http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=317x3479Oh my.
Manifestor_of_Light (1000+ posts) Wed Jun-10-09 04:37 AM
Original message
Anybody had kidney stones?
I have had painful attacks since last June. They happen about once a month. I got an ultrasound diagnosis. I don't have the money to get it treated.
What helps it?
mopinko (1000+ posts) Wed Jun-10-09 11:05 AM
Response to Original message
1. low salt and lots of water.
but you probably knew that. i have a friend who gets them, and she always has her water bottle with her. it does help.
good luck. sucks to not be able to get treatment because of money.
That's it, water. Lots and lots of water.
Just plain ordinary lots and lots of water.
The most primitivish people in real life I know are anti-water; "BWAA! BWAA! I don't like water! BWAAA! I hate water! BWAAAA!"
I have no idea why that is, given that water is a wholly innocuous, harmless thing, and it won't kill anybody.
Of course, what the primitive who lit this bonfire really wants are pharmaceuticals.
Manifestor_of_Light (1000+ posts) Sat Jun-13-09 12:29 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Yeah, I knew about lots of water being good for it.
I do low salt, because I don't like salt anyway. I switched to sea salt and it tastes better.
The pains were awful. In fact, they were almost as bad as a busted ovarian cyst that sent me to the ER in agony a few years ago.
safeinOhio (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-19-09 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
3. I rode the last one out without going to the ER.
Doc gave me some oxycodone to keep on hand. She said if I start taking it at the first sign, I might make it. In the hospital I went through 3 shots of morphine that never touch the pain. I think there are 2 different types. One from calcium and the other from acid. You have to determine which one to find the right diet.
That's what most primitives want; they don't want the problem solved, they just want the drugs.
The warped primitive, a defrocked registered nurse:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-19-09 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
4. A specific diet is dictated by the type of stone, although there is no proof that any specific diet has ever worked. If you are passing the stones, then they can be analyzed to see if they're calcium, uric acid, or one of the rarer types, but it won't make that much difference. However, if they're uric acid stones, a chronic bacterial infection is suspected and can be treated.
Until then, drink plenty of water to keep them flushed through while they're small. A lot of people pass small stones without ever knowing they have them. Get pain control when you get an attack, it's the first line of defense.
Diet has been insufficiently studied as either prevention and treatment and much, like the role of megadoses of Vitamin C in stone formation, has been so poorly studied we can pretty much dismiss it as folklore.
Good luck. Most episodes can be treated with pain control, alone, good news for people like us who are uninsured.
