The Kidney Stone Sympathy & Appreciation Thread

Ouch, to say the least. Good that you know the drill... but man, couldn't get someone to drive you?? An ambulance would've been worth the cost for making sure you got there safely. Hope you mend quickly, RJ.

Yikes… are you saying that a failed microfilter in your water filtration system ended up damaging your kidneys so badly that they had to be removed? I hope you’re sitting on a cool few million for that one… unreal!

LOOL No sorry, I just end my night shift and wasn't reading what I'm typing.

The kidney microfilter failed, releasing only water and holding all the garbage in. In most of the cases this condition doesn't cause any pain but sometimes can be terrible.

While I was in postoperative care after transplant I met a few guys who end up with kidney's removed due to the stone.

DRINK WATER!!!!!!!

Yeah, twice. Or was it thrice? All the times I went to the ER, I knew instantly what it was, but I needed the meds for the pain.

First was like a metsican jumping-bean that I caught in the ER. Small, smooth, eh, no problems coming out. Brought my own 2L bottle of seltzer, plus the IV drip, pist it out right there into the little screen-thingy.

Second (third?) one was like a Cocoa Krispie. Brown, jagged, like meteor-rock. Was sent home, actually caught it mid-piss. Felt it coming out, wanted to catch it, and just stopped as it was… “at the exit”… and pulled it out. Talk about perfect timing…

Might’ve been one in-between, in fact I think there was, as that was multi-piece “gravel” that came out.

And I’m always drinking big buckets of limeade, lemonade, plus tea, coffee, etc. Learned long ago that by the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Still, if you’re predisposed to ’em…

And yeah, the pain. Oh, the pain! Already had, and still do, a supply of HC from various procedures, etc. When I went to the ER, I was asked if I took anything for the pain, “Yeah, HC.”. Nurse’s eyes got really wide. “Ummm, where’d you get that from?” “My old stash.” It was a prescription bottle from 5yrs prior. So if I were an addict, it would’ve been gone, oh, 5yrs before, no? She told me to toss the old stuff and actually wrote me a scrip for a new batch! :laughing:

5 cm, though? That’s a freakin’ golfball…

I could picture the equivalent of…

Someone I worked with had a big honkin’ KS about as big and arrowhead shaped, so nfw was it coming out. Lithotripsy was tried first, knock you unconscious, stick you in a hottub where you get pounded with sound waves so loud you need to be unconscious, that break up the stone into pieces. Still, only smaller chunks can come out, and bigger jagged ones can jam up the works just as easily.

Then I think only as a last resort do they actually cut you open, where it’s either that or lose the kidney altogether.

Not a kidney stone, but had my gallbladder removed yesterday due to a gallbladder stone. The pain!

Great! As if I don’t have enough to worry about. So now it’s Chinese world domination, collapse of the global financial systems, meteorites, Zombie apocalypse, and…Kidney Stones.

Sounds horrible, you have my sympathy.

Lots of input here. Thanks.

So doc says at a 5cm stone, I’ll pass it with a 93% likelihood. Have been referred to a specialist. Today is better. Peeing more normally and the xray showed it was about to head into the bladder where it can exit. I am still in pain, but medicated and not near as bad now.

Good to hear rusty Joe!

I also had a gall bladder stone that was the size of a ping pong ball, but it wasnt quite as painful as the tiny kidney stone. It was removed (as well as the gall bladder itself) with surgery. I wish I would been able to keep the stone as a reminder to lay off the soda.

I’ve had 2 kidney stones. Both were too big to pass, so I’ve had lithotripsy twice. My second one was 8x10mm. After the first one, the PA told me to drink 2 liters of water every day, so I did. 10 years later, I was back at the ER for drugs.

After the second one, they did some tests and decided I had oxalate kidney stones, and now I drink 2 liters of water, and take calcium citrate supplements. It’s only been 3 years since my second stone, so, hopefully the supplements will prevent any more.

Some women who have delivered babies without any pain meds have said that kidney stone pain is considerably worse. I believe them.

I could imagine poor Hank Hill with his narrow urethra trying to pass a golfball-sized kidney stone…

“Bobby! Get the pro-pane!”

Glad to hear that it should pass, and also very happy to hear you got pain meds

Golf balls are 4.268 cm in diameter, there is no way you are passing a 5cm stone without lithotripsy.

I had a “stack of stones” in my left ureter that added up to 1.5 cm and they passed individually over 24-48 hours or so, but none of mine were more than 2-4 mm, were all irregularly shaped and had the texture of pumice. Fun times.

I wish you the best, I would not want anyone to have kidney/bladder stones. Those tubes were not designed to stretch easily.

Kidney stones look painful.

If you Google pictures of them, there are pictures of kidney stones over 5cm. They aren’t round though. They are weird shapes with irregular spikey protrusions all over them.

It looks like passing one would feel like urinating a gerbil-sized porcupine. OUCH!!! :smiling_imp:

Yeah, basically mineral growths. Nasty stuff.
But I’m told gallbladder pain is even worse!
Hang in there Joe,
All the Best,
Jeff

I’ve had both, but suprisingly the kidney stone was worse for me. Of course the gall bladder stone, being the aize of a ping pong ball, had to be removed via surgery and i was out for that haha.

Let us know how it turns out!

It’s not just passing them that’s painful (I’ve never passed one). When they move in the kidney and cause blockage, that causes incredible pain and discomfort. I went to bed one night thinking I might be coming down with a cold, and woke up with so much pain, I could barely move. The nausea was terrible. I heaved so hard I broke blood vessels in my face.

I’m sure he means mm and its just a metric unfamiliarity issue.

5 cm or even larger kidney stones actually exist. If you Google it, you can see lots of photos of them, some next to rulers.

Yes they do, the guinness book of records one is something like coconut size iirc.

But at that size you go back to my previous post, dude then needs surgery.

I can’t find pics of some of the bizarre ones that came through the lab but once in awhile something really amazing would show up. And if you’ve ever seen the stones that dogs and cats get…ouch, those look even worse, hurts to even think about.