<p>Anyone BTDT? Things we should be concerned about with sonic blasting of the stone or of moving the stone back to the kidney for less invasive destruction?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>CountingDown, I’ve had stones more than a dozen times but have never done the blasting thing. Sorry I can’t help you there but I do sympathize with you as the pain is worse than anything, including childbirth. I hope you can get rid of them soon!</p>
<p>Not sure what BTDT is. H had lithotripsy with his last kidney stone. Drove in a blinding snowstorm to the nearest larger city an hour away for him to have the proceedure and returned home that evening in the same snowstorm. 9 hours and $18,000. The proceedure didn’t work for him. The urologist ended up having to take him to surgery and fish the stone out out of the ureter.</p>
<p>BTDT = Been there done that</p>
<p>DH is the kidney stone king. Been blasted several times with mixed success. One insurance company did it for the $25 copay. Another insurance company didn’t care to pay much and we were out $1500 (and the didn’t even get the stone 
).</p>
<p>He’s never had any side effects - just soreness.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah… had my first one at 22. And once more at about the age of 45, but never had them blasted. Just morphine and waiting. That is one reason I love the small hospital in our suburb – only a five minute process between hitting the ER door and starting the morophine drip.</p>
<p>Mine seem to align with diet changes. The first one I associate with drinking lots of Tang (training for a marathon, kept pitchers of it in the fridge all summer and drank a ton). Stopped the Tang after the stone, and didn’t have another for a long time.</p>
<p>The next one seemed to be associated with high spinach intake. I had started to eat spinach salad every day for lunch for six months. Good for me (or so I thought) and I liked it. After that stone, doctor advised me to cut out spinach. No more spinach, and no more problems.</p>
<p>I had been advised after the first one to avoid any calcium supplements. We managed to “collect” the stone when it passed (involves filtering your urine for a couple of days), and the doctor was able to analyze it. Have carefully done followed that instruction (hard to find a prenatal vitamin without it, but did it even then).</p>
<p>The pain is horrible… hope you or whoever has one is over it soon!</p>
<p>Sorry, can’t help with blasting.
Mine passed by itself in about four days.
And, yes, the worst pain in the world.</p>
<p>
I have had the pleasure of about a dozen kidney stones over the last decade and lithotripsy about ten times to blast the stones. There are several types and can be caused genetically or by diet such as overingesting tea, ice cream, soda or not drinking enough water ( my failing). After a few attacks, you recognize the symptoms early and get to a hospital. Now whenever they show up on XRay, I get them blasted. Other than feeling like you’ve been punched a few times, I haven’t had to take anything stronger than Tylenol. Oh and lemonade and vinegar (oil/vinegar for salad dressing are alleged to help minimize the occurrence of stones.</p>
<p>My brother has had dozens, some blasted, some just awfully painful until that moment of relief arrives. </p>
<p>Per his comments to me, diet sometimes helps but mostly doesn’t; it seems some people are susceptible to them and others aren’t, that it tends to be idiopathic so no clear genetic link or relationship to lifestyle. </p>
<p>I’m always sorry to hear when a person is susceptible to stones. I know how much they hurt my brother. And, somewhat off topic perhaps, stones are the only thing I’ve seen cause a stoic animal, like a cat, to moan audibly and continuously in pain. Again, condolences to the sufferers.</p>
<p>Don’t know what it’s called, but my DH had some sonic thing, where they kind of sent sound waves to shake them up to break them. Is that a lithotripsy or is it a sonic blasting? </p>
<p>In any case, he had a really disasterous experience after that. Okay, he seemed fine for about a day, but then the darn stone tried to get moving and he was miserable. He was sick and shaking for the next week. Really miserable. Ended taking about a week off, had to be on pain meds and the anti-throw-up med. Was back at the doctor’s office or emergency room in-and-out all during that horrible week of pain. And then … </p>
<p>it was over.</p>
<p>It’s my DIL…was diagnosed Saturday. The stone was pretty large. She has been on pain and anti-nausea meds. She started getting worse again last night. They took her into surgery tonight to try to move the stone back to the kidney, and depending on how things went, were going to blast it in a less invasive manner. S called and said he had pieces of the stone in his hand. She has a stent for the next few days.</p>
<p>Her doc told her to avoid chocolate, spinach and tea. She is English – and did not take the “no tea” edict well at all! She has never been big into drinking water, but has been told that needs to change. </p>
<p>I think this may be what finally gets S1 to get his driver’s license. They have had to rely on friends for rides this week.</p>
<p>H had the first one about 6 months ago at age 59. Fortunately, it passed in about 5 hours. Took 3 shots of morphine during the wait. He’s been spooked every since. He was told to drink cranberry juice. We’ve always eaten a lot of cranberries (I buy them in season and freeze them), but now I’m buying juice regularly.</p>
