Posted: 7/12/2010 6:46:44 PM EDT
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Thu before last, I was rushed into surgery due to a kidney stone that had become lodged in my left urethrea. Piss was backing up, and the Dr seemed to think that I would have lost the kidney had I let it go on for another 12hrs.
Stone was removed, and 2 stents were installed. Pain, and pissing blood for a week. Tomorrow, I got BACK UNDER. This time, they will work on my right side, remove a large stone, and remove one of the stents. Preview for the rest of the week includes pain, and pissing blood. Whenever I hear someone bitching at work about a cold, I wanna scream "YOU DONT KNOW WHAT PAIN IS!!" Buffalo Bill style |
I have walked down the road you are travelling now, almost exactly the same way (doubled over and grunting because it hurts too much to scream ) except that I didn't get any stones lodged in my urethra long enough to be a hazard. I had lithotripsy on both sides, no surgery...but otherwise, pretty much the same riff. Oxycodone does help with the pain but I really don't like that stuff. I don't like the way it makes me feel. Oxycodone is usually prescribed in the "after" phase. I'd ask for more Motrin instead, if I had to go through that again. I've had a few MINOR kidney stone attacks since then. The last one took FIVE MINUTES from start to finish. I blew the rock out the next day. The sensation of "rock coming soon, on standby in the bladder" is unique and unmistakable once you've experienced it. |
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Quoted: Quoted: What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. No. It's much worse than that. Or it soon builds far beyond that level. Many women who have had kidney stones and natural childbirth both will often report that there is less pain involved with having the baby. When I staggered into the ER, the attendant took one look at me and said "You're next." and grabbed a wheelchair and put me right into the intake office, ahead of a room full of other people waiting in the ER. The pain was that evident even to a bystander. 11 on the 10 scale of pain. Really. |
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Quoted: Quoted: What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. I ask because a few times in the last week, I've felt a dull ache at what I think is the top of my kidney - sort of lower/middle of the back towards the left side. One day it was a weak but sharp pain. It's very mild, but the location has me  |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? You find yourself rolling around on the floor doing the Dying Cockroach, holding your breath and desperately trying to find any position that will ease the pain. (You won't find one). I compare it to feeling like someone is very slowly cutting your balls off with a dull, rusty knife. You can have very minor alerts - but in the end......you'll crawl. |
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you have my sympathies. I too get kidney stones all the time, only I was born with one kidney. nothing in this world hurts more.....nothing. may you feel well soon.
are these your first? or is there a history? I seem to be a stone producing machine. I get them under my skin and in my joints, after thousands in tests the docs cant explain why. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. I ask because a few times in the last week, I've felt a dull ache at what I think is the top of my kidney - sort of lower/middle of the back towards the left side. One day it was a weak but sharp pain. It's very mild, but the location has me
Sounds possible. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. This, only it's an unusual kind of pain. When I got a stone, there was no doubt in my mind what it was. It was a pain like I never felt before. Not the intensity. Not at first, rather the location. Inside my back. You may also get some pain down in your groin. Regardless, you will suffer until you are drugged. At about 6:30 AM on New Years Day, 2008, I woke up with it. Rather than roust the wife and kids, I drove myself to the E.R., half blind with pain. I puked in the waiting room. Never felt the I V the stuck me with. They gave me a good dose of a morphine type drug. I slept for about 3 hours. They sent me home with a scrip for Oxycontin. I pased the stone, painlessly the next day. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. I ask because a few times in the last week, I've felt a dull ache at what I think is the top of my kidney - sort of lower/middle of the back towards the left side. One day it was a weak but sharp pain. It's very mild, but the location has me
Have you had the to urinate more frequently or any discolored urine? My symptoms started as rusty colored urine then progressed to frequent urges to urinate. Then all hell broke loose with the pain shooting from my lower/mid back all the way to my groin. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. I ask because a few times in the last week, I've felt a dull ache at what I think is the top of my kidney - sort of lower/middle of the back towards the left side. One day it was a weak but sharp pain. It's very mild, but the location has me
Have you had the to urinate more frequently or any discolored urine? My symptoms started as rusty colored urine then progressed to frequent urges to urinate. Then all hell broke loose with the pain shooting from my lower/mid back all the way to my groin. If you are urinating blood - you need to see a Doctor. |
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I have walked down the road you are travelling now, almost exactly the same way (doubled over and grunting because it hurts too much to scream ) except that I didn't get any stones lodged in my urethra long enough to be a hazard. I had lithotripsy on both sides, no surgery...but otherwise, pretty much the same riff.
