Kidney stones - types,,Symptoms and causes, Treatment, Prevention

Kidney stones or urinary stones refer to a hard mass formed from crystals in the urine. Natural ingredients and chemicals in the urine can often prevent their formation.

However, this condition is not so uncommon, so it is good for you to know the symptoms, effects, causes, and possible treatments for kidney stones to eliminate them. Keep in mind that if left untreated promptly, they can cause irreversible destruction and have a high chance of recurrence.

There are different types of kidney stones. The stones need to be analyzed so that they can be removed permanently and build a healthy life without worrying about them regenerating.

Also Read: Acute or sudden pain, symptom caused and treatment

Causes of kidney stones

In all over the world, about one in ten adults suffers from kidney stones during their lifetime. This painful disease is therefore quite common.

Kidney stones are formed when urine contains a certain amount of sparingly soluble ingredients, small crystals that begin to form little by little into kidney stones. It can take weeks to months for them to condense and form.

Individuals who do not drink enough fluids have a higher risk of suffering from them. They are more likely to develop if you produce less than one liter of urine a day.

Kidney stones can be eliminated from the body while avoiding permanent disadvantages. The stones are painful and can recur if you do not get treatment. If a long time elapses between the formation of stones, it can cause consequences in the kidneys, for example, in addition to various other effects.

Dr. Glenn Preminger, director of the Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center in Duke and professor of urological surgery at Duke University, said “there is no doubt that kidney stones are associated with obesity”. The doctor has also participated as a co-author in the publication of urology, in the study of which similar findings have been made.

Symptoms of kidney stones

During the formation of kidney stones, the patient usually does not experience any symptoms. They can even move down the ureters from where they pass into the bladder with the urine. And thus they are then noticed; stones can block and impede the passage of urine from the kidneys.

This disease can bring with it many different symptoms. Mainly it’s intestinal pain that starts here and there and suddenly, ending unexpectedly as well. There are two types of pain. The first appearance on one side of the back or in the abdominal area, and the second type of pain may extend to the testicles or groin.

Other symptoms may include:

• Vomiting
• Blood in the urine
• Nausea
• Abnormal urine color
• Fever

Effects of kidney stones

This condition can cause various complications. If left untreated or indifferent, kidney stones can cause even more serious complications because the stone blocks the flow of urine. These can include kidney damage and recurrent infections.

Possible complications:

• Urinary tract infection.
• Acute unilateral obstructive uropathy and ureteral whitening.
• Kidney damage and healing problems.
• Stone regeneration.
• Cessation or loss of renal function.

There are different types of stones, each with its own treatment:

Other ingredients can also form kidney stones, such as medicines such as indinavir, aciclovir, and triamterene.

Treatment of kidney stones

Treatment of kidney stones can be started with a special diet. Once your doctor confirms what types of stones you have and performs various tests to examine this, you can begin an even more specific diet, which is important in reducing and removing stones. Your nutritionist or therapist may give you a new menu, and your diet will likely change the amount of potassium, salt, fluid, protein, oxalate, and calcium you eat.

One way to avoid kidney stones and reduce them is to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. However, the pain can eventually be quite extreme, possibly requiring even pain medication. In addition, if this pain is unbearable, the patient should go to a hospital where fluid can be given intravenously.

In addition, treatment depends on the type of stone formed and the symptoms it produces. If they are small, the stones are usually left alone and they leave the body when you start consuming enough fluids. Urine should be collected so that the stone can be analyzed and subsequent ailments prevented.

Depending on the type of stone, there are a few medications that your doctor may prescribe to prevent the formation of new stones or to stimulate the breakdown of existing stones by eliminating the ingredients that cause them. Here are some examples:

• Diuretics (Thiazide diuretics).
• Antibiotics are effective against struvite stones.
• Sodium citrate and sodium bicarbonate.
• Allopurinol to treat uric acid stones.
• Phosphate solutions.

If cutting or crushing seems to be the only solution, the stones or symptoms must have the following characteristics:

• The rocks are too big to get out on their own.
• The stones have caused an obstruction to the flow of urine, and at the same time they have caused kidney pain and infections.
• The stones are constantly growing.
• The pain is extreme and unbearable.

The treatments are now effective and do not cause any major inconvenience. Many of the stones do not cause any complications or the complications they cause are not severe.

Per cutaneous nephropathy: used on very large stones near or inside the kidney. If this happens, the stone is removed with a device called an endoscope that enters the kidney through a small incision.

Urinary excision: can be used if the stones are in the lower urinary tract.

Extra corporeal stone crushing surgery: uses shock waves to defeat stones that are less than half an inch. They must be in the ureter near the kidney for this method to be used. Using shock waves or sound waves breaks stones that can then be eliminated from the urine.

