Animal proteins like meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy products can increase levels of uric acid in your urine and increase the risk of developing kidney stones. However, if you experience any of the following symptoms, you should seek immediate medical attention:. If you have recurrent kidney stones, you should talk to your doctor, even if your symptoms resolve without treatment.
Your doctor can help develop a plan to prevent kidney stones from forming and protect against long-term complications.
Although kidney stones can be a painful and frustrating issue to deal with, there are several different treatment options available. In fact, there are many medications and procedures that can help manage symptoms and promote the passage of kidney stones. Additionally, staying well-hydrated and making changes to your diet can prevent kidney stones from forming in the long run.
The most common home remedies for kidney stones involve drinking different fluids, including just water, to help flush your stones out and prevent new…. Crystallized minerals left in your bladder after urination can develop into bladder stones. Most typical in men, bladder stones can be a secondary…. There's no one sure way to prevent kidney stones, especially if you have a family history of the condition.
Here's how diet and medications may help. Lithotripsy is a medical procedure used to treat kidney stones. A low-purine diet is helpful if you've recently been diagnosed with gout, kidney stones, or a digestive disorder.
It can also help prevent such a…. Discover the link between type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the leading cause for kidney failure in the United States. Learn preventive steps you…. High blood sugar can cause problems in any part of…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Alana Biggers, M. Symptoms Causes Treatment Diagnosis Passing a kidney stone Prevention Foods to avoid When to see a doctor Takeaway Kidney stones, or renal calculi, are solid masses made of crystals.
However, they can develop anywhere along your urinary tract, which consists of these parts: kidneys ureters bladder urethra Kidney stones can be a painful medical issue. Share on Pinterest. Symptoms and signs of a kidney stone. Causes of kidney stones. How kidney stones are treated. Testing for and diagnosing kidney stones. Passing a kidney stone. How to prevent kidney stones. Foods that can cause kidney stones. When to see a doctor. Read this next.
Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph. Medically reviewed by Judith Marcin, M. Medically reviewed by Carissa Stephens, R. Medically reviewed by University of Illinois.
Medically reviewed by Natalie Olsen, R. Once the stone has been removed whole or in pieces, the health care provider may place a temporary stent in the ureter. A stent is a tiny, rigid plastic tube that helps hold the ureter open so that urine can drain from the kidney into the bladder. Unlike a catheter or PCNL drain tube, this tube is completely within the body and does not require an external bag to collect urine.
You may go home the same day as the URS and can begin normal activities in two to three days. If your urologist places a stent, he or she will remove it four to 10 days later.
Sometimes a string is left on the end of the stent so you can remove it on your own. It is very important that the stent is removed when your health care provider tells you. Leaving the stent in for long periods can cause an infection and loss of kidney function. General anesthesia is needed to do a PCNL. PCNL involves making a half-inch incision cut in the back or side, just large enough to allow a rigid telescope nephroscope to be passed into the hollow center part of the kidney where the stone is located.
An instrument passed through the nephroscope breaks up the stone and suctions out the pieces. The ability to suction pieces makes PCNL the best treatment choice for large stones. After the PCNL, a tube is usually left in the kidney to drain urine into a bag outside of the body.
This will allow for drainage of urine and stop any bleeding. The tube is left in overnight or for a few days. You may have to stay in the hospital overnight after this operation. Your urologist may choose to do X-rays while you are still in the hospital to see if any stone pieces remain.
If there are any, your urologist may want to look back into the kidney with a telescope again to remove them. You can begin normal activities after about one-to-two weeks. Other kidney surgery is rarely used to remove stones.
Open, laparoscopic or robotic surgery may be used only if all other less invasive procedures fail. Part of preventing stones is finding out why you get them. Your health care provider will perform tests to find out what is causing this.
After finding out why you get stones, your health care provider will give you tips to help stop them from coming back. Your health care provider will ask questions about your personal and family medical history.
He or she may ask if:. Knowing your eating habits is also helpful. You may be eating foods that are known to raise the risk of stones. You may also be eating too few foods that protect against stones or not drinking enough fluids. Understanding your medical, family and dietary history helps your health care provider find out how likely you are to form more stones.
After taking a complete history and doing a physical exam, your health care provider may take blood and urine samples for testing. Blood tests can help find if a medical problem is causing your stones. Your urine can be tested to see if you have a urinary tract infection or crystals that are typical of different stone types.
If you are at high risk for getting stones in the future, a hour urine collection can be done. This test will reveal the levels of different stone-forming substances in your urine. The results of this test can help your health care provider recommend make specific diet and medications to prevent future stones. When a health care provider sees you for the first time and you have had stones before, he or she may want to see recent X-rays or order a new X-ray.
They will do this to see if there are any stones in your urinary tract. Imaging tests may be repeated over time to check for stone growth. You may also need this test if you are having pain, hematuria blood in your urine or recurrent infections. If you pass a stone or a stone is removed by surgery, your health care provider will want to test it. Testing the stone will determine what type of stone it is. This information helps your health care provider decide the best way to prevent future stones.
Once your health care provider finds out why you are forming stones, he or she will give you tips on how to prevent them. This may include changing your diet and taking certain medications. There is no "one-size-fits-all" diet for preventing kidney stones.
Everyone is different. Your diet may not be causing your stones to form. But there are dietary changes that you can make to stop stones from continuing to form.
