# So, that was a kidney stone. It wasn't that bad... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429 "2007-01-10T18:01:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/1 "2007-01-10T18:01:30Z")
This morning I just passed my first kidney stone. It started yesterday morning. I woke to find myself feeling quite strange, like I had to pee but couldn’t. My BIL was stopping by to pick me up so we could car pool into work. As we were leaving, I walked from the kitchen to the side door and in that time period, I felt the pain start. I stopped in the doorway and told him to go on without me as I was not feeling good. I suspected it was a kidney stone, but wasn’t sure because even though it was painful, it was not nearly as painful as I expected. I saw the doctor that morning and had my urine tested: Blood was found… definitely a kidney stone. I got sent next door to the hospital where they did a full CT scan on me. They told me my doctor would have the results by that afternoon. In the mean time, I was given some pain meds, some filters for catching the stone, and told to drink a lot of water to help flush it out. This was all done by 11:00 AM that morning. I figured I was in for a lot more pain, so since I had already called in to work sick, I went home and tried to relax. I took one of the pain pills and put a heating pad under my back where it was hurting. WOW did those pills make me dizzy, but they seemed to stop the pain after awhile. I got a call later that afternoon and was told I had only one stone in my right kidney that was 2 mm long and that it would eventually pass. I took a nap that afternoon and woke up later with no pain… for the rest of the day. That evening, I went to bed and told Mrs. D. that if that was the end of my kidney stone problems I was extremely lucky. Sure it hurt and I complained about it, but it wasn’t the extreme pain I was expecting. This AM I got up and peed into the filter and there was a tiny speck of something brown that was the source of all my discomfort. I dropped it off to my hospital’s lab for analysis at lunch today and have been feeling great all day. So here I am, a kidney stone survivor and it wasn’t that bad. I consider myself extremely lucky because it probably could have hurt a whole lot worse. That’s my story. I guess I better go drink another glass of water now. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/2 "2007-01-10T19:00:41Z")
I’ve been down this road twice. When I had the first one my first fear was that I was going to die. After an hour or two, I was afraid I **wasn’t!** Second time I trotted right off to the ER, they did their magic and I was home in 6 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/3 "2007-01-10T19:16:05Z")
I battled the kidney stones and they eventually won. About three years ago I finally had to have my right kidney removed, as nothing seemed to stop them from returning, and the infections from recurring. I’d say the OP did get off lightly, relatively speaking. But keep an eye on those kidneys, and do whatever the doc says to prevent them from making another appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/4 "2007-01-10T20:02:19Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] I’d say the OP did get off lightly, relatively speaking. But keep an eye on those kidneys, and do whatever the doc says to prevent them from making another appearance. [/QUOTE] I don’t doubt for a second that I got off lightly and I am very grateful that I did. My dad has gone through 3 kidney stones and he has always been in great health. He eats right and exercises regularly, yet he still had 3 of them. I am wondering if there is some genetic disposition for him (and me too) to get them. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/5 "2007-01-10T20:09:50Z")
Mine was painful, but no where near as bad as when my stomach perferated. I begged God to take me home then. On the kidney stone, I just moaned a lot. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/6 "2007-01-10T20:47:50Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] Second time I trotted right off to the ER, they did their magic and I was home in 6 hours. [/QUOTE] How do they treat it in the ER? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/7 "2007-01-10T21:06:41Z")
You’ll probably have lower back pain in the next couple of days; it felt to me like I’d been punched in the kidneys. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/8 "2007-01-10T21:12:47Z")
[QUOTE=vertizontal] How do they treat it in the ER? [/QUOTE] Well, they have access to the “magic juice” which takes most of the pain away. The stone itself usually only hurts while it’s being forced through the small tube from the kidney to the bladder. That’s pretty quick for me. Once you pass the stone, as long as you aren’t spouting blood from your magic wand, they kick you loose. If the stone gets stuck, they said their preferred 2nd step was to try and break it up chemically or by ultrasound. Never got that far. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/9 "2007-01-10T21:22:59Z")
Aw, who’s a widdle biddie kidney stone? You are! You are! Not to diminish your experience, of course. But I’m guessing this [Guiness record holder with a 13 CENTIMETER kidney stone](http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/21/stories/2005122117700100.htm) has little sympathy. Of course, his was broken up while still inside him and passed in pieces. [This removed kidney,](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/health_guinness_medical_record_breakers/html/6.stm) on the other hand, went for quantity over quality, spitting out as many as 22 stones in 24 hours. Ouch! Seriously, take care of yourself. May your first also be your last! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/10 "2007-01-11T04:38:08Z")
