Share your kidney stone stories with me

In My Humble Opinion
1

So. On top of the other health issues I have had this year, I am treated to the gloriousness that are kidney stones. I have been told that it is the worst pain you will feel, but for me it doesn’t even come close. I suppose mine are mild though.

Tell me about yours and how you were treated.

I have had two attacks. Both bouts of pain lasted about 45 minutes. Rather intense, but bareable (although if I could have found my left-over pain meds from the operation, I might have taken them…)

My doc feels that they will flush out naturally and has instructed me to drink lots of water.

What were yours like and how were they treated?

2

Had them. The first woke me out of my sleep and the pain was so intense I was unable to keep still. Walking seemed to help.

No fever was associated with it and no other symptoms except excruciating lower back pain that cut right through my gut and up to my chest. Like being run through with a steel rod.

The second time was just as bad but I knew what it was and that it would only last an hour or so.

I must have passed the stone because it’s been a number of years since its last occurance.

I feel (felt?) your pain. This too shall pass. :smiley:

3

Not me, but my husband. He’s had them at least 3 times, twice since we’ve been married. The first time, the doctors determined that the stones were too large to “pass naturally,” so they (the stones, not the doctors) were pulverized via ultrasound.

The most recent time was this summer, in the midst of a whole boatload of other stuff going on. I was on my way home from seeing my daughter in a New York hospital when he called me on my cell phone to tell me he was in our local hospital. The pain was so excruciating that he went to the ER to get painkillers; the routine ones we had around the house were ineffective. This is a guy that almost never takes an aspirin or an Advil. Of course, you can’t just walk into an ER and say “Gimme some Percocet!” When I got there, he was white as a sheet and all but crying out with the pain, which he said was constant and unremitting. But the ER folks of course have to first take care of those who were in actual danger of dying before those who just feel like it.

He eventually got his pain meds, and a scan for diagnostic purposes, and later a visit to his urologist, which yielded more pain pills and some med that was supposed to either help the stones dissolve or relax the passageways so that they could pass. These stones were not of the size that would benefit from ultrasound, so he just had to wait it out. When the pain was bad, all he could do was take the strong pain meds and sack out on the couch.

It was *weeks * before the thing(s) eventually left him.

I thought his suffering was far, far worse than anything I had ever experienced, including childbirth.

4

I had one one time quite a few years ago in high school. The pain was so intense, I couldn’t keep still and no position I could get in helped. It was what I can imagine a knife stuck in my back being twisted all around would feel like. Someone later told me that the pain from a kidney stone is close to what a woman feels while having a baby. If that is true, I don’t blame them at all for screaming. Anyway, it started in an instant and was immediately excruciating. For about 2 hours I was in sheer misery. My girl friend at the time decided I was going to eat something regardless of how bad I was hurting. She gave me a peanut butter sandwich. I ate about half of it and the pain just disappeared as quickly as it had started, which probably meant that I had passed it out of my kidney. Anyway, that was roughly 40 years ago. I’ve never had another problem.

I don’t know what there is about cranberry juice, but a nurse once told me that it is good for keeping kidneys “flushed out”, which lessens kidney stones. Whether that it a true story or not, I don’t know. It can’t hurt though.

5

Neither would an added splash or two of Vodka. :smiley:

6

I thought I was going to die.

Really.

After the pain made me puke all over the ER waiting room floor (which I was lying on because I couldn’t get out of the fetal position for a while there), they gave me a stretcher and some morphine. Mmmm.

They gave me happy painkillling drugs and sent me on my way with orders to drink a lot of water and cranberry juice, and an appointment for lithotripsy a couple weeks later. The lithotripsy felt like a million tiny shocks from touching doorknobs after shuffling across a carpet in wool socks. All concentrated on one pinpoint on my abdomen. Result: nothing. Apparently it usually works to break the stones into smaller pieces so they’ll pass easier, but they weren’t entirely sure they’d found my stone when they started. :rolleyes:

I ended up having to deal with it myself, by drinking tons of juice and water. Tiny little things but holy hell do they hurt. I’ve been told, by women who’ve experienced both, that if I ever have kids, labor will be a breeze for me compared to this ordeal.

7

I was on my way to work when I had to pee really badly, bad enough that I had to stop at a convenience store.

I trickled. That was it.

Thinking I had a bladder infection, I decided to call the doctor and make an appointment after work.