If you are not producing enough urine, your health care provider will recommend you drink at least 3 liters of liquid each day. This equals about 3 quarts about ten ounce glasses. This is a great way to lower your risk of forming new stones.
Remember to drink more to replace fluids lost when you sweat from exercise or in hot weather. All fluids count toward your fluid intake. But it's best to drink mostly no-calorie or low-calorie drinks. This may mean limiting sugar-sweetened or alcoholic drinks. Knowing how much you drink during the day can help you understand how much you need to drink to produce 2.
Use a household measuring cup to measure how much liquid you drink for a day or two. Drink from bottles or cans with the fluid ounces listed on the label. Keep a log, and add up the ounces at the end of the day or hour period. Use this total to be sure you are reaching your daily target urine amount of at least 85 ounces 2.
Health care providers recommend people who form cystine stones drink more liquid than other stone formers.
Usually 4 liters of liquid is advised to reduce cystine levels in your urine. This tip is for people with high sodium intake and high urine calcium or cystine. Sodium can cause both urine calcium and cystine to be too high. Your health care provider may advise you to avoid foods that have a lot of salt.
The following foods are high in salt and should be eaten in moderation:. If you take calcium supplements, make sure you aren't getting too much calcium.
On the other hand make sure you aren't getting too little calcium either. Talk with your health care provider or dietitian about whether you need supplements.
Good sources of calcium to choose from often are those low in salt. Eating calcium-rich foods or beverages with meals every day is a good habit.
There are many non-dairy sources of calcium, such as calcium-fortified non-dairy milks. There are good choices, especially if you avoid dairy.
You can usually get enough calcium from your diet without supplements if you eat three-to-four servings of calcium-rich food. Many foods and beverages have calcium in them. Some foods and beverages that might be easy to include on a daily basis with meals are:. Eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily is recommended for all people who form kidney stones. Eating fruits and vegetables give you potassium, fiber, magnesium, antioxidants, phytate and citrate, all of which may help keep stones from forming.
A serving means one piece of fruit or one potato or one cup of raw vegetables. If you are worried you may not be eating the right amount of fruits and vegetables, talk to your health care provider about what will be best for you. This recommendation is for patients with high urine oxalate. Eating calcium-rich foods see table above with meals can often control the oxalate level in your urine. Urinary oxalate is controlled because eating calcium lowers the oxalate level in your body.
But if doing that does not control your urine oxalate, you may be asked to eat less of certain high-oxalate foods. Nearly all plant foods have oxalate, but a few foods contain a lot of it. These include spinach, rhubarb and almonds. It is usually not necessary to completely stop eating foods that contain oxalate.
This needs to be determined individually and depends on why your oxalate levels are high in the first place. If you make cystine or calcium oxalate stones and your urine uric acid is high, your health care provider may tell you to eat less animal protein. If your health care provider thinks your diet is increasing your risk for stones, he or she will tell you to eat less meat, fish, seafood, poultry, pork, lamb, mutton and game meat than you eat now.
This might mean eating these foods once or twice rather than two or three times a day, fewer times during the week, or eating smaller portions when you do eat them. The amount to limit depends on how much you eat now and how much your diet is affecting your uric acid levels. Changing your diet and increasing fluids may not be enough to prevent stones from forming.
Your health care provider may give you medications to take to help with this. The type of stone and the urine abnormalities you have will help your health care provider decide if you need medicine and which medicine is best. Common medications include:. Thiazides lower urine calcium by helping the kidney take calcium out of the urine and put it back in the blood stream. When taking thiazides, you need to limit how much salt you take in, as these medications work best when urine sodium is low.
Potassium citrate makes the urine less acidic or more alkaline basic. This helps prevent cystine and uric acid stones. It also raises the citrate level in the urine, helping to prevent calcium stones. Allopurinol not only lowers the level of uric acid in the blood but also in the urine, so it may also be prescribed to help prevent calcium and uric acid stones. Cystinuria is a genetic condition. It results in high levels of cystine an amino acid in the urine, which then forms into kidney stones.
Most cystine stones can be managed by increasing hydration and medications that change the pH of the urine. That said, it is important to have a thorough discussion with a urologist about the right approach to evaluation, treatment, and strategies to keep new stones from forming. Prevalence of Kidney Stones in the United States.
European Urology , July Climate-related increase in the prevalence of urolithiasis in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , July Urinary volume, water and recurrences in idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis: a 5-year randomized prospective study.
The Journal of Urology , March American Urological Association, August Meta-analysis of randomized trials for medical prevention of calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis. Journal of Endourology , November Management of cystinuria. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.
Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. I have polycystic kidney disease in my right kidney and now have a large kidney stone and a smaller one in my right kidney.
Does polycystic kidney disease cause kidney stones? Generaly I see also the urinary sodium and I know the quantity of salt that the patient have in 24 hours. Thank you. He was there in Now with a nephrostomy via illegal conduit, and after 5 years of cancer treatments for non invasive bladder cancer and many severe uti, including two separate procedures for kidney stones he is apparently free of cancer and stones.
His kidney function is excellent and he is not experiencing infections. He drinks water, flavored with lemon juice, non sweetened organic cranberry juice , and stevia to sweeten it a bit every day. He drinks 48 ounces a day and continues to do extremely well. How and why do kidney stones form? Who is likely to develop a first or second or third kidney stone, and how can it be prevented?
What to Do About Kidney Stones will answer all of these questions. Thanks for visiting.
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