Category Archives: calcium oxalate kidney stones

calcium oxalate kidney stones

Renal Fellow Network: Don't Eat the Leaves

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Hyperoxaluria is an important risk factor for kidney stones, approximately 80% of which are primarily composed of calcium oxalate. Hyperoxaluria is typically diagnosed by performing a 24 hour urine collection and levels above 45 mg/day are considered abnormal although, depending on the other urine constituents, the risk of CaOx stones increases when the urinary oxalate level is above 20 mg/dl. It is important to distinguish between hyperoxaluria that results from increased oxalate production (endogenous) and increased oxalate ingestion (enteric).

The classic disease associated with increased oxalate production is primary hyperoxaluria. There are 3 identified types although all result from defects in glycoxylate metabolism leading to oxalate accumulation. At first, the manifestations are primarily renal leading to nephrolithiasis and nephrocalcinosis. However, as the disease progresses,  the serum oxalate concentration increases eventually resulting in extra-renal oxalate deposition. Vitamin C is metabolized to oxalate also so that patients with oxalate-containing kidney stones should probably avoid excess vitamin C supplementation as this could increase the risk of stones.

Enteric hyperoxaluria results from increased absorption of oxalate in the large bowel. In general, there are 3 ways in which this might occur:

  • Increased dietary oxalate ingestion
  • Decreased dietary calcium intake – calcium binds oxalate in the gut and reduces absorption. This is why low calcium diets are not recommended in patients with idiopathic kidney stones. Calcium supplements are a different issue as they may contribute to hypercalciuria and not decrease oxalate ingestion, particularly if they are not taken at mealtimes
  • In the setting of malabsorption syndromes and GI disease. This occurs in patients following bariatric surgery, fat malabsorption and inflammatory bowel disease. The mechanism is thought to be related to binding of calcium to fatty acids thus reducing the availability of calcium for oxalate-binding, along with increased large bowel permeability. There have been multiple cases of patients developing severe oxalosis following jejuno-ileal bypass surgery.

The treatment of hyperoxaluria depends on the cause. For all patients, increasing fluid intake is good advice. Some patients with primary hyperoxaluria respond to treatment with pyridoxine which promotes conversion of glycoxylate to glycine instead of oxalate. Recently, a bacterium has been identified that metabolizes oxalate in the gut and this has been proposed as a potential treatment for hyperoxaluria. Interestingly, antibiotic treatment has been shown to decrease oxalobacter colonization in individuals with peptic ulcer disease.

Of course, all patients with hyperoxaluria should be advised to reduce oxalate consumption in the diet. Foods high in oxalate include spinach, rhubarb, tea, chocolate, star fruit and soy products. A full list can be found here.

Rhubarb is an interesting case. In the First World War because of the lack of access to fresh vegetables, the British government recommended that families supplement their diets with rhubarb leaves which were not traditionally eaten. It turns out that this was very bad advice. Rhubarb leaves contain considerably more oxalate than the stalks and there was a flurry of case reports towards the end of the war detailing cases of oxalate poisoning from rhubarb leaf consumption (see also and this). The toxicity of the leaves was probably increased by advice to cool the leaves with soda which increases the solubility of oxalate. Although the MD50 of oxalate would require the ingestion of about 5kg of rhubarb leaves, one could imagine that much lower doses would be toxic in patients with chronic kidney disease.

One last point about oxalate. It is a terminal metabolite and was thought to not have any positive role. However, recent data have suggested that oxalate is important for chloride transport in the proximal tubule where it acts similarly to formate..

Sugar in Food: Soda and Stones – Nutrition Action

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“Aged Brie & sun dried figs create a flavor that would make even Mona Lisa smile,” gushes the label of the frozen gourmet “grown-up” Good Tastes Brie and Fig Mac & Cheese, which is sold at stores like Whole Foods.

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Smile? Chances are, she’d laugh at the tiny 1¹∕³-cup portion that’s supposed to serve two. (She might also chuckle at some of the “wholesome, gourmet, exhaustively sourced” ingredients, like the maltodextrin, xanthan gum, and natural cheese flavor.)

