Stephen's Blogs – Stephen Hon's Blogs (韓啟年)

Kidney stones is a disease of the kidney whereby solid concretions are formed in the kidneys from minerals in the diet. These stones are usually formed within the kidneys and other parts of the urinary tract. It is also called renal calculus. They are more common in men than in women as men are likely to suffer from kidney stones earlier in life (30-40 years) compared to women.

They can be classified in two main ways: either by where they are located in the body, the kidneys, bladder or ureter or by their chemical composition, most common kidney stones contain calcium. The causes vary from low fluid intake and excessive alcohol drinking which leads to dehydration, cola drinks, excess intake of apple and grapefruit juice, sodium, refined sugars, oxalate and last but not least, a high dietary intake of animal protein. They can go unnoticed as most of them will leave the body by passage in the urine stream; most of them are therefore formed and passed without any significant symptoms. If they are serious and end up growing in size, at least 3 millimeters, they may cause obstruction of the ureter. It will then to conditions like hydronephrosis which is the swelling and dilation of the kidney such that there is a kidney malfunction.

Kidney stones will primarily form when there is an increase of stone forming substances in the urine, calcium for instance or a decrease in the urine volume. The most common type of kidney stones has a combination of calcium and oxalate or phosphate though there are others that will have a dominance of uric acid and amino acid cystine. Symptoms that are exhibited by people suffering from kidney stones are nausea and vomiting, fever and chills, blood in the urine and severe cramping pain in the side, groin or abdomen. If the stones are not very serious, they can be treated by the use of pain killers, non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) or opioids. If the stones cause no symptoms, waiting for them to be passed out through the urine is a valid option. On the other hand, if the case is severe, surgery may be required. There are two main types of surgical procedures that can be used, cystoscopic and percutaneous procedures. After the procedures, a tube may be placed in the ureter to bypass the obstruction and alleviate the symptoms as well as prevent uretral stricture.

Stones can be prevented in five very simple ways: drink a lot of water and avoid excessive alcohol intake so that the body remains properly hydrated. Three liters of water daily is the recommended amount to prevent kidney stones. The second way is to try and avoid caffeined drinks such as cola, tea, and coffee and so forth as these will work as diuretics though one or two cups a day is okay. Information on the various kinds of stones that can form lead to more information on the treatment and prevention methods that one should opt for. Uric acid stones are for instance caused by excess uric acid, one of the prevention methods that should be looked at is cutting down on the amount of meat in the diet. Kidney stone prevention methods apply to all other kidney stones like calcium oxalate where you will have to cut down on the amount oxalate rich foods you are consuming which include beet roots, spinach and chocolates. Tests can be carried out in order to determine what type that one could have been suffering from since there are four main types of kidney stones and a few others that are not very common. All these types of stones will be caused by various factors as a move to better prevent kidney stones from recurring, you must find out what they are formed from and then you can better avoid them.