Oxycodone does help with the pain but I really don't like that stuff. I don't like the way it makes me feel. Oxycodone is usually prescribed in the "after" phase. I'd ask for more Motrin instead, if I had to go through that again. I've had a few MINOR kidney stone attacks since then. The last one took FIVE MINUTES from start to finish. I blew the rock out the next day. The sensation of "rock coming soon, on standby in the bladder" is unique and unmistakable once you've experienced it. My Kidneys produce stones like Budweiser produces beer. As far as pain I didn't know that anything could hurt worse than kidney stones but recent injuries to my bones have cause me to reconsider. The other day my right forearm felt like someone was driving a railroad spike through the bones in my arm. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? I was shaving at the sink and when I looked up at the mirror I got a back pain. I thought it was just a small pulled muscle and didn't pay much attention to it. On the way to work it was getting uncomfortable to sit in the drivers seat and at work the pain was increasing. I tried to do some bending exercises and although they helped a little they didn't cure the pain for very long. The pain got worse and a co worker noticed me doing more bending exercises. He suggested a kidney stone as he had just gone through one a couple of weeks before. When he described it to me it fit my symptoms. The pain was getting pretty bad at this point. I left work, drove home and told the wife I needed to go to the ER. The pain was very uncomfortable at this point. By the time we got to the ER there was no way of sitting, standing or stretching that would elevate any of the pain. When asked where the pain was on the 1 to 10 scale I estimated an eight. I gave a urine sample and they inserted an IV while we waited for results. After they found blood in the sample they hit me up with some major pain killers through the IV line and I was ready to dance. They gave me a script for more pain killers and a screened funnel with instructions to capture the stone when it passed. It passed in a couple of days and was really unremarkable except the feeling like I had been tazed when it made it's way out the hose. |
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1st one was soon after I ate, I had the back pain, then threw up. I thought I had food poisoning or something. Later kept feeling like I had to piss but didn't really.
You will soon realize the stone has taken over your world. I tried different positions on the couch, Ice, heating pads, The stone even forced me into a hot bath, I had not sat in a bath in years. Make no mistake you are a puppet the stone is you master. I went to the ER, they cat scanned or MRI'd me or something and said the stone would pass. They gave me a screen to piss through in an effort to capture my nemesis for analysis. I caught the fucker, shot out of my dick like a jagged crystal looking BB. I keep it trapped in a small vial for the safety of all mankind. I had a few since then, I pass them ~24hrs after initial pain. I have Vicodin for these instances. |
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At what age did these stones start? Just wonder how long I've got? No specific age. My brother got one in his 20's. Hasn't had one since and he's 52. These things scare the crap out of me. I hope I don't ever go through this. I had a friend get one in highschool. He was 17 or 18 at the time. I don't drink a lot of soda... Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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At what age did these stones start? Just wonder how long I've got? No specific age. My brother got one in his 20's. Hasn't had one since and he's 52. Good to hear. Is it more a genetic thing? I do drink more soda than I should. Nobody really knows how they come about or why. Most are calcium. |
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I got my first one at age 17. What a bitch. Woke up at 5 AM with the worst pain ever and tried to make it to my mother's bedroom. We lived in a large house and I had a ways to go. I was just outside her door when I passed out. My head hitting the tile floor is what woke her up. I was having a seizure, my second seizure of unknown etiology. Anyhow, I went to the ER and they decided it was a stone since the pain more or less went away after my seizure. Worst part was the seizure since I came out of it with this awful buzzing sound and I really thought I was dying.