How many people will notice that the Nutrition Facts apply to just half the box? Probably not many. After all, who would ever think that just over a cup of mac & cheese could have up to 640 calories and 16 grams of saturated fat?

Amy’s Cheese Enchilada may seem like a 240- calorie bargain (though its 6 grams of saturated fat and 440 milligrams of sodium aren’t exactly low).

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Look again. The Nutrition Facts on the box are for just one of the two small enchiladas that are inside. Eat them both and your bargain morphs into about a quarter of a day’s calories and half a day’s sodium and sat fat.

The FDA’s serving size for enchilada-plus-sauce is about 7 ounces. Each of Amy’s enchiladas weighs 4.5 ounces. But thanks to a loophole in the labeling rules for foods that come in “small discrete units,” Amy’s can pretend that one enchilada is a serving.

You’re not fooling us, kiddo.

Coffee has been linked to a lower risk of dying of mouth and throat cancer in the largest study to look for a connection.

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The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II followed nearly 1 million participants for 26 years. Those who reported drinking more than four cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 50 percent lower risk of dying of mouth and throat cancer than those who drank coffee occasionally or never. (One cup is 8 ounces, so a 16 oz. Starbucks grande is equal to two cups.)

The researchers found a hint that people who drank decaf had a lower risk of dying of mouth and throat cancer. However, tea wasn’t linked to a lower risk.

What to do: This study doesn’t prove that coffee lowers the risk of mouth and throat cancer (and four cups could keep you up at night and make you jittery). But coffee does contain compounds that protect against DNA damage in animals. Tobacco and alcohol are the strongest risk factors for mouth and throat cancer.

Source: Am. J. Epidemiol. 177: 50, 2013.

Drinking more fluids is thought to prevent kidney stones. But that may not apply to sugar-sweetened soda.

Researchers tracked more than 194,000 people for roughly eight years. Those who drank at least one serving of sugar-sweetened cola a day had a 23 percent higher risk of kidney stones than those who drank less than one serving a week. Likewise, those who drank at least one serving of sugar-sweetened non-cola a day had a 33 percent higher risk than those who drank less than one serving a week.

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In contrast, people who drank regular coffee, decaf, or tea at least once a day had a 16 to 26 percent lower risk of kidney stones than people who drank those beverages less than once a week. The risk was 30 to 40 percent lower in people who had at least one serving of red or white wine or beer daily, and 12 percent lower in those who drank orange juice, but not other juices, at least once a day.

What to do: Minimize sugar-sweetened sodas. Researchers suggest that their fructose may raise the risk of kidney stones by making kidneys excrete more calcium, oxalate, and uric acid. (Most kidney stones are made of calcium oxalate.)

Source: Clin. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 2013. doi:10.2215/ CJN.11661112.

“Institute of Medicine: Lowering daily sodium intake below 2,300 milligrams may do more harm than good,” reported CBS News in May 2013. “No benefit in sharply restricting salt, panel finds,” said The New York Times. “Is eating too little salt risky?” asked National Public Radio. “New report raises questions.”

Questions, indeed. But not so much about salt as about what the IOM was asked, what it concluded, and whether it relied on discredited data.

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When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked the Institute of Medicine to quickly review the impact of very-low-sodium diets on health last year, the CDC expected to clear up some confusion. Instead, the report caused more. Here’s what the IOM did—and didn’t—say.

The report wasn’t about whether we eat too much salt. The question wasn’t whether typical U.S. sodium intakes —at least 3,400 mg a day, not including what we get from the salt shaker—are healthy. They’re not.

Instead, the CDC wanted to know what happens at 1,500 mg to 2,300 mg a day.

While that matters for setting daily sodium targets, it applies to few people, since only about 5 percent of adults get less than 2,300 mg of sodium a day (not counting what comes from the salt shaker).

The report found no harm for most people. There’s “insufficient and inconsistent” evidence that very-low-sodium diets cause harm in the “general population,” the IOM concluded.