On the way to work, the oddest thing happened. My hands started to curl in so I could barely hold the steering wheel. My lips started to curl in so I could hardly open my mouth. My body began to go numb, including my eyelids. All I could think of was get to work get to work get to work.

I walk in, drop my purse, and scare the hell out of my co-workers, who call 911, thinking I was having a stroke. The ambulance comes, and I’m taken out through the front lobby.

Again, I had to pee so badly the paramedic gave me a trash bag to pee in on the way to the hospital. Again, nothing came out.

I get to the hospital, I’m rocking back and forth on the gurney, and throwing up in the trash can. I remember them giving me some Demerol, but it didn’t do anything for the pain, although it made me very foggy. I remember a horrid woman wanted me to sign some paperwork so they could bill my insurance, and I was so fogged up it was all I could do to whisper, “Later.” I remember getting up and stumbling to the bathroom in a fog about every five minutes trying to pee. I remember Ivylad coming in. I remember my SIL lifting my nephew so he could kiss me on the forehead. I remember asking for something else besides Demerol, and there was a wonderful drug, started with a T, I think there was an X in there, that made all the pain go away.

It was after that incident that I realized the protein-heavy Atkins diet was not for me.

8

I’ve been through both, and I’d rather go through labor again. Besides, kidney stones aren’t nearly as cuddly as a newborn baby.

9

I’ve had over 40 of them, including while driving and while at work, some not so bad, some…

The worst was when I got 4 stones jammed together in my right ureter. They were 13 mm, 9 mm, and two smaller ones. Too big for the basket on the end of a probe (cystoscopy - I’ve had enough of those treatments to have lost count). Too much to blast (had that 4 times now, I think). Way, way too big to pass (which is what happens to most of mine). So I had a good old fashioned lithotomy - the thing doctors aren’t allowed to do, according to the Hippocratic Oath. Ten days in hospital. Oh, and I woke up in the OR, not during the surgery per se, but while they were moving me back onto a gurney. Big fat needles a couple inches long to shove morphine into the thighs felt so good going in, like some kind of promising kiss.

In my local small-town hospital, they have a special room just for doing kidney stone extractions by cystoscope. There’s a sort of special operating table to hold you just right, with your legs up in stirrups out of the doctor’s way. And, for some reason, there are decorative bunnies and kitties and duckies and so forth attached all the way 'round the walls, way up high.

10

The first time was very scary.
I was walking from my bedroom to the kitchen for a drink. Suddenly this unbelievably excruciating pain dropped me the ground.
My thoughts were as follows:
“Oh my god, I am having a heart attack!!”
“No wait, this is my heart, wrong area, Whew thank god, boy this hurts, I think it my Kidneys. Oh shit one of my kidneys is failing, damn, damn , damn!!!. “

I called for help, I finally got my fiancé to awake and she called 911.
I remember being in the ER for hours. Banging on the wall, somehow made me fell better. I was admitted a stuck on an IV and stuck in the hospital for several days. They wouldn’t let me go home, until I mentioned I wasn’t sure if my insurance would cover any more of a stay. I was released the next morning.

I eventually passed the stone with the help of a lot of water, a few beers and a love making session.

Jim

11

It kinda snuck up on me, pain increasing as I desperately tried things to make it go away, walking, crawling, sitting, lying, banging my head, cold wash cloths, inducing vomiting, sitting on the toliet, and finally frantic, manic, hunched over pacing the length of our trailer.
I called the 1-800 nurse line and a very nice RN told me that “If you can’t stand up, you need to go to the ER.” She asked which hospital I was gonna go to, I guess she called ahead for me. I then had to call my sweet husband home from an all-night gaming session - 45 minutes away at 3 am. I was waiting for him, pacing in the carport in my pajamas and swearing, muttering, and PACING. I’m lucky the neighbors didn’t call the funny farm for me.

I don’t remember the ride to the hospital except for the feet out the window (too hot!) and asking “What’s that awful smell” and the answer “We’re going really fast and I also hurried home, so I think that’s the engine.” I probably had my eyes closed the whole time.

He left me at the door and went to park. I walked in, hit the call button, and slid to the floor, leaning against the triage desk. Nurses appeared from several doors and I was whisked away to a marathon IV placing session. Husband got left to do the paperwork when he arrived. I was so happy that they didn’t care about paperwork, but instead were helping me. I think the nurse calling ahead was crutial, since she was from my insurance company.

