Anybody ever have kidney stones?

[QueenCityGator]

Haven't had one but have taken care of dozens of folks who have. It would be good to know what kind of stone you get. Most are made from calcium oxalate. If so you probably need to stay away from stuff like diet and cola sodas, spinach, liver etc. And I'm sure you've been told to drink LOTS of water. We usually give morphine or dilaudid for the short term pain and an alpha blocker like the aptly named Flomax to relax the ureters.

After my second stone I went from Coke at lunch and dinner to once a day at dinner. I've been drinking water at dinner and it hasn't ruined the meal. Still gonna have coke with a few meals (such as pizza) though, can't go cold turkey. Been drinking water a bunch. Tried Flomax last time but it had a negative sexual side effect on me, so no thank you (but if my stone were bigger, I'd say to my wife 'sorry honey gotta get this stone out first')

 

[QueenCityGator]

My wife has passed over 100 stones in the past 15 years... 11 in one night at the ER.
I put them on a paper towel and took a picture because I knew no one would believe me.

Her biggest was a 13mm - and early on the urologist tried a new fangled procedure called lithotripsy.
He didn't have much guidance on the frequency to use so he just blasted the sh*t out of the stones.
Turns out he also blasted the ureter leading from the left kidney to the bladder.
Needless to say, it caused a backup of fluids and no one figured it out until it was too late.
She had that kidney removed in late 2015.

Just went thru another bout with an 8mm stone about 6 weeks ago which caused a kidney infection AND sepsis.
They inserted a tube into her lower back for the kidney to drain into a bag for a couple of weeks.
So she's a veteran...

And as @Windy City Gator said... it's a case of too much calcium in her system.
And yes - Dilaudid certainly helps.
In 2008 I fell off the roof of my house onto the driveway (about 20 feet down).
I shattered my right heel and completely obliterated my right wrist... They gave me morphine in the ER... didn't touch it. Then they gave me Dilaudid... I was ready to march right out of there I felt so good... :)

Holy crap, your wife is a strong trooper.

 

[QueenCityGator]

Get your parathyroid tested. One of the four nodules was producing too much calcium, which in turn created the stones. I had the enlarged nodule removed 25 years ago, and haven't had an issue since.

The last time I had a kidney stone, I took diludid and still get rid of the pain. My wife was channel surfing and Airplane! was on...she flipped the channel...I was laughing so hard, the pain went away.

Never heard of that. Thankfully my pain is relatively low on the pain scale. If it were higher, believe me I'd be pushing my doctor like crazy for a narcotic.

 

[QueenCityGator]

Two bouts. One bout of 3 total when I was around 20, one bout of four 20 years later. Oxy, water, beer and patience. They now have a pain killer specifically for stones; no side effects at all that I noticed. You take it and 20 mins later you're pain free and feel good as new.

Biggest i had was 6mm and had to be blasted with sonic waves. The rest I passed naturally, 20 years ago with the oxy, and more recently with that miracle drug that I can't remember the name of. It's something that widens the peepee tubes from your kidneys to your bladder so they move freely without pain.

I had the surgery 8 years ago. Those few days after the recovery really sucked. I couldn't get into bed by myself. And removing the stent from down there was not very pleasant. Thankfully this one is smaller and should be gone in due time (doctor said it was too small for surgery, guess I gotta trust him)

 

[Gatordiddy]

removing the stent from down there was not very pleasant

and that's one of the worst things about a kidney stone is the stent that they put in for a week or so.
miserable

 

[GatorFL]

I had a big one about 20 years ago. They had to go up and get it. Probably the most painful thing I've ever went through. When the urologist pulled the stent out, I asked him how I could avoid kidney stones forever. He said drink lots of water and that is what I do.