How to Encourage Kidney Stones to Pass

Anyone who has endured an episode with kidney stones can attest to the often severe pain and discomfort that is associated with this medical condition. The only way to determine whether or not you have kidney stones, other than actually passing one, is to have them properly diagnosed by your physician. Your physician may order any number of diagnostic imaging tests to determine the presence of kidney stones and the severity. Once your doctor has determined that you do have kidney stones and they are small enough to pass on their own, there are certain steps you can take to assist your kidneys with removing these painful crystals.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Urine strainer
• Specimen cup
• Heating pad
• Over-the-counter pain relievers/doctor prescribed pain relievers

1. Strain your urine each time you go to the bathroom. Use the urine strainer to strain the urine and monitor for the kidney stone passage. You will want to collect any and all kidney stone fragments that do pass and put them in a specimen cup, which you can ask your doctor to provide both the strainer and the specimen cup. It is important to collect the kidney stones so that the doctor can have them studied to determine the composition and type of stones your kidney is producing.

2. Drink 6 to 10 glasses of water a day, which is the normal daily requirement for water intake. The tendency to flood the kidneys with water to rid kidney stones can actually strip away the bladder's lining, giving the bladder the perfect conditions for an infection to set in. You will know that you are properly hydrating with water when your urine is a pale yellow color.

3. Exercising and keeping active is a good way to make the kidney stones shift and move. Walk around your yard, walk up and down the stairs in your house and keep your body active and moving. Pain may make you lessen your normal activities, but you should try to do as much as the pain will allow you too.

4. Have a beer or two in the evening. Beer act like a natural diuretic, which will encourage the flow and production of urine, helping to flush the kidney stones out of the kidney and body.

5. Decrease your intake of beverages that have caffeine and or are carbonated. These types of beverages have a tendency to dehydrate the body and lessen urine production. Not only do these types of beverages hinder kidney stone passage, but they also encourage new kidney stones to form.

6. Treat pain and discomfort with an over-the-counter pain reliever or the pain reliever prescribed by your doctor. Also, use a heating pad or warm baths to help manage pain and discomfort that is associated with kidney stones.

Tips & Warnings

• Hydrate yourself adequately and according to the types of activities you take part in daily. You may need to drink more water if your lead an active lifestyle, but make sure you drink the daily requirement for water intake.
• A person who has had an episode of kidney stones is likely to experience them again. Ask your doctor about dietary changes and lifestyle changes you can make to lessen the risk of future episodes with kidney stones.
• Nausea, vomiting, chills and fever may occur, and are an indication of possible infection setting in. You will want to notify your doctor when these symptoms occur.
• Your urine may become blood tinged as the stone passes. Should the urine become extremely bloody, punch colored, you need to notify your doctor. Kidney stones can become an obstruction and get stuck as they are trying to pass, which can cause complications.
• Notify your doctor if you are hydrating adequately but your output of urine has stopped. This can be a sign that the kidney stone has gotten stuck and is stopping the normal flow of urine.
• Pain may become severe and you may require stronger pain medication. Do not hesitate to call your doctor should the pain become intolerable even with the prescribed medication.

Resources

• National Kidney and Urological Diseases Information Clearinghouse
• Mayo Clinic: Kidney Stones
• Kidney Stone Health Center

[mimi1330]

on 4/2/2009 I am thankful for this article. My husband suffers from kidney stones. 5*