I’ve had one, and only one, kidney stone. It was about the size of a 1962 Oldsmobile. You did, indeed, get off lucky. My stone was stuck in the ureter and they had to go and get it. I’ll spare the details. If (God, Og, Buddha and Cthulhu forbid) that I ever have another one, I won’t spend three days in agony waiting and hoping for it to pass. Morphine was my bestest friend evah. ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/11 "2007-01-11T08:16:54Z")
I have been down that road also. I was one of the lucky ones, it wasn’t very painful. It mostly felt like the cramps you get went you run and don’t breathe. I have really high pan tolerance and it was moving for about a week before I even went to the ER (Past experience has cuased me to dread hospitals). They gave me pain pills and a filter and sent me home. A week later it still hadn’t come out. I called my urologist and he removed it that afternoon. The cool part was about two weeks later. I got an enlarged photograph of it in the mail. I considered having it framed. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/12 "2007-01-11T10:44:18Z")
Urrgh, after watching Deadwood, be glad its not a bladder stone :eek: Kidney stones made for an alright joke in Seinfeld. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/13 "2007-01-11T15:08:04Z")
Yep, you got off pretty lightly. At a guess, I’d say I’ve passed (or had removed) two dozen stones or so. I’m seeing a nephrologist later this month to see if I’ll end up in the same boat with **Baker** , having my right kidney removed. It’s so scarred and calcified from stones and procedures to remove same, that it’s just about quit functioning. :eek: I got my first one when I was fifteen, and I swear to god, I felt like I _must_ be dying. I couldn’t imagine anything hurting that badly and not killing you! When I passed it, and it was half the size of a match-head, that’s when I figured God must be insane, to allow something that tiny to cause that much agony! But yes, indeed, that was my first ever experience with morphine, and as soon as it kicked in, I wanted to build a shrine to whoever discovered it! But **fir na tine** is right: it’s while the stone is on the move inside that it hurts. If that happens quickly, the pain is short-lived. Passing them, for me, ranges from mild discomfort, to no discomfort at all. I passed one while we were on Christmas vacation, and wouldn’t have even known it, except that I happened to look in the toilet after I peed, and it was sitting there, on a ridge of porcelain. Being an old hand at this, I didn’t even flinch: reached in (hey, we had _soap_ in the hotel room), took it out, and wrapped it up, so I could take it to my urologist for his records. My husband says he’s glad he doesn’t get stones because he doesn’t like to drink the things I’m supposed to drink (water, cranberry juice, water, beer, water). I told him if he had _one_ bad one, and the doctor told him he could prevent a second one by eating a cat turd every day, he’d damn well learn to like cat turds! ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/14 "2007-01-11T15:51:25Z")
My first kidney stone was misdiagnosed for a year before somebody finally figured out what was wrong. Even after lithotripsy, there was a chunk the size of Vermont (OK, maybe not that big, but pretty darn big.) When it finally passed from my kidney to my bladder, even with $150 worth of fine narcotics coursing through my veins, it felt like red-hot barbed wire being dragged through my guts. Once in the bladder, though, it was a breeze. I’ve had one on each side. My doctor recommends cranberry juice. He said it increases the acidity of the fluid being filtered out of the blood, keeping the stuff that forms stones dissolved. I’ve drunk 8 oz. of cranberry juice every morning with my vitamins, and haven’t had one since. I also cut down on coffee and colas, increased water intake as a matter of habit. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/15 "2007-01-16T07:47:14Z")
I’ve had more than 40, as big as 13 mm. Had at least 4 lithotripsies, enough cystoscopies that I lost count, and one good old fashioned lithotomy that kept me in hospital for 10 days. Then I met Polycitra… ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/16 "2007-01-16T14:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] I’ve been down this road twice. When I had the first one my first fear was that I was going to die. After an hour or two, I was afraid I **wasn’t!** [/QUOTE] Ditto. I think the OP got off lucky. I’ve had kidney stones and gallstones. The kidney stones were worse. Words cannot even begin to describe the pain. Start with the concept of a railroad spike being hammered into your kidney, a tenth of an inch at a time. :eek: Imagine it hurting so badly you can’t scream, you can’t even whine because that hurts. :o ☹ It wasn’t until about 2 minutes after the Demerol injection that I stopped begging for people to kill me and put me out of my misery. Mr. Demerol is your friend. 😃 But only on special occasions, I hasten to add. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-that-was-a-kidney-stone-it-wasnt-that-bad/387429/17 "2007-01-16T17:20:09Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Ditto. I think the OP got off lucky. I’ve had kidney stones and gallstones. The kidney stones were worse. Words cannot even begin to describe the pain. For me, the gall stone pain felt _exactly_ like kidney stone pain, except it was in a different place. The good news about the gallstones, of course, is they can take _out_ the gallbladder (which is what they did, just three days after my first-and last-attack).