Why insufficient? Studies that have observed a higher risk of disease or death in people who eat very-low-sodium diets have weaknesses.

One example: “People who report eating very little sodium are more likely to be ill,” explains Stephen Havas of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Odds are, it’s illness that raises their risk of disease and death and makes them eat so little salt (and food).

Since all the evidence of harm in the general population was based on studies that had that or some other weakness, it added up to “insufficient,” said the IOM.

The report found evidence of harm in people with heart failure, but that’s irrelevant, and the evidence is suspect. The most persuasive evidence of harm came from a group of Italian researchers who randomly assigned patients with heart failure to normal or very-low-sodium diets. Those restricting sodium were more likely to be readmitted to the hospital or to die.

Alarming? Not quite. First, the researchers restricted not just salt, but also how much water the patients could consume. And they put them on high doses of diuretics. That regimen isn’t used here.

“This hyper-aggressive treatment may have caused severe depletion of blood volume,” explains Frank Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health.

More troubling, in June 2013 the journal Heart retracted a meta-analysis on sodium and heart failure by one of the Italian researchers, Pietro Di Pasquale of the University of Palermo. Each of the six studies in the meta-analysis was done by his research group.

In March 2013 Heart’s editor warned that two of the studies had duplicate data. In June Heart explained that when its ethics committee asked to see the raw data, the researchers said it was “lost as a result of computer failure.” The IOM didn’t cite the meta-analysis, but it did cite the two studies with duplicate data.

“It’s hard to believe that data can be lost from two trials,” says Lawrence Appel of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

“The editors from the journals that published these papers should ask for the data and conduct an independent analysis of all trials from this research group.”

Sources: www.iom.edu/Reports/2013/ Sodium-Intake-in- Populations-Assessment-of-Evidence.aspx; MMWR 60: 1413, 2011; Clin. Sci. 114: 221, 2008; Heart 99: 820, 2013.

Easy and Practical Ways to Prevent Kidney Stones | Kundan Kidney …

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Incidence of kidney stones is on the rise. Twelve percent of those afflicted are men and seven percent are women. Studies also show that women and children are more at risk of getting kidney stones, which are small specks of hard masses that form in the kidneys.

These are also called renal stones. The medical term is Nephrolitiasis. Symptoms are flank pain and blood in the urine or hematuria. If a stone gets stuck during the flow of urine it causes intense pain and major bleeding. People with medical conditions like gout are at risk for kidney stones and those taking medications or supplements are also at risk. Other factors that contribute to kidney stone formation are hereditary and dietary. A CT scan will best show if someone has renal stones.

Follow these seven ways to prevent kidney stones.

1. Sweating. Exercising is good, but overdoing it isn’t. When you are sweating, you are losing water from your body and losing so much can be a cause of Nephrolitiasis. It is summer and it’s hot. The heat can make you sweat more and cause you to urinate less which is how kidney stones form in your body. Keep your body hydrated by drinking a lot of water during activities so you can urinate properly.

2. Avoid Soda. Sodas and too much sugar in your body are not good. But that doesn’t mean to never enjoy some sweetness! Treat yourself but at the same time don’t have sodas or a lot of sugar in your system every day. Stick to eating healthy foods and instead of having sodas every day try drinking more water because it is healthier and more refreshing. Fruits are also the healthier choice than cakes and chocolates.

3. Naturally high calcium foods. Foods with naturally high calcium content such as oranges, beans, broccoli, dried fruits and nuts, sesame seeds, etc. are good for you. These are healthy food choices which help prevent kidney stones because they are natural with no added preservatives. Additionally, high calcium foods make your bones grow and keep it stronger. These foods maintain alkaline in your blood flow and also keep your muscles strong.

4. Increase the Oxalate. Oxalates are natural substances which can be found in food and even in plants. Some people think that you shouldn’t be having oxalates in your system because there is actually a calcium oxalate kidney stone. But this doesn’t mean that you stay away from oxalates. On the contrary, you need them and cutting them from your diet won’t reduce being at risk.You should eat foods with oxalates and calcium such as: strawberries, kiwifruit, grapes, cashews, spinach, parsley, nuts, seeds, etc.

