Kidney stone disease, better known simply as kidney stones, occurs when minerals, salts, and other substances harden within the kidneys. When these materials crystallize, they cause a great deal of pain and discomfort. Some even say that the pain caused by a kidney stone is as close as the pain of childbirth.
Kidney stones are usually fairly small and will pass naturally out of your body within several days after causing some pain and discomfort. It does so by traveling through your urinary tract and exiting via your urine. However, in some cases, the stone is too large or is in a position where it cannot exit the body through your urine.
When this happens, you will need treatments and interventions to remove the kidney stone. Otherwise, it can sit in your urethra or kidneys and lead to a kidney or urinary infection. Additionally, if you have kidney stone disease, you have repeated kidney stones and are more at risk of developing them. While there is no permanent cure for kidney stone disease, there are treatments for individual stones as well as things you can do to reduce your risk of developing them.
The first treatment for kidney stone disease is to drink lots of water. The more water you drink, the more you will urinate, and the more likely a kidney stone is to exit your body. Drinking lots of water can also keep waste flowing through your system and prevent the buildup of minerals, salts, and other substances that create kidney stones in the first place.
As we said before, the most prevalent symptom of having an active kidney stone is pain and discomfort. In most cases, the pain is bad enough that you will need pain relievers to cope with it. Over-the-counter pain medications, such as Tylenol and Ibuprofen, are often enough to get the job done.
In some cases, the kidney stone cannot pass through your system because you are too tense. When this happens, your ureter tightens up, and the passageway narrows, making it impossible for any stone larger than the ureter to pass through it. To help your ureter relax, you may need muscle relaxants, such as nifedipine or tamsulosin.
If hydrating and waiting for the stone to come out does not work, you may need a more invasive procedure. This is often the case when the stone is too large to pass through your ureter. The treatment options include:
Shockwave lithotripsy is one of the most common and least invasive treatments for kidney stone removal. Shockwave lithotripsy is where your doctor uses an instrument to create shock waves near the kidney stone and break it down into tiny bits. The smaller stones can then pass out of your body through your urine, and no further treatment is needed.
When the kidney stone or stones are stuck in your kidney and cannot even enter the urinary tract, you may need percutaneous nephrolithotomy. This procedure is used on very large stones and involves making an incision in your back near your kidneys. Your doctor will then go in through the incision and remove the stones manually.
If neither of the first two treatments are an option, you may need laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgery is where a surgeon performs a procedure on you via small cuts or holes rather than cutting you open. During the procedure, your surgeon will use probes to break down and remove kidney stones.
While kidney stone disease can be uncomfortable and painful, it usually is not cause for concern. Most kidney stones will pass on their own, and those that do not can usually be removed via one of the above procedures. To keep kidney stone formation to a minimum, it is important to drink lots of water and avoid foods that promote kidney stone formation.