So I woke up today with what was certainly a kidney stone. It was the exact same pain on the opposite side of a previous event. I punched the area a couple of times and appear to have dislodged it. Pain gone and life is good. That would mean it has moved from kidney area to bladder. What are the odds of it passing normally and is there anything that can be done to prevent it getting stuck further down?
IME (and I have quite a bit!), if it’s small enough to move all the way down the ureter from the kidney, it’s small enough to pass. The main thing is to drink lots and lots and lots of fluids. Then, when you feel like you’re about to float away because you drank so much liquid, drink some more!
I tell my patients who are trying to pass their stones to drink lots and lots and lots of water.
Acidification of the urine (via drinking OJ or similar acidic beverages) may in some small way make a minor contribution, but isn’t generally crucial acutely for stone passage. Depending on the type of stone, urine acidification might prevent future stone formation, though.
Use of certain alpha-adrenergic blockers (like doxazosin or tamsulosin) may help relax and dilate the ureters and facilitate passage, but that’s not a drug most folks have around their homes.
Meanwhile, my patient should go drink more water.
Once the stone is out of the ureter, the odds are high it will pass out the urethra with minimal difficulty.
Generally what hurts about stones is that they are sticking someplace in the ureter or traveling down one. If you got it past that, maybe you would feel an odd bit of tickle when it travels out the urethra, but not much pain.
Interestingly, I read that stones in the bladder were a much bigger problem than in the kidney, around colonial times. Nobody knows, IIRC, why bladder stones have stopped being much trouble and kidney stones have started.
I’m a big time repeat offender of kidney stones. I used to get them more when I was dehydrated and training more heavily. I can’t attribute them to any specific food though.
When I get them, I know what they are by the position, much like you said. The pain and position are all the proof I need. The pain usually goes away on its own. I have on occasion had to rest and drink a ton of water to make them pass. Once they pass that ureter closer to the bladder, you should be fine. It’s like plumbing. The tubes get fatter on the way out. Of course some people have oddball physiology. The worst thing is when you get kidney stones that don’t exit the kidney and grow there. They can become “staghorn” kidney stones that almost fill up the inside. Sure, they can do the shock wave lithotripsy, but from what I read, that also produces some damage and loss of function.
Long story short, you should be fine. I honestly think your hitting the area was coincidental, but who knows!
Thanks all. I’m feeling better about it literally and figuratively. I think I may have passed it.
Knock wood!
I’ve had kidneystones every six months for the last 7 years or so, and most times they pass without much notice. Once they are away from the kidney you are in pretty good shape.
You WILL know when you pass the stone, it’s a particularly odd feeling as it finally finds the hole, runs out the tube and goes for splashdown.
Just fired off two a couple weeks ago, one was twice the size of the other. Actually had to go get painkillers to ride it out (took a few days.)
Just thinking about this makes me want to cry.
When I passed mine (after 5 days in the hospital), I felt it all the way down through my urethra until it hit air. It cut me up quite bit, but the pain of urination over-road the pain of no urination. The experience at the end reminded me of Augustus Gloop in the chocolate river tube in Willy Wonka’s factory. After 4 days of no urination, just the act was a victory.
If you passed it normally. good for you. That was the single most painful experience of my life.
The first one I had wouldn’t move and it felt like a continuous kick in the nuts. After 2 weeks of drugs that sorta worked I had it removed under anesthesia. The stint removal was not done under any drugs. A most unpleasant experience.
This one felt the same. I was just getting ready to go to the hospital when in frustration I repeatedly punched the area of pain. spent the next 10 minutes on the floor regretting my actions and then it stopped.
I find it appalling and surprising that a hospital allowed you to go five days without urinating! If the urine isn’t coming out, it’s backing up into your blood-stream, which can cause a life-threatening infection (ask me how I know!); so I’m really surprised that the hospital didn’t go in with a urethrascope and get the damned thing!
In my experience with kidney stones, the progression has gone as follows:
- Initial excruciating pain
- The pain stops for awhile (Anywhere from a few days to a few months)
- The pain starts again
- The stone finally passes
I guess my point is that if the pain stops, it is not proof positive that you have passed the stone. The stone could have moved from one part of your kidney to another and then stopped moving for awhile. That’s what happened to me.
I will also recommend increasing your fluid intake. There are certain things in your diet that can help, but it would depend on the type of kidney stone you have. Mine were the most common type: Calcium Oxalate. Fortunately for this type, I can take a specific type of medication that helps prevent them, plus vitamin B-6 which also helps prevent them.
Good luck.
I’ve had four kidney stones. All hurt like hell, at several points “along the journey”. On the second stone, the urologist who saw me at the hospital explained that there were three “tight spots” on the road, and all of them could hurt. IME, every one of those four stones hurt in all three places.
Fortunately, I haven’t had a stone in 11 years now ::knocks on wood::, probably thanks to finally drinking enough water.
I can’t imagine that punching yourself in the kidney is actually a recommended treatment. Even if it did help this time (which can’t be proven, with a sample of one), it seems to me like there’s a lot of potential for even worse damage that way.
No doubt, but so is about a zillion other physical activities. It was done out of frustration and really, how hard can you punch yourself in the back? It’s not something I would recommend but when you’re in a great deal of pain people do desperate things.