# Kidney stone **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962 "2014-08-06T17:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/1 "2014-08-06T17:32:19Z")
Dr said the stone is bigger than a quarter,not as big as a silver dollar(old). So I get to take 3 pills twice a day to melt it away. He said that the kidney didn’t look too good anyway:eek:😕No idea what he meant by that:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/2 "2014-08-06T20:28:45Z")
Rut Row !!! Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/3 "2014-08-06T21:17:55Z")
You should ask him about that statement. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/4 "2014-08-06T21:37:44Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > You should ask him about that statement. Seriously. I intend to… Couple of other things too. He told me one dosage (3 times a day v 2 on the bottle) and what’s gonna happen when the thing gets smaller? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/5 "2014-08-06T22:56:01Z")
Jeez, I’ve had a bunch of kidney stones, and no one gave me any pills to melt them away. Mine were calcium oxalate, the most common type. Did your doctor specify the composition? In any event, more power to you if that’s the only treatment necessary. You don’t want the alternative, believe me. Presumably, you doctor’s remark meant that he had identified some visible damage to the kidney on X-ray or sonogram (understandable given the ginormous size of the thing), but ask him for specifics. One thing for sure, you’re not going to pass a stone like that intact. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/6 "2014-08-06T23:11:10Z")
Bigger than a quarter? That doesn’t sound right, that’s huge, like half the size of your kidney. I think my last one was 5mm\* and they told me any bigger and they’d be going in to get it instead of letting me pass it at home. That was a long week. You’re looking at like 30mm. Are you sure it’s a kidney stone? \*I think it was 5mm, it was 1mm smaller that what they’d require me to be admitted for. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/7 "2014-08-06T23:28:24Z")
Those suckers can be huge; easily the size of a quarter. > [@](#): > > Stones come in various shapes, colors, and sizes; they can be as small as a grain of sand, the size of peas or marbles, or even as large as your fist. > **[PDR Health Physicians' Desk Reference (Welzo Acquires PDRHealth)](https://welzo.com/blogs/news/welzo-acquires-pdr-health)** > > Welzo today announced that it has acquired PDR Health (pdrhealth.com). This comes after the HMI Group confirmed it had purchased pdrhealth.com and populated it with over 1000 different information sheets on medications and health conditions. What... I know a couple of people who’ve had them. I thought laser was the current go-to treatment to break them down? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/8 "2014-08-06T23:32:48Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Those suckers can be huge; easily the size of a quarter. > > [http://www.pdrhealth.com/diseases/kidney-stones](http://www.pdrhealth.com/diseases/kidney-stones) > > I know a couple of people who’ve had them. I thought laser was the current go-to treatment to break them down? Nope, now they put you in a tub of water and use shock waves to break them up in to smaller pieces. I hear it’s uncomfortable, but less invasive then actually going in and doing anything. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/9 "2014-08-06T23:53:11Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Nope, now they put you in a tub of water and use shock waves to break them up in to smaller pieces. I hear it’s uncomfortable, but less invasive then actually going in and doing anything. Had that. It’s called extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. You lie down on a thick rubber sheet in several inches of tepid water. They then aim shockwaves at the stones. The shock waves are mildly uncomfortable – I’d liken it to someone flicking a rubber band at you, but definitely too mild to be considered painful. Better than the other method they used to remove one lodged in my urethra. They had to go in and grab that sucker by going in via the penis :eek:, thankfully that was done under general anaesthetic. The aftermath wasn’t pretty though. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/10 "2014-08-07T00:19:37Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Better than the other method they used to remove one lodged in my urethra. They had to go in and grab that sucker by going in via the penis :eek:, thankfully that was done under general anaesthetic. The aftermath wasn’t pretty though. Yep, had there same thing done last January. Horrible in just about every way possible, except for being asleep for the actual procedure. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/11 "2014-08-07T00:33:45Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > and what’s gonna happen when the thing gets smaller? Various possibilities come to mind\*: 1. The treatment doesn’t shrink it enough, in which case you’ll probably end up getting the lithotripsy (smash the rock) treatment **Joey** and **Rob** are talking about. 2. The treatment shrinks it enough for it to move, and it comes loose–“loose” being a relative term. You’ll pass it like you would a smaller stone, which probably means a week or so of intermittent spikes of pain. With luck, the shrinking of the stone will also mean it doesn’t have quite so many sharp bits, and the pain will merely be of the “OW, dammit” variety and not the “now I have to mop” variety. 3. The treatment dissolves it entirely in its current site. I’ve no idea how likely that is, but it’s something to hope for. \*IANAD, let alone a nephrologist. My guesses follow from reading, and from listening to a roommate who suffered repeatedly with kidney stones. I’ve never had a stone myself, though I’ve had enough related trauma to have a good idea what passing one feels like. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/12 "2014-08-07T01:15:29Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > 1. The treatment shrinks it enough for it to move, and it comes loose–“loose” being a relative term. You’ll pass it like you would a smaller stone, which probably means a week or so of intermittent spikes of pain “Intermittent spikes of pain” being the most pain you’ve ever been in in your entire life. The description I liked (BTW I’ve had two) was ‘you’ll go from being scared you’re going to die to being scared you won’t die’. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/13 "2014-08-07T15:37:35Z")
Kidney stones – or as I like to call them, Lucifers Buckshot. I know women who say its the one thing that beats childbirth in terms of pain. You have my sympathy and best wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/14 "2014-08-07T17:43:00Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > “Intermittent spikes of pain” being the most pain you’ve ever been in in your entire life. That would be the “now I have to mop” version I mentioned: knee-buckling, graying-out pain that comes at a really awkward moment. (Bear in mind, my experience was not with actual stones, but with blunt trauma to a kidney. The result looked disturbingly like a scene from a slasher movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/15 "2014-08-07T21:11:28Z")
The stone seems to be composed of calcium,so I’ve been given potassum citrate,3 tablets 2 times a day… Still have a slight naggy pain in the left side/back which is my imagination kicking in (I hope)😕 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/16 "2014-08-07T22:59:42Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > The stone seems to be composed of calcium,so I’ve been given potassum citrate,3 tablets 2 times a day… Still have a slight naggy pain in the left side/back which is my imagination kicking in (I hope)😕 Good luck. I feel your pain (Well, I don’t and truly I don’t want to). ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kidney-stone/694962/17 "2014-08-08T00:10:25Z")
My 9MM one I withstood until it got to the very end. It would not come out, cuttin time… What fun…