Kidney Disease

Renal calculi or kidney stones have existed as long as man has existed. This is not fiction, it is a fact. The Egyptians preserved the dead bodies; this has helped science discover many facts. The kidneys of the mummies which are more than 7000 years old still have stones in them.

This is a problem, which affects more than 6 to 15% of the people some time during their lives. The number of people who are brought into the emergency room every year due to renal calculi are as high as 400,000. Of the affected percentage of people, a 0.19% is from the United States of America.

It is the men who are at a three times higher risk of getting stones than women and the normal age group that get stones are 21 to 60. If you are an active person, your chances of getting stones are a lot lesser. If you lead a very slow and sedentary life, you will be prone to getting kidney stones.

If a child below the age of sixteen has stones then he must be investigated completely. Kidney stones are not common in children and so if stones are then it maybe due to a hereditary disorder, metabolic disorder, infection or urological problem.

Care at Home

1. Drink lots of water or the better way to say it, is drink many liters of water.
2. If you have a urine strainer, avoid being lazy and use it. Keep a close watch on your urine contents and see if there is any blood in the urine.
3. A lot of anti inflammatory pain killers are available as over the counter products. You may be prescribed pain killers like Ibuprofen or Motrin and Naproxen or Aleve.

Medical Treatment for Kidney Stones

The stones which are less than 4mm or 0.15 to0.2 inches can pass out by themselves and will come out in the urine. A doctor will not try to do anything if the stones are too small and can come out in the urine. The stones, which are in the kidney, come down. Then they slip through the ureter and passes through the bladder. Next, they are sent out with the urine.

Stones which are bigger are the ones you have to be worried about. These stones may have an irregular shape and can cause bruises to the ureter. This is why tinges of blood maybe seen in the urine. The doctor will determine the size of the stone and then will decide on whether to break it into small bits or to remove it surgically. Of the people suffering from kidney stones only 21% of the people will need to take some sort of a treatment.

If the stone can’t pass by itself, the doctor may suggest one of the following treatment procedures:

1. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy where shock waves are used to break the stone. This takes less than an hour and you will be given morphine as a sedative.

2. Radarscope may be inserted via the bladder and through the ureter. Then shock waves will be sent directly at the stone to break it up and will help to the kidney stone to dissolve. Some anesthetic will be given to you. This is also an out patient procedure.

3. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy or a tunnel surgery is done when the stone can not be broken and has to be removed surgically.

If you are brought to the emergency room in severe pain, you will be given IV fluids first. Anti-nausea medication too will be given. Then a pain killer like ketorolac or toradol will be given to help reduce the pain.

Only one in five people will have to be admitted to a hospital with severe stomach pain or cramps. Save all the stones that you filter and show it to your doctor. Lastly, ensure that you visit the doctor again and do all that you can to prevent stones from forming in your kidney again.

By yeastion@gmail.com

Labels: disease kidney, kidney, kidney cancer, kidney disease, kidney failure, kidney function, kidney infection, kidney pain, kidney symptoms, kidney transplant, renal disease, renal failure