# Top this!--OR--Tales from the kidney stone wars. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 23, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208 "2003-08-23T19:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/1 "2003-08-23T19:45:58Z")
@#$%^&\* Kidney stones! I’ve been battling them for over five and a half years now, and the little suckers just keep coming back. Well, yesterday I had my **FIFTH** lithotripsy, a procedure which blasts the stones with sound waves. The good thing about it is that the old fashioned alternative was cutting surgery. The bad thing is that so many of these has hurt the kidney itself, so instead of the kidneys sharing the burden 50-50 it’s about 60-40 now. So I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Can anyone cheer me up and tell a worse tale? More lithotripsies? More pain?😛 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/2 "2003-08-23T19:53:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Can anyone cheer me up and tell a worse tale? My dad passed an 7mm stone once, does that help? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/3 "2003-08-23T20:13:49Z")
**7 mm? 7 freakin’ mm?** Wow, mine were bad, maybe that large, but at least I didn’t pass them, they were crushed and came out it much smaller pieces. This is what I need folks! ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/4 "2003-08-23T20:59:32Z")
I’ve had two stones, 7 years apart. Apparently I passed both of them as I never had any procedures done. The first one was when I was 26 and in the military. It was the first time my girlfriend (now wife) talked to my mom on the phone. They gave me some sort of morphine-related injection to relieve the pain. Woooooooo… The second time I had to pee through a strainer for a day. Nothing ever showed up but the pain went away so I guess it either broke up on its own or I passed it while I was waiting in the ER to be called and had to go to the bathroom. My mother told me that my grandfather used to get them frequently. He just passed them and went about his farm work. She said they were largish jagged things and there was usually blood passed as well. Urk. It does give me some appreciation for women that go through childbirth. Hope everything “comes out” okay. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/5 "2003-08-23T21:06:25Z")
Actually, **Horseflesh** my urologist has said that a number of his female patients who had also borne children had said the pain of a stone was worse than childbirth. I’ve never had a child so I can’t comment on _those_ differences! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/6 "2003-08-23T23:30:53Z")
I’ve had children. I’ve had kidney stones. **Baker** , your urologist is right. I had what I thought was a UTI. I was on my way to work, and I had to stop to pee. Nothing came out. Great, I think. I will make an appointment with the doctor for after work. As I’m driving, my whole body starts to go numb. My hands and lips curl in, even my eyelids go numb. All I could think was get to work and get help, get to work and get help. I stumble in and scare the hell out of my co-workers. They told me later they thought I was having a stroke. I was white as a sheet and could hardly talk. So they call an ambulance, and I get wheeled out on a gurney in front of my colleagues. I even tried to pee in a bag in the ambulance, I was in so much pain. They got me to a room, hooked up an IV. I must have stumbled to the bathroom about thirty times, trying to pee. At one point I remember telling the nurse that although the drugs were giving me a nice floaty feeling, they weren’t helping with the pain. Then they injected me with Taxol (?). Ah, sweet Taxol, I love thee. It was after this incident that my department decided we needed emergency numbers, as they had a hard time getting a hold of Ivylad. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/7 "2003-08-24T00:00:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baker \* > \*\*I’ve never had a child so I can’t comment on _those_ differences! \*\* I’ve had a child (2 in fact) and they didn’t hurt one bit. It’s when they grow that they begin to hurt you. My daughter just smashed me in the mouth a few minutes ago with the back of her head while I was holding her during a temper tantrum. I’m still seeing stars but I don’t think I’d rather have another kidney stone instead. Not yet anyway, there’s always tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-this-or-tales-from-the-kidney-stone-wars/197208/8 "2003-08-24T00:08:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ivylass \* > \*\*Then they injected me with Taxol (?). Ah, sweet Taxol, I love thee. \*\* For me it was Demerol. That first time, when I thought an invisible assassin was stabbing me in the gut. Lord, I can see why people get addicted. “Pain? What pain?” I felt like I was floating an inch above the bed. You just don’t know how good the _absence_ of pain is, until you’ve have a kidney stone!