Kidney Stones Facts
Important Facts About Kidney Stones
If you have ever suffered from kidney stones, facts will help keep you from experiencing a recurrence, and make your treatment as effective as it can possibly be.
• Kidney stones are a painful disorder, and are also one of the most common disorders found in the urinary tract. Estimates place the number of people with kidney stones treated each year at one million.
• Kidney stones facts confirm that Caucasians are more likely to develop kidney stones than African-Americans. Kidney stones occur more commonly in men, but can occur in women, too. Kidney stones are most likely to affect people between the ages of twenty and forty, and once you have had kidney stones, you are at greater risk to get them again.
• There are several different types of kidney stones, including calcium stones, which are the most common type; struvite stones, which usually develop after a urinary tract infection; uric acid stones, which form when there is an abundance of acid in the urine; and cystine stones, which are caused by a rare disease that usually affects multiple members of families.
• The symptoms of kidney stones, facts conclude, are a sharp and extreme pain in the side that won't go away; nausea and vomiting; frequent urination, with a burning pain accompanying it; blood in the urine, which may also be odorous; and fever and chills.
• There are different ways your doctor may diagnose kidney stones, including x-rays of the kidney and bladder, urinalysis, renal ultrasound and blood tests. It is important that you get to a doctor or emergency room as soon as you suspect a kidney stone, so treatment may begin promptly.
• As far as treatments for kidney stones, facts tell us that some stones will travel out of the body with no assistance. Others, including larger stones, may be treated with shock waves, which break a larger stone into smaller ones that can be passed naturally; a ureteroscope, which has a camera and a cage attached, so the stone can be brought immediately out; and tunnel surgery, where a small tunnel is made in the back and the surgeon uses this tunnel to remove the stone.
• To prevent kidney stones, facts say to drink lots of water; limit your coffee, cola and tea intake; consult your physician and make any diet modifications he recommends; take any medications that your doctor may prescribe, to prevent stones from forming.
• Kidney stones are painful, and are best dealt with promptly by a physician. Don't “tough it out”; get to your doctor's office or an emergency room as soon as you can, to begin treatment. This will help rid your body of the kidney stones in as speedy a manner as possible.