’s disease are possible causes but uncommon. Excessive urate or oxalate in the urine, or reduced citrate in the urine, account for the majority of the remaining 20% or so of mixed calcium stones. ---
**Author:** ![CoatOfArms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@CoatOfArms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoatOfArms)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/9 "2004-03-21T23:15:01Z")
Dr. **QtM** , every time I take aspirin, even an 81 mg, I get blood in the urine. Pretty sure it is due to the kidney stone. I avoid all aspirin based products, no blood, along with calcium based products. No aspirin, Pepto, Tums, Alka, etc. Would like to take something to help my heart though, aspirin like, and something for heartburn. Any recommendations. Thanks … ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/10 "2004-03-21T23:19:45Z")
> [@CoatOfArms](#): > > Dr. **QtM** , every time I take aspirin, even an 81 mg, I get blood in the urine. Pretty sure it is due to the kidney stone. I avoid all aspirin based products, no blood, along with calcium based products. No aspirin, Pepto, Tums, Alka, etc. Would like to take something to help my heart though, aspirin like, and something for heartburn. Any recommendations. Thanks … Sorry, that’s an issue you’ll have to address with your physician. I try to speak of general issues, and not give specific advice, as I cannot do a decent history, nor any physical exam or lab testing over the net. But people who have heartburn and are sensitive to aspirin can usually tolerate over-the-counter ranitidine or cimetidine, along with the non-aspirin varieties of alka-seltzer type products. At least until they check with their doctor. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/11 "2004-03-21T23:23:20Z")
Isn’t there an ultrasound procedure of some sort to dissolve stones? I have a friend who has this done on occasion… I think. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/12 "2004-03-22T00:03:19Z")
I believe it’s called lithotripsy. (I was considered for it the time I had a kidney stone, but I passed the beggar unaided\* while the consultants were still making their minds up.) \*(Ow. Very much ow. And it was only a little one.) ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/13 "2004-03-22T00:09:18Z")
Yes there is, but it is generally only used for those stones that are so large they cannot be passed normally. Thus, you blast them into smaller pieces which can be passed. At least that is what I was told by the Docs. I have had about 5 of them, the first at age 18. After several tests CAT scans, and examination of the stones I was told… drink more water. I guess that is about the best news I could hear considering. ---
**Author:** ![CoatOfArms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@CoatOfArms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoatOfArms)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyway-to-dissolve-a-kidney-stone/235602/14 "2004-03-22T00:14:29Z")
> [@Steve Wright](#): > > I believe it’s called lithotripsy. (I was considered for it the time I had a kidney stone, but I passed the beggar unaided\* while the consultants were still making their minds up.) > > \*(Ow. Very much ow. And it was only a little one.) The one I passed was 5mm (a 4mm is 50%/50% to pass or get stuck). Yea, the ultrasonic and laser methods (won’t say how they do it) required they put you out. Seems to be all kind of conditions on these methods, body weight, stone size, where it is, etc. Had a friend, when they went up to get it, they cut him internally so bad he was in the hospital for a week. Ow is right! 😕