<p>I have a condition called medullary sponge kidney–each of my kidneys has dozens of stones embedded in the tissue, none of which cause any problem unless they shake lose. There’s no known cause and no cure, although I am on some medication and a vitamin that are intended to prevent the growth of more stones–not that it matters, I have a lifetime supply. I went through a few years where I passed a stone every six months or so (and had to have lithotripsy once), but in recent years they’ve all stayed put. (Knocking on wood…) My original urologist (about 15 years ago) handed out the then-standard list of foods not to eat, but I later met with a nephrologist who was dismissive of dietary changes, at least in my case, and particularly thought that cutting back on foods with calcium was not the best idea for a woman, so I’ve never adopted any special diet. I just try to ignore this sword of Damocles, which I only fret about when I’m planning a vacation–one summer a little stone managed to ruin an entire week on Cape Cod. </p>
<p>I have to say that while the lithotripsy itself was not so bad, the procedure broke one very large stone into many small ones, which took a long time to make their exit. It was not a happy time. I’ll finish by confirming that labor is a cakewalk compared to passing a kidney stone. The pain of a sizeable stone is severe and unrelenting, at least until they start pumping some magic stuff into your bloodstream. And when labor’s over, you at least get a baby for your trouble! (A friend told a story of his boss, who, driving himself to the hospital in the middle of an attack, abandoned his car in the the hospital driveway with the motor running and the door open as he fled into the ER–that’s how bad it gets.)</p>
<p>Had only one, but a biggie, that occured four years ago.</p>
<p>I’m careful to drink plenty of water, cut down on portions of red meat and avoid salt. I also no longer take Tums when my stomach is upset. Whatever I’m doing is working.</p>
<p>A co-worker (and good friend) of mine gets kidney stones. They are very painful. There are different types of stones and there are different diet modifications for the different types. For my friend she is to avoid a lot of things that intuitively you would think you should eat since they are very healthy foods. She had very painful stones twice in the few years that I have known her. And then this past June, she had been taking vitamins (which evidently is a no-no) and maybe not drinking enough water and a stone got lodged without her knowing. She was not in any pain, but was having fever and chills which she assumed was due to a virus. Within a couple of days she was in ICU with full blown sepsis, due to an infection where the stone was lodged in the kidney, and was very close to death. The renal specialist told her it is very important to drink a lot of water and to follow the dietary restrictions. And that any time she has the chills to go straight to the emergency room.</p>
<p>Countingdown:</p>
<p>I also had one, about a year ago. The pain was excruciating.</p>
<p>The Urologist said they are formed when a person has a high Oxalate level in their bodies, caused in part by diet, and in my case, by diet and not drinking enough water. (Dudedad: I have to increase my water intake too)</p>
<p>Some foods with high Oxalate levels are what other people have said:</p>
<p>Chocolate, Tea and Spinach…also includes:</p>
<p>Peanut Butter, Green Peppers, Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries and Nuts</p>
<p>The Urologuist said it’s okay to eat & drink this stuff in moderation as long as the water intake increases…it’s a real struggle for me and it sounds like your dil too.
Hope she feels better fast.</p>
<p>Some stones are oxalate based, others not. Once someone passes a stone for the first time, the stone will be analyzed to determine its make-up.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the experience and advice. She seems to be doing much better today. Goes back to the doc next Tuesday, but has pain meds as needed and antibiotics in the meantime.</p>
<p>I suspect that she is not used to the dry climate in CA where she and S now live, and that she got rather dehydrated. (This happened last summer when she was in Boston.) She is used to the damp weather in northern England and Scotland – where 65 degrees is a warm day. She has a very tough time with high temperatures. On top of not drinking lots of fluids, I can see where her kidneys would be stressed.</p>
<p>They have certainly gotten the lesson about “in sickness and in health” this week!</p>
<p>They told me to make sure I was routinely drinking lemonade. But, really, the diet change thing depends on the sort of stone, what makes you prone to them. Eg, if there is some quality of your urine that contributes. Unless they capture a big enough chunk, they can’t assess it. There is a home urine test you can do and send off for analysis- maybe called a 24 hour urine panel. She can ask the doc about that.
Best wishes to her.</p>
<p>I had one about 10 years ago.</p>
<p>No dietary restrictions but they told me to cut back or eliminate diet soda.</p>
<p>My son has had at least 4 Kidney stone experiences, including just this fall, his first semester of college, 300+ miles from home. He had lithotripsy twice this summer, so the stones would be taken care of before college. Oops… Clearly that didn’t work so well. He passed 1 with a lot of pain, one with almost no pain, and another with excruciating pain. At college it turns out he passed the sediment or whatever from when they did the lithotripsy procedure, but the memory of the pain sent him to the hospital pretty quickly.</p>