5. Recurring Kidney Stones. Yes, they can come back. Studies show that about 15 percent of kidney stone patients do not take their prescriptions while 41 percent disregard nutritional advice. This leads to recurring renal stones which can mean other problems like kidney diseases.

6. Eat citrus. Citrus fruits and lemons should be added to your diet because research shows that they are helpful for people diagnosed with Nephrolitiasis.

7. Mind your meat. Avoid or cut down on high-purine foods that cause uric acid stones. These foods include organ meats like liver and tongue, sweetbreads, anchovies, sardines, beef, bacon, cauliflower, ham, codfish, veal, venison and codfish.

Follow these easy and practical advices to prevent kidney stones. Smarter and healthier choices keep the sickness at bay.

Kidney Stone Doctor – Santa Barbara Referral – Edhat

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OP here. Thanks for the suggestions–Koper doesn’t have an opening until the end of September! Anyone have history with the other guy at Sansum, Curhan? He seems to focus on the prostate more.

640, I’ve done a lot of research, I’m drinking lots of lemon juice in water, but sorry I just don’t believe lemon juice will “round” stones or shrink them, though it increases citrate in the urine, which helps keep calcium oxalate stones from forming in future.

Will certainly try to avoid surgery. Hoping to pass this baby the natural way. But I need an assessment where the stone(s) can be visualized clearly.

Discovery of gene function may help prevent kidney stones

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The discovery of a gene’s function in E. coli and other bacteria might lead to a probiotic to prevent the most common type of kidney stone, according to a Purdue University study.

Human cells can’t metabolize oxalate, an acidic chemical found in nearly all plants we eat, so any oxalate we absorb from food must be excreted from the body. Calcium-oxalate urinary stones can form when oxalate reaches a high concentration in the kidneys. About 80 percent of are composed of insoluble .

T. Joseph Kappock, assistant professor of biochemistry, and his research team made the discovery during a study of genes in Acetobacter aceti, a harmless bacterium that is typically used to convert wine to vinegar. Acetobacter aceti, which normally lives on , thrives in acidic conditions that easily kill most other bacteria, Kappock said.

The researchers were searching for other acids in addition to acetic acid, the acid present in vinegar, that the bacterium can .

“We were very excited when we realized E. coli has the same genetic setup as Acetobacter aceti,” said Kappock, whose findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Kappock and doctoral students Elwood A. Mullins and Kelly L. Sullivan found that Acetobacter aceti and E. coli each contain an enzyme with a previously unknown function, called YfdE in E. coli.

DNA sequencing had identified related genes in each bacterium, but provided little insight about its function.

“When we look at a by DNA sequencing, we can’t tell what many of the proteins in the organism do,” Kappock said. “I compare it to knowing that a vehicle has an internal combustion engine. You don’t know if it’s in an Indy car or a diesel truck. DNA sequencing tells us we have an internal combustion engine in this organism, but we don’t know what it’s for or what it can do.”

Many other bacteria have the same genes but don’t seem to be capable of using them.


“A few bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract eat oxalate, and we think we know how those work,” Kappock said. “But we don’t know why so many others are killed by oxalate, even though they have genes that would seem to be able to protect them. Oxalate is a very hard nut to crack. It’s a very stable molecule that is difficult to decompose. The enzymes that process it are pretty specialized and don’t seem to connect to normal bacterial metabolic pathways in an obvious way.”

The researchers determined which chemicals are processed by the YfdE enzyme, following a hunch that it would use oxalate. Their results connected oxalate degradation to the core of bacterial metabolism.

Assigning a function to YfdE may help identify beneficial bacteria that could serve as probiotic agents in the human gastrointestinal tract to reduce the risk of kidney stone formation. Kidney stones, which affect more than 5 percent of the U.S. population, can cause painful blockages of the urinary tract.

“If we understand what bacteria need to degrade oxalate, then we might have a better idea how to identify strains that can do that, and thereby suppress the uptake of dietary ” he said. “There are probably out there that have engineered themselves to do this for us.”