At least 10 tries later (counting the scabs the next day), the nurse got the IV inserted - she kept asking me to hold still and I just couldn’t. I’m a hard stick anyways, but she had the patience I needed. I remember her warm hands. Then they started running the Dilaudid before any examination beyond a little questioning. I spent the next 7 hours in a state of semi-consciousness - ultrasound, Xray, urinalysis, vaginal ultrasound, a succession of orderlies pushing me around the hospital, drifiting off and waking up in a new room. They confirmed the kidney stone diagnosis, said it was about to pass, doped me one last time and sent me home with a script for vicodan…

…to go on a business trip with two completely blackened, bruised hands from the missed IVs. I ended up passing another stone on the trip and vomiting all over the new sales guy in a Taxi in rush hour traffic. He was a sport when I stripped and changed clothes in the airport ticket line - literally down to my bra in the line - and then the bra out the shirt sleeve. I flew home clutching a commemerative mug I had just bought in case I threw up again. It’s truly a gentleman who doesn’t mention such things to anyone at the home office.

12

July, 1995. The first of 2 days off. I was out riding a motorcycle I owned at the time, a Haonda Hawk 650 GT. It was to be one of my final rides on it because I was selling it to get a Harley.

After 5 hours of riding I came home for dinner. In the middle of dinner my back started to really hurt, on the lower left side. It REALLY hurt. “Well, that’s what you get for riding all day and leaving me home”, my wife said.

2 hours later my back feels like someone took a red hot glowing knife and stabbed it into my back, and down through my left testicle! I was curled up on our bed screaming. “Jesus Christ! Should I call 911!?!” my wife asked.

NO! I’ll drive myself to the hospital & walk in like a man!:rolleyes:

I walked…no, I ran into the ER of West Allis Memorial, slapped my drivers license & insurance card on the desk, then dropped to the floor and screamed:

"That’s me, it’s all current! HELP! Fucking help me!!! :eek:

They took X-rays & found a stone trapped in my urethra on it’s way out of my bladder. It was 11mm around! That’s almost the size of a .45 caliber bullet! It was stuck, and it wasn’t going anywhere! They shoved a stent up my manhood, then told me that in 3 days they were going to blast the stone using laser & sonic waves.

3 DAYS?:eek:

During that 3 days that stent made my bladder go into convulsions. It felt like I had to pee really, really bad ALL the time!

After they blasted the stone I had to pee the little bits out over the next few days. That freaking hurt like nothing I’ve ever felt before!

In my 45 years I’ve had really bad gout. I’ve had root canals where the anesthetic didn’t take. But nothing, I mean nothing hurt like that week I dealt with that kidney stone! I hope to hell I never, ever, ever have another one, and I don’t wish one on my worst enemy!

13

painpainpain

Pretty much all I remember about the stone.
Avoid them at all costs.

14

Wow. Mine are pretty mild compared to some of your stories. My pain has been intense at times, but nothing I couldn’t bare. When my stomach perferated, I begged God to take me home. I begged and cried and if there had been a light switch that made the pain go away but meant I would never wake up, I would have switched it. That was the worst. This has been bad, but nothing like that. From the sounds of it, it could get bad though. :frowning:

15

I had what they told me in the ER was a (1) kidney stone. I can’t imagine what more than one would feel like because I had never felt a pain like that one, and I have 4 kids. It hurt so fucking bad, I didn’t care if I lived or died. I was given a shot of Demerol and it didn’t do shit!

16

I have had at least ten over my lifetime, although I have lost count at his point. My first was when I was 15, in high school, and took a while to diagnose; my doctor at that time said I was the youngest person he had seen to have one. I went to the ER and they thought it was appendix but the pain was on the wrong side. They used an X-ray with dye to diagnose it, but as it turned out I was allergic to the dye and had a severe reaction, and ended up in the hospital for a week. Since then, whenever I am seen for a new stone I repeat it over and over - allergic to the dye, allergic to the dye. The pain is as bad as everyone here says, and it makes you throw up until nothing comes out.

I’ve had lithotripsy twice, which was not bad at all. I had one extraction by cystoscopy, where they also put a stent in between the kidney and bladder. This was attached to a string which came out through the penis, and then taped to my thigh. The doc said to be very careful not to accidentally pull the string or I could pull out the stent. I tell you, I was never so careful in my entire life - changing, showering, etc., like I was made of glass. Then I went in after a week or so to get the stent removed. So I asked, do you put me under for this, or just a local, or how do you do the anesthesia? The doc just looked at me and said, uh, we don’t give you anything, we just pull it out. I just couldn’t believe it, I was just dumbstruck, thinking this had to be the worst thing I would ever feel. So I lied back and he started feeling around and said, this might pinch a little as I get ready to remove it. It pinched, not too bad, and I said ready, but then of course, that was it, he had already taken it out. Very relieved and surprised.

