Renal Calculi, Urolithiasis, or Nephrolithiasis are some medical terms that define a renal disorder known as Kidney Stones. This disease occurs due to hard mineral deposits within the kidneys. Several reasons trigger the development of this painful medical condition. They include excessive body weight, diet, and certain supplements or medications. Stones can also affect any part of your urinary tract system, from your kidneys to the bladder. More importantly, very often, you find that these Kidney Stones form when the concentration of urine increases, permitting minerals to crystallize and stay together. To help you learn more about Kidney Stones here is presenting this article.
Kidney Stones and It’s Signs and Symptoms:
Generally, Kidney Stones are a medical condition that will not trigger any obvious symptoms unless it begins moving in the kidneys or gets into the ureters (tubes connecting the kidney and bladder). If a mineralized stone gets stuck in your ureters, it blocks the flow of urine and stimulates kidney swelling. It will cause the ureter to go into spasm, proving very useful. Furthermore, it is at this stage that you may experience the following symptoms:
- While urinating, there is a pain or burning sensation
- During urination, pain may arrive in waves and fluctuate in intensity
- Pain radiating during the process of urination to the groin and lower abdomen
- Sharp severe pain while urinating felt in the side, back, and below the ribs
Additionally, there are also other symptoms that you need to look out for, and they are:
- Foul-smelling and cloudy urine
- Vomiting and nausea
- Urgent need to urinate on a persistent basis
- Pink, Brown, or Red color urine
Also, you need to note that Kidney Stone pain can shift to a different location or increase in intensity depending on the movement of the stone in your urinary tract.
What are the Diagnoses of Kidney Stones?
When your doctor suspects that you may have a kidney stone, you may have to perform any of the following diagnostic tests or procedures. They are:
Imaging: Usually, imaging tests may help highlight the presence of Kidney Stones in your urinary tract. There is also the possibility that high-speed or dual-energy computerized tomography (CT) can even expose the smallest of stones. Besides, simple X-rays are not used since they cannot detect small rocks. Ultrasound is a non-invasive test that is quick and easy to perform, another good option to diagnose Kidney Stones.
- Blood testing:
A blood test will help you monitor your kidney’s overall health and enable your doctor to check for other medical complications.
- Stones analysis:
In this examination, you may need to urinate through a filter. Furthermore, this mainly ensures the catching of stones flushed by the water. In addition, the laboratory analysis of this procedure will highlight the entire history of your rock in the kidney.
- Urine Exam:
It s a 24-hour test that may show whether or not you are eliminating too many stones or few stones-preventing substances. Your doctor may also request you to do two tests consecutively for this examination.
How do you treat Kidney Stones?
It depends on the type of stone and the causes that the treatment for Kidney Stones occurs. They are as follows:
Small Kidney Stones and minimum symptoms:
To treat a small size stone, all you need to do are the following:
- Frequent drinking of water
Ensure that you drink at least 1.8 to 3.6 liters a day to keep your urine dilute and prevent the formation of stones.
- Medical Therapy
Your doctor may put you on a medication schedule to help the stone in your kidney pass smoothly. The drug is an alpha-blocker, relaxing the muscles in the ureter to help flush stones quickly with less pain.
- Pain relief
Passing a stone from your kidneys can be painful and cause discomfort. Therefore, your doctor may recommend you to take pain relievers such as ibuprofen or naproxen sodium.
Large Kidney Stones with symptoms:
Kidney Stones are quite large to pass easily on their own, leading to bleeding and may even cause kidney damage. Therefore, you may need comprehensive treatment to resolve the issue. There are a few procedures that your doctor may suggest. They are:
- Use of surgery
There is a process called percutaneous nephrolithotomy, in which Kidney Stones are completely removed using devices inserted via small incisions on your back. In addition, the doctor will use telescopes during this surgical process.
- Scope to eliminate stone
A ureteroscope (light tube) with the camera may be passed by your doctor into the urethra, bladder, and ureter so that the removal of smaller Kidney Stones is possible
- Sound Waves
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is yet another procedure that your doctor may use to remove Kidney Stones of a certain size. Thus, ESWL uses sound waves to create shock waves which helps break the stone into pieces. They are then passed via urine.
- Surgery of the Parathyroid gland
Some Kidney Stones are formed because of overactive parathyroid glands. Therefore, by surgically removing the growth of this organ, you eliminate the possibility of a stone formation in the kidneys.
Conclusion
Since the formation of Kidney Stones can be a painful medical condition, you must seek medical assistance. Therefore, presenting to you below are a few signs and symptoms for which you need to call your doctor immediately. They are:
- Presence of blood in the urine
- Difficulty in passing urine
- Pain that comes along with fever and chills
- Nausea and vomiting that comes with pain
- Pain so severe that you cannot sit still
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