Genome-sequencing information will increase the speed of the search, Kappock said.

“Because we’ve figured out what the gene product does, we will be able to find it in any organism and can zero in on those that might be beneficial,” he said.

The researchers used X-ray crystallography to pinpoint the most important regions of the YfdE enzyme.

Kappock said the information has other applications, as well. Scientists and engineers who are interested in mapping and reprogramming microbial metabolism now know what one more gene product does.

“Our one piece of the puzzle will help others understand other metabolic networks,” he said.


Explore further:
After bariatric op, controlled diet can aid CaOx supersaturation

More information: Acetyl-CoA:Oxalate CoA-transferase 1 Function and X-ray Crystal Structure of Escherichia coli YfdE, PLOS ONE


What Are Kidney Stones by Kayla Tatum | BLS-ACLS-PALS Classes …

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By at July 21, 2013 | 11:36 am |
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The main function of the kidneys is to act as a filter for our blood. ‘Dirty blood’ or blood that contains waste from food our body ingests, travels into the kidneys through a filtration process. The clean blood is distributed into our body. Kidney stones form when your kidneys cannot breakdown substances because of lack of fluid in your body and a buildup is formed. These chemical reactions require liquid to help the process of breaking these chemicals down. When a lack of fluid occurs, the waste cannot easily into the filters of the kidney. Movement of water across the membrane of the kidney cells (osmosis) helps carry the blood into the filters. If these breakdowns do not occur, bodily damage and kidney cell damage can occur.

Kidney stones can form when your urine contains more crystalizing substances than the liquid in your urine can dilute. The most common kidney stones are made of calcium oxalate. Oxalate is a naturally occurring substance found in foods such as vegetables, nuts and even chocolate may have high oxalate levels. When kidney stones form, your kidneys are not receiving enough water, causing the blood to go back into your body and have less water than it needs. This is why doctors tell people with kidney stones to drink more water; not only will the water help break the stone down, it will help hydrate the persons body. If the person is not hydrated, the calcium oxalate becomes more concentrated because of the lack of fluid and inability to break the substance down.

If the kidneys cannot function correctly due to lack of hydration, a person may become ill or even die. If the blood going back into a person is still ‘dirty,’ it causes bodily damage and kidney cell damage. If the kidney cells are damaged so severely, a person may need dialysis to stay alive if the kidneys cannot function. Dialysis is a method of removing the blood and with the help of special machines, the blood is filtered and put back into the body. Healthy kidneys can remove the waste from the blood and then transport the waste into the bladder to be deposited out of the body via urine. If urine levels decrease, this means the kidneys are not completely working as they should and a blockage of some sort may have occurred meaning a kidney stone has formed.

The kidneys filter the blood with a straw like tubule: blood goes in the tube, tained blood goes into the cells of the tubule wall and then clean blood goes back into the blood stream, while waste continues into the bladder. Some substances are too large to go into the cells because the cells are selective with what they will take in. When substances are too large to go into the cells they are passed along into the bladder. When a buildup occurs, the waste cannot be filtered out and into the bladder, urine levels will decrease. Causing blood to remain dirty, and then an overall bodily infection.

Kidney stones can be caused by many things: family history, dehydration and diet. However, certain factors can also play a role’ men are more susceptible than women, Caucasians more often than other races and obese individuals are all more likely to be a victim of a kidney stone. 13% of men and 7% of women are likely to experience a kidney stone in their lifetimes, a statistic quickly n the rise in America.

Kidney stones can be treated several different ways, drinking enough water to flush out the kidneys, pain relievers and medical procedures. Sound waves, surgery, paratyroid gland surgery and an ureteroscope are other methods of fixing this common problem.

Kidneys are vital to life, if they are not healthy enough to function or cannot function due to a kidney stone, damage, sickness and even death can occur.

 

 

Works Cited

Prater, Alicia Mae. “Renal Anatomy and Physiology.” n. page. Print.  <http://suite101.com/article/renal-anatomy-and-physiology-a152902>.