17

June of 2004.

Woke up Friday morning with some weird vague pain in my midesection that eventually subsided. Saturday…the paing got worse (but was NOT in the area that I associated with kidneys…I remember looking up appendicitis). Went to doc in a box. They did x-ray but didn’t see anything. He said it could be kidney stone or divriticulitis (sp?). Went home with Vicodin.

Sunday morning…woke up with the worst acute pain in my life. No matter which way I lay/sat or stood up, I was in massive pain. The missus called the family doc who had me go to the ER. I must have picked the right time to hit the ER, because I had GREAT care. As soon as I staggered in, they whisked me back to an examining room. They gave me Toradol and Fentanyl for pain initially (later gave me morphine…I now understand the affection people have for morphine, that was some sweet stuff, boy) and injected me with some sort of dye for a scan later.

Scan shows a nice size kidney stone. Urologist sticks a stent up there to allow urine flow around stone. See him Monday morning (in the meantime I have a script for Oxycontin, I now understand the affection that some folks have for that stuff as well…hoo boy). On Monday they take about 10 (really) x-rays to try and find the stone (in order to do a lithtripsy you need to see it on an x-ray), but can’t see it.

They schedule another appt for Friday, if they still can’t see it on an x-ray, he’ll have to go up and try to “basket out” the stone. BTW…that damn stent hurt like a sumbitch. Every time I’d pee, my bladder would close down on the coiled end of the stent for a nice experience in pain. Every time.

On Friday, I assume I’ll have to have the stone “basketed out”, but they take one more x-ray. Miracle or miracles…they can see it. I had the biggest damn grin. They put me under for the lithotripsy and lower me in a basket into a tub of water for the procedure. Afterwards, I didn’t feel any pain…until I got home. Then it felt like a horse kicked me in the kidney. But the stone was gravel and all was right the world.

The guy who was the on call urologist has his son at the same pre school as my daughter…small world.

I still feel quite fortunate that the medical staff really jumped on top of the situation…they did not screw around with pain relief, and really seemed to do a top notch job.

18

I forgot to mention the horror of having that thing removed. I was out on anestetic when put in, but awake when they pulled it out. The Dr. stuck some scope up my schwantzola where he looked through an eye piece while manuvering around in my urethra. They pull it out with a mini claw device that reminds me of that game where you try to win stuffed animals out of the machine

I made the mistake of looking up while he was pulling the thing out. It now reminds me of that scene in the Matrix where Trinity removes the bug from Neo. It was horrible. I’m the toughest guy I know and I was screaming like a little girl!:eek:

19

March 2002 woke up in the middle of the night with shooting pain in my abdomen. There was no position that was comfortable and I could not be still. I crawled to the bathroom and threw up until I could not throw up anymore and passed out it the floor. I woke up and felt better so I told my family and we just thought I had gotten food poisoning.

April 2004 arrive at work and sudden pain hits in my lower back. It felt like a hot knife rotating in my body. Told boss something was wrong and drove to the clinic…almost passed out as I was turning in the parking lot. Told the lady at the desk I was dying and needed a doc, she hands me paperwork and sits me down to wait. Then the neausea hits. I run to the bathroom and threw up till I dry heaved, the pain was so intense, I thought I was dying…I swear. I asked if there was anywhere that I could lie down while I wait, and they said no…so I laid in the nasty floor and cried the pain was so bad.
Doc finally sees me and the pain was not as bad, so I was confused and told him I must be loosing my mind, but then the knife came back. I had to throw up/dry heave 2 times in the sink in the room, and was screaming. He quickly diagnosed me and said I needed to call a ride to take me to have a CAT scan. They gave me several shots and I was crying and asked the nurse if she was sure that was enough? She looked at me with such pity, I will never forget it, and said “baby, I wish I could give you more” but it did finally help.

After Dilauded (THE GOD OF ALL PAINKILLERS) went in, I got comfortable and went to sleep.

3 stones later and many trips to the Urologist, I was better.

I PRAY that I NEVER have another episode, and I carry the leftover meds with me at all times just in case.

20

If you want a good kidney stone romance story, click here