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Kidney stones are a tremendous source of pain. Some patients claim that the pain is worse than childbirth. If kidney stones are left untreated, may lead to infections, kidney damage, and even death.
Kidney stones are one of the more common disorders of the urinary tract. Kidney stones affect about 2 of every 1,000 Americans each year. Approximately one-half million stones are reported annually in the United States. About 12 percent of men and 5 percent of women will have a kidney stone by age 70 years old, though most people are between 20 and 40 years old when they have their first kidney stone. Kidney stones can be as small as grains of sand or as large as golf balls. They may be painless while they stay in the kidneys, but often cause severe pain when they from the kidneys to the bladder.
About half of people who experience kidney stones will have repeat episodes unless they take steps to avoid them. About 50 percent of men develop a second kidney stone within five years, and about 60 percent develop a second stone within 10 years. Women are about two-thirds as likely as men to develop a second stone. When a person forms kidney stones over a period of years, the length of time between stones tends to get shorter. The chance of having repeated episodes can be reduced with preventive care.
Kidney stones form when crystals in the urine gather to form stones in the walls of the kidneys. Stones may also grow in the ureters, which are the tubes leading from the kidnesy to the bladder, or in the bladder itself.
African Americans and Asians rarely have kidney stones. In the United States, kidney stones are most common among people living in the southeast portion of the country. Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia is situated in the heart of what many urologists call "the stonebelt" because of the high incidence of stone disease in the Southeast.
There are many reasons why kidney stones form. Healthy kidneys help the urinary tract by regulating a delicate balance of the electrolytes in the urine. When this balance is disrupted, kidney stones form. Many factors can change the balance of minerals in urine and lead to kidney stone formation. However, the most common cause of kidney stones is not drinking enough water. Dehydration causes the salts and electrolytes to precipitate in the urine to form crystals, which grow to eventually, become kidney stones. The most common type of stone is composed of calcium oxalate. Other less common stones are composed of calcium phosphate, uric acid, struvite, and cystine. There are also dietary causes: Some people are prone to developing kidney stones if they eat foods high in oxalate. This may be more of a problem if they also do not get enough calcium in their diet. People who have inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's Disease, or who have had surgery on their intestines, may not absorb fat from their intestines well. This alters the way the body handles calcium and oxalate, and may lead to kidney stones.
Stones generally form in the kidney, and they may travel to anywhere along the course of the urinary tract. When kidney stones get lodged in the urinary tract, they block the flow of urine from the kidney. This can produces symptoms including: sudden and severe pain in the back, groin, side, abdomen, or genitals; nausea; vomiting; fevers; chills; profuse sweating; or blood in the urine. While the pain may be unbearable, an even worse complication of stones is damage to the kidneys, which, when combined with infection, can be deadly.
Click on the pages below to read more about the risks, symptoms, and treatments for kidney stones.
Please see link to comprehensive stone clinic for more information about kidney stone treatment.
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