“National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse.” Kidneys and How They    Work. n. page. Web. 21 May. 2013.             <http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/>.

Mayo Clinic staff, . “Kidney Stones.” n. page. Print. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kidney-stones/DS00282/METHOD=print>.

 

 

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How to forestall from Kidney Stone – Health Tips

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  A horny, transparent mineralized substantial produced within the kidney or urinary tract illustrious as kidney stones. It is also titled as renal calculi. Kidney stones are a shared effort of execution in the piss or hematuria and ofttimes strict upset flank, or venter, mole. Lithiasis is the consideration for having kidney stones. Urolithiasis is the walk of material manufacture in the urinary tract and ureterolithiasis refers to shaping of stones in the ureters. Types of kidney pericarp:
Calcium oxalate stones are really popular. They acquire a way to grade when the excrement is acid, it implementation, it has a low pH. Many of the oxalate in weewee is chainlike by the body. Oxalate and Calcium in the diet change a move but are not the exclusive factors, which alter the manufacture of metal oxalate stones. Dietetical oxalate is an organic material found in various vegetables, fruits, as symptomless as in nuts.


Metal orthophosphate stones are fewer inferior. When the excreta is alkalescent, it capital when it has adenoidal pH then metal orthophosphate kill run to become.

Uric superman stones are perfected when the excrement is persistently acidulous that mightiness ending from a diet colorful in organism proteins as cured as purines-substances launch course in all food but especially in wind fish, meats, and shellfish.

Struvite stones ending from infections in the kidney. Inhibiting Struvite stones depends on staying incident people.

Cystine stones resultant from a thin genetic disarray, which causes Cystine-an alkane solvent, one of the antiquity blocks of protein-to wetting finished the kidneys and into the piss to state crystals.  How are kidney stones activated?  Himalaya Cystone is rattling telling herbal drug to touch inborn kidney working and Urinary treatise welfare. This herbal medicament helps in destructing urinary tract infections and also in displacing urinary stones. Cystone helps to defend levelheaded water management as well as it inhibits coefficient clear caused due to water keeping.

 Cystone helps in Kidney mending by treating your kidney stones and Urinary tract infections. Cystone inhibits examined and Chroma of lithogenic substances, the ones that are prudent for architect formation. Cystone is efficiently activated and also inhibits phosphate stones, oxalate stones, Urate stones, Uric dissolver and also Transmission stones. It also utilized to interact pellucid that refers to crystals found in the weewee. The Inveterate urinary parcel infections, non-specific urethritis, hurting urination and Hyperuricemia (typewrite of arthritis, which occurs when upper levels of uric acids figure up in execution) all these conditions are efficiently doped by Cystone.

 You instrument get lots of benefits from the fluid Cystone. These are as follows:

  • It is an herbal punishment to interact and moderate Kidney stones
  • This drug efficiently treats urinary parcel infections
  • It helps to defend formula excretion theme
  • It helps to conquer element retention
  • This medicament promotes typical Kidney upbeat.

It prevents vividness of pericarp forming substances  Fasting and kidney filmmaker: By feeding a salubrious and well-balanced fasting is the mortal alternative to keep kidney stones. As kidney stones are baccilar by a lack of equilibrium of food as intimately as minerals, it is crucial that one stays fully hydrated at all present and also try to desist syrupy juices, alcohol, and salt pop. A plant-based fast chockful of vegetables, unfermented production and legumes will assist to maintain the straightlaced mineralized equilibrise in your kidneys.

 It is soul to refrain kidney stones by ingestion lots of element, as waterlessness and low agent intake are the main try factors for kidney take fabrication.

 Persons lean forge metal oxalate kidney stones strength be recommended to limit content consumption of squeaking in oxalate, specified as rhubarb, spinach, Nation chard, corn germ, beets, and peanuts.

Urolithiasis Treatment :How to Cure Urolithiasis

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The urinary tract in us humans constitute of those organs that are concerned with the production, storage and discharge of urine, which is a waste product secreted by the kidneys.  The urinary system is made up of a pair of kidneys – where urine is excreted; a pair of ureters – through which urine flows down to the bladder; urinary bladder – where urine is temporarily retained; and the urethra – the canal through which urine is eliminated out.

