Kidney stones are the most common disorders of the urinary tract. Kidney stones form inside a kidney when the normal substances in the urine become concentrated. Under such conditions, solid materials may stay inside your kidney, or pass down your urinary tract, and may eventually be passed out of your body.
Kidney stones often don’t show symptoms, especially during the early stages. They may be passed down through the urine on their own, when they are small. However, bigger sized stones may block the flow of urine, causing a number of painful symptoms which may be serious.
Common kidney stone symptoms include the following:
- Pain below the ribs, on either side and the back
- Pain during urination
- Pain spreading to the lower abdomen and groin
- Pain coming in waves that fluctuate in intensity
- Pink, brown or red urine
- Foul-smelling and cloudy urine
- Constant urge to urinate
- Nausea and vomiting
- More frequent needs to urinate
- Urinating small amounts
- Fever and chills when there is an infection
Clock clues:
If you are not quite certain about the symptoms of pain that you are facing being related to kidney stone or some other issues, your body clock may help you find that out. Pain due to kidney stones usually starts early in the morning. This happens mostly because people urinate less frequently at night through early morning, and so the ureter remains constricted in the morning.
Confirming your symptoms:
If you find yourself suffering from any of such symptoms, you must visit a doctor immediately. Your doctor will assist in confirming the presence of kidney stones by administering diagnostic tests. Based on the specific symptoms experienced by you, your doctor may suggest you to get a blood or urine test. Blood reports will suggest that you have kidney stones if your blood shows presence of high levels of calcium or uric acid. A urine test will confirm the same if it shows presence of other excretions along with urine. An imaging test will actually show you whether you have stones in your kidney.
When to call a doctor:
If you see any of the following signs and symptoms, you must immediately consult an urologist:
- A severe pain for which you are not able to sit or stand for a long time in a comfortable position
- Difficulty in passing urine
- Blood passed along with urine
- Pain accompanied by nausea or vomiting
- Pain accompanied by fever and chills
How to recover from kidney stones
Your doctor may suggest you to drink a lot of water during the initial stages, since it is easier to pass the stones through urine that gets dissolved into water as you drink more and more water. You may also be given medications.
For severe cases, you may be require to go through a surgery. Your urologist will help to determine the appropriate treatment required for you and suggest other preventive measures to solve problems of kidney stones.
If you are facing any of these problems or you have any further queries about kidney stones or kidney stone treatment, feel free to consult a doctor to solve all your problems.