In addition, open surgery or nephropathy may be necessary in some cases. However, this is only done if other methods cannot be used or do not work.

Advice on kidney stone prevention

With a good diet, you can prevent kidney stones. If you are already suffering from them, you should prepare in advance to avoid complications or the recurrence of stones in the future.

If you suspect you have kidney stones, it is absolutely essential that you see a doctor to get the right diagnosis, medication, and instructions to heal.

Kidney stones ride!

It is estimated that up to one in ten people will have a kidney stone attack at some point in their lives. In others, the stone is eliminated by itself in the urine, and at best, painkillers are enough to treat it. In others, the seizures are recurrent and require hospitalization.

Tuomo Vilppola from Oulu has suffered from kidney stone attacks for more than fifteen years. The disease is exceptionally troublesome and the formation of kidney stones is monitored regularly. At its best, kidney stones can be crushed already prophylactic ally, thus avoiding the onset of a pain attack.

- I was in Heinola giving a lecture for teacher groups and a lecture like that. I suddenly have an incomprehensible pain in my lower abdomen. After thinking about it, I went by ambulance to Heinola Health Center, and there the doctors could do nothing. The pain was already so huge, it had gone into the muscles and the man then just trembled from that pain.

And then I went to the central hospital and straight to the intensive care unit. It took about half an hour for the surgeons to locate what was at stake and found that the kidney stone had clogged the renal pelvis and caused this huge pain, recalls Tuomo Vilppola's first kidney stone attacks in the early 1990s.

The first scene is frightening. The pain is incisive and its cause, a stone stuck in the ureter, is hard to guess. Many remain seizure-free through diet, while for others the stones are a recurring nuisance. I also saw it in Vilppola.

- I have a special kind of body, and I have been very thoroughly studied, doctors talk about this type of hypercritical, or the body kind of produces four people's calcium needs, that is, it is such a natural whim and that causes these stones, which condense in the kidneys, there are calcium stones due to the high amount of calcium.

A handy operation

External crushing of kidney stones is a familiar thing to Vilppola. On the morning of the procedure, he arrives at the ward, where, among other things, blood pressure is measured and a blood sample is taken. The location of the stones was done for Vilppola a couple of months earlier in connection with the previous treatment.

The crushing device circulates all over Finland, only in Helsinki can the device be found permanently. The machine and technicians arrive at Oulu University Hospital on average once every two weeks and patients come from all over Northern Finland.

- It's always a bit exciting, even though there have been many times when every procedure is different and now that the left side hasn't been done for a long time, you don't know how it feels, Vilppola thinks before starting the procedure.

The most common form of treatment for kidney stones is external crushing. Large stones or stones stuck in the lower parts of the urinary tract may also need to be removed by endoscopic surgery or open surgery. This time Vilppola is facing the crushing of three small stones.

- Small stones are always a little harder to find than large ones, but they must have a relatively precise location here, that the treatment is effective and you have to be pretty sure that the stone is really where it is shot, says urologist Ilkka Paananen from Oulu University Hospital Surgery Clinic.

So the stone is so to speak shot with shock waves and gradually it breaks down.

- At the moment, it seems that that upper polar stone is falling apart and the number of joules is approaching 2,500, ie at that stage a little ultrasound is used to look at the stone to be treated next or to continue with the same stone, explains Paananen.

In Oulu, the first crushing was done seventeen years ago and the method revolutionized the treatment of kidney stones. Compared to surgical stone removal, the procedure is more painless and the need for sick leave is lower, often a couple of days at home is enough. During that time, the crushed stones are gradually eliminated with the urine. The procedure itself is over in half an hour.

The technician Kalle Komonen, who travels with the device, is hopeful about the crushing done to Vilppola:

- It looked pretty good, the good response was in the stones, there are quite good hopes that stone crumbs will leave.

Drinking and eating matter

A couple of hours after the procedure, Vilppola is still a bit stupid. The medication used in the procedure varies from case to case and can be discussed separately with your doctor. In any case, it is important to drink plenty after treatment so that the crumbs start to move with the urine.

Drinking plenty of fluids can prevent the formation of stones and it is worth remembering especially during the summer when heavy sweating concentrates urine and promotes the formation of stones.

Diet can also affect the formation of kidney stones. Foods containing oxalate and calcium should be avoided in the diet, depending on the type of stone. For example, rhubarb, spinach, beets, plums, and chocolate are rich in oxalate. Calcium, on the other hand, is found in a lot of liquid dairy products, i.e. milk, buttermilk, yogurt, and ice cream. Their number should be limited to 2 to 4 deciliters per day.