How to Treat & Cure Urolithiasis

Urinary tract diseases come in different forms.  Urinary tract stone, also known as urolithiasis is a common occurrence, especially in those individuals who resides in hot climatic conditions and are poor water consumers.

What is urolithiasis ?

Urine as stated earlier is a waste material that contains chemical ions and mineral elements.  When these compounds are in higher concentration levels in this solution, and when the environmental condition within the urinary tract becomes appropriate, these elements combine to form crystals which later go on to further clump together to form stone-like masses of various shapes and sizes.

Now, these masses can develop anywhere in the urinary tract and its composition can differ.  Identifying the crystalline composition of stones is important, as well as determining its size and location so that one can take appropriate treatment measures.

Types of Urolithiasis

Urolithiasis is something that is distinguishable as a variety.  The different types are – calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate, uric acid, cystine, and magnesium phosphate stones.

What are the Urolithiasis symptoms?

Small sized stones generally do not bring about any symptoms.  But if the clusters formed are numerous or large in size, enough to block normal urine flow, then abdominal or lower back or groin pain may be experienced accompanied by nausea, vomiting, slight variations in body temperatures, and sometimes blood in urine.

Urolithiasis treatment modalities

ESWL – this is a non-invasive treatment method generally used to get rid of stones that are under 2 cm in size.  Several jolts of sound waves are passed through the person’s body to break the stones into tiny bits, so that they travel more easily out through the urinary tract along with the passage of urine.

Ureteroscopic with ablation and/or extraction – a process where an ureteroscope is first inserted via the urethra to view the entire urinary system to locate the stone.  In cases where the stone is large, a laser device is inserted to fragment the stones which are later snared out using an instrument with a basket attached to it.  All of this is done under general anesthesia.

An open surgery is usually done for removal of stones larger than 2 cm in size.

Natural remedies for urolithiasis

A person who has ever gone through the pain from passing a kidney stone, or undergone a surgical procedure for stone removal, will almost certainly look for home options to prevent the stones from occurring again.

–       These individuals will need to up their intake of water daily, drink as much water as they can to keep the urine solution well diluted, and to increase their frequency of urination for faster elimination of waste materials.

–       Dairy products actually prevent the formation of certain kidney stone types.  So next time a glass of milk is offered to you, do not refuse.

–       Avoid meat and meat products or at least minimize meat eating and make it a once a week ritual.  Following a meat-free diet have helped several stone sufferers in reducing its recurrence.

Change your life for the better by following a healthy lifestyle and continue to find best ways to stay healthy.

Clayton Cramer's Blog: "It's Raining Stones!"

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That’s what my urologist said yesterday during the consultation.  Perhaps because the sudden hot weather of the last few weeks, he was getting an extraordinary number of kidney stone cases, as people are dehydrating.  (In the nineteenth century, kidney and bladder stones were often associated with long sea voyages, because fresh water and even beer was in short supply.) 

 While I was waiting for my surgery, my wife was talking to a woman in the waiting room whose husband was getting a kidney stone removed as well.  He is a runner, and was in the E/R a few days before.  He ignored the “without fail see an urologist” instruction on the discharge form, out of fear of the misery of the surgery.  But after a second visit to the E/R, he realized that there was no real choice.

I was surprised to find that kidney stones are one of the most common health problems in the U.S.:

Each year in the United States, people make more than a million visits
to health care providers and more than 300,000 people go to emergency
rooms for kidney stone problems.

There are a number of causes of kidney stones, and exactly what type of stone determines what sort of dietary changes are required:

Calcium Oxalate Stones

  • reducing sodium
  • reducing animal protein, such as meat, eggs, and fish
  • getting enough calcium from food or taking calcium supplements with food
  • avoiding foods high in oxalate, such as spinach, rhubarb, nuts, and wheat bran

Calcium Phosphate Stones

  • reducing sodium
  • reducing animal protein
  • getting enough calcium from food or taking calcium supplements with food

Uric Acid Stones

  • limiting animal protein

I’m not sure what kind of stone I had, but pretty everything that I eat is a problem, so the solution seems to be: drink more water:

Drinking enough fluids each day is the best way to help prevent most
types of kidney stones. Health care providers recommend that a person
drink 2 to 3 liters of fluid a day. People with cystine stones may need
to drink even more. Though water is best, other fluids may also help
prevent kidney stones, such as citrus drinks.