I've had a few since then. Most of them pass in abour an hour or two. I've had a few in the last year that were extremely small and only caused some minor discomfort in my back. I knew they were stones since I felt them coming out and could see them in the toilet. ETA: My friend had just started getting them a few months ago himself. He's in his mid-40s. Well, the second round were so bad that he needed lithotripsy. After the litho they did a follow up CT. His Dx? Renal cell carcinoma. So, he had some tests and they found a swollen lymph node. Surgery was performed last in May and he has been recovering. They told him the kidney cancer was a minor staging and nothing serious. They removed half of his kidney and told him he'll need CTs every 6 months for a few years. The kidney thing will probably be history. However, they initially told him the lymph node was nothing. Now, they called after a month and said he has lymphoma. Another minor staging with 90% recovering in his case, but still. Fucked up. |
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I literally thought I was going to die when I stepped into the ER. So did the admitting staff. I almost passed out driving to the hospital. It was only 3 miles. I threw up as I got into the ER door. Back pain beyond anything I've felt before, and I've been shot. My nuts felt like 10 mules kicked me. Worse than opening shock of a T10-1B parachute. I've had two attacks. The second wasn't as bad as the first. But I didn't report for duty that day. I could imagine if I passed out and ran into something or someone got my firearm or taser from me. Didn't let them put an iv in, so they sent me home with Tylenol 3. Super aspirin. Oh, they said it was 4mm. Very small. Yeah, like passing a bowling ball. Think I'd rather be shot again instead.
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: At what age did these stones start? Just wonder how long I've got? No specific age. My brother got one in his 20's. Hasn't had one since and he's 52. Good to hear. Is it more a genetic thing? I do drink more soda than I should. Nobody really knows how they come about or why. Most are calcium. They're like cancer. There are environmental factors that can trigger certain genetic predispositions. IE having the genes that don't produce certain proteins found in urine while drinking an ass-ton of sodas. |
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My sympathies. I thought I'd pulled a muscle and went to work... got to work, had to hold on to the wall to make it to the timeclock... Supervisor told me to get to a hospital.
I got to the hospital (which has a reputation for LOOONG waits in the waiting room, like 12 hours or more!) waiting room, where there were at least 30 patients... and was in an exam room within 20 minutes. Under the CT scan machine in another 15. Back to the exam room and in another 10 minutes was getting a shot of morphine. Sweet stuff! after about an hour and 2 more shots, they cut me loose when I said to the nurse "We odda dew dis more offen." The morphine gave me STRANGE, unpleasant, very vivid dreams. It was 3 more weeks before I was pain-free. |
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FWIW,
EVERY Dr that I have come in contact with since I started getting them claims that the old thinking that Cola, milk, cheese, ect cause stones is old Wives tales. They all say that the main cause for them is dehydration. Drink more,piss more, keep urine from sitting, and crysalizing. That, and genetics. Your body probably just produces to much of X, and not enough of Y. Futhermore, my liquid intake consist of 90% water, either bottled, tap, water fountian, ect. Very little milk, ZERO soft drinks. I probably dont drink 3 Sprites a year, and thats only when I get an upset stomach. |
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EVERY Dr that I have come in contact with since I started getting them claims that the old thinking that Cola, milk, cheese, ect cause stones is old Wives tales. They all say that the main cause for them is dehydration. Drink more,piss more, keep urine from sitting, and crysalizing. That, and genetics. Your body probably just produces to much of X, and not enough of Y. This is what my Doc told me. It has less to do with what you drink and more to do with the amount. |
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If you produce stones on a regular basis, the chemical composition of the stones will give you a clue as to how to modify your diet. Calcium oxalate stones are the most common type. So, less calcium for you! Dairy products are high in calcium, so you might want to consume less of them. You sure don't need to be taking calcium supplements. CJ |
