Have you ever heard about kidney stones? Do you know what it looks like and where it comes from? Find out everything about it to have early treatment and prevention.
What is a kidney stone?
Kidney stones are also known as renal calculi, nephrolithiasis, or urolithiasis. It is a solid mass or crystal that forms from substances such as minerals, acids, and salts in your kidneys. Their size can vary from a grain of sand or in some other cases larger than a golf ball.
Depending on the size of your kidney stone, you may not realize you have one. Usually, smaller stones can pass the urinary tract in your pee without experiencing any symptoms. For larger kidney stones, it can get trapped in your ureter wherein it is the tube that drains urine from your kidney down to your bladder.
This can cause your pee to back up and limit the kidney’s filtering job of waste from your body and in worst case scenarios, it can cause bleeding.
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Types of kidney stones:
To give further details about the topic, let us go into the types of kidney stones a person can obtain.
- Calcium-oxalate and calcium phosphate stones: This is the most common type of kidney stone wherein it forms due to eating high-oxalate or low-calcium foods like peanuts, spinach, chocolate, sweets, without drinking enough fluids.
- Uric acid stones: Foods rich in animal protein like beef, poultry, pork, eggs, fish, and shellfish contain high concentrations of natural chemical compounds known as purines. High purines intake leads to higher production of monosodium urate that can later on form stones in your kidneys.
- Struvite stones: This is usually caused by bacterial infection that can later on lead to staghorn calculus, a very large kidney stones that need to be surgically removed.
- Cystine stones: These stones usually inherit from the family from an inherited condition called cystinuria caused by cystine stones.
Symptoms and Causes
A kidney stone does not usually show any symptoms not until it starts moving around within the kidney or passes into one of the ureters. Here are the symptoms that one may experience if that happens:
- Pink, red, or brown urine
- Cloudy or foul smelling urine
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain from the lower abdomen and groin
- Severe and sharp pain from the side and back, below the ribs
- Urinating in small amounts
- Urinating more often than usual
Prevention
- Drinking plenty of water
- Eating less foods high in sugar and sodium
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Eating less foods with animal proteins (beef, poultry, fish, eggs pork)
- Eating foods with good source of calcium
- Prescription medication
It is essential to take note of every symptom your body is showing to start an early prevention. No one knows your body better than you but always seek a medical professional if needed.
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How can we help you today?
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In Healthway, we offer several doctors with an easy and smooth booking appointment for everyone in need. We have several Medical Professionals who specialize in various diseases. For Kidney Disease, you can check out our Nephrologist and set a pre-arrange visit with them.
A note to the reader
While Healthway Medical Network provides access to past articles, it is crucial to remember when this information has been updated and that these are not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor for accurate and personalized guidance.
