Kidney Stones Symptoms
Kidney stones symptoms are easy to spot if you know what to look for. Kidney Stones are are a fairly common problem that affects about 12% of men and 5% of women in the USA at least once in their lives. Although people of any age can develop a kidney stone for a variety of reasons, men and women are most likely to be affected at about 50 years of age and men more so than women. African Americans also tend to be at more risk than the variety of other races that live in the USA.
When it comes to kidney stone symptoms a lucky few will experience very minimal symptoms or none whatsoever if the stone is small enough. Such a small stone will be passed out in the urine without a problem and often without you even knowing it. However, for those kidney stones that are bigger, the pain is excruciating.
The painful symptoms of kidney stones will not actually begin until the stone leaves the kidney and moves into the ureter (the tube leading from the kidney to the bladder). The stone will then block off the flow of urine through the ureter and effectively create a dam causing the kidney to swell. This swelling is what causes the excruciating painful kidney stones symptoms rather than the once held belief that the kidney stone scraping and ripping the ureter as it ‘makes its way’ is what causes the intense pain. It is actually the swelling of the kidney that brings people to their knees and can even make them pass out! So it is not to be taken lightly when those who have suffered while passing a kidney stone describe it as “the worst pain they have ever experienced!”.
Unfortunately, once a stone moves into the ureter there is nothing you can do but hang ten until its passed. A doctor will normally prescribe pain medication and advise you to drink lots of water to create pressure that will push the stone through the ureter. In some instances the stone will be too big to pass and other methods my by needed such as shock wave treatment, to break the stone into smaller pieces that can be passed, or in worst case scenarios surgery will be required.
Besides the excruciating pain, which is experienced in the back and the side just below the rib cage and can often expand further down to the lower abdomen and groin, there are also other kidney stones symptoms too -
- Nausea and vomiting as a result