I keep a big Cato Institute mug on my desk at work; I think I am going to make a point of filling it at least three times a day, and finishing it three times a day.  It makes you wonder how much of a dent in the cost of national health care we could make just getting people to drink more fluids, especially in the hot parts of the country.  (In New York City, just to annoy Nanny Bloomberg — more soft drinks that are low in sodium.)

Kidney stones: Symptoms and treatment – Cancer Health Center

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Chances are you or someone you know has had a kidney stone at some point in their life; they are very common, affecting approximately one in ten people throughout their lifetime. &#160;The risk of kidney stones is higher in the United States than the rest of the world and this number has only been increasing over the past two to three decades. &#160;Despite the high incidence in the U.S., however, this is a condition that affects people worldwide and has done so for millennia; bladder and kidney stones have even been found in Egyptian mummies.

Kidney stones are small, hard deposits, typically composed of mineral and acid salts, that form inside your kidneys. &#160;As one might expect, because urine is a vehicle for waste excretion, it is comprised of numerous chemicals and wastes (including calcium, oxalate, urate, cysteine, xanthine and phosphate). &#160;When the urine is too concentrated, that is too little liquid and too much waste, crystals will begin to form. &#160;Over time, these crystals can join together and form a larger stone-like solid. &#160;

There is no single cause for kidney stones and often, the cause is unknown. &#160;There are, however, different types of kidney stones, which can help pinpoint the origin. &#160;Calcium stones (in the form of calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate), for example, are the most common form of kidney stone. &#160;Oxalate is a naturally occurring substance in food, so anything that increases levels of this compound, can increase the risk of a kidney stone. &#160;Uric acid stones often form in people who do not consume enough fluids, eat high protein diets or have gout. &#160;Struvite stones often form as the result of a kidney infection. &#160;

Treatment for kidney stones primarily depends on the size of the stone. &#160;If it is smaller than four millimeters in diameter, you have a good chance of passing it spontaneously. Consuming two to three quarts of water a day and using a pain reliever can help pass these small stones. &#160;Larger stones may require invasive treatment including: surgery, using a scope passed through the urethra or shock-wave lithotripsy, where high-energy sound waves break up the stone in to more easily passable stones.

Risk factors for developing kidney stones include: being over age 40, being male, ingesting too little water, too much/little exercise, obesity, weight loss surgery, digestive diseases, and consuming a diet high in salt, protein or sugar, especially fructose. &#160;Having a family history of kidney stones can also increase your risk of developing them; furthermore, if you have already experienced kidney stones, you are at an increased risk of developing more. &#160;

Prevention of kidney stones can be as simple as a few dietary changes. &#160;Consuming more water during the day is one of the easiest measures you can take. &#160;Doctors recommend excreting about 2.6 quarts of urine every day. &#160;Depending on the severity of your kidney stones, you may want to measure and monitor your urine excretion. &#160;Consume fewer oxalate-rich foods, especially if you tend to form calcium oxalate stones. &#160;Such foods include chocolate, soy products, okra, beets, sweet potatoes, tea and nuts. &#160;Consume foods low in salt and animal protein. &#160;Speak with your doctor about your calcium intake via food and supplements before making any changes here. &#160;Furthermore, speak with your doctor about the possibility of prescription drugs to help with your kidney stones. &#160;


Dr. David B. Samadi is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He is a board-certified urologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urological disease, with a focus on robotic prostate cancer treatments. To learn more please visit his websites RoboticOncology.com and SMART-surgery.com. Find Dr. Samadi on Facebook.

source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/kidney-stones-symptoms-and-treatment/