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If you produce stones on a regular basis, the chemical composition of the stones will give you a clue as to how to modify your diet. Calcium oxalate stones are the most common type. So, less calcium for you! Dairy products are high in calcium, so you might want to consume less of them. You sure don't need to be taking calcium supplements. CJ my stones are always calcium, and I cannot consume dairy as I am allergic. not intolerant, like throat swelling miserable for days allergic. so like the op said, I think it is all a wives tale. |
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My last one was a doozy. It started to hurt around 5:00 AM and by noon I was absolutely out of my mind with pain. At that point my dear wife concluded that it was time to go to the ER and I quickly agreed. So we go to the ER.... Typical of an Appalachian town, full of medication seekers and people who use ER's as their primary care physician. It looked like a casting call for "Deliverance II - Revenge of the Hillbillies". I stagger through the door looking like a cross between Hunter S. Thompson and Igor, the receptionist called security and got me a wheel chair. The security guard asked me if I was packing, no I wasn't, and then took my Benchmade switchblade. Within minutes I was blissfully watching the Discovery channel while they pumped me full of Dilaudid. Turns out the security guard was an old buddy of mine and he spent an inordinate amount of time checking on my progress and making fun or me since guards don't swear the Hippocratic Oath. They sent me home with a handful of Lortabs and told me to start drinking lots and lots of liquids. It was four days of agony followed by a anti-climactic passing of a teeny tiny stone. Oh, and I DID get the knife back... My wife and I take turns doing this about once a year. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? You find yourself rolling around on the floor doing the Dying Cockroach, holding your breath and desperately trying to find any position that will ease the pain. (You won't find one). I compare it to feeling like someone is very slowly cutting your balls off with a dull, rusty knife. You can have very minor alerts - but in the end......you'll crawl. This is the best description you'll find anywhere. Most. Pain. Ever. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? You find yourself rolling around on the floor doing the Dying Cockroach, holding your breath and desperately trying to find any position that will ease the pain. (You won't find one). I compare it to feeling like someone is very slowly cutting your balls off with a dull, rusty knife. You can have very minor alerts - but in the end......you'll crawl. the LEAST painful position (for me) was in the bucket seat of my car. |
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What was your first indication that you had a stone? It feels like you pulled a muscle in your back. I ask because a few times in the last week, I've felt a dull ache at what I think is the top of my kidney - sort of lower/middle of the back towards the left side. One day it was a weak but sharp pain. It's very mild, but the location has me
We have a winner. I had twinges in my mid/lower back for weeks before it was a full-on attack. Started at about 1:30am, I woke up gasping in pain and drenched in sweat. Dying cockroach, writhing in pain, took a shower to try to loosen up a back muscle, crapped to try to get rid of gas, writhed back and forth across my bed for another hour or two, finally gave up took myself to the hospital around 5am. I was ignored and made to sit in the waiting room for over an hour after presenting with 9/10 abdominal/back pain. They thought I was a drug seeker. CT scan revealed a 7mm stone in my left kidney. Doc came back in after that and says, "Dude, you must be one tough hombre. I had a 6mm stone and I was on the floor crying." They gave me a 'scrip for some serious pain meds and Flomax to try to pass it (haha). No luck in a week, urologist did an ultrasound and found that it wasn't 7mm. It was sort of egg-shaped, and 7x9mm. No way that was going to pass. Two surgeries to shrink it and remove it (stent and external litho the first time, stent removal, stent and laser litho the second time, stent removal), and there's still a 4mm fragment floating around in there. No problems with it yet, but doc says we can do external litho and no stent if it gets bigger. It is the worst pain you'll ever feel, and eating a bullet will look like an attractive option. |
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The fun continues, too. After the stone has passed into your bladder, it can cause a slight burning sensation in the rest of your urinary tract, all the way to the outside world, which will continue until the stone has left your body entirely. Yes, this means that the stone in your bladder can cause your crank to hurt. Even though the stone is not yet going through said crank. Bizarre but true. I know, I've experienced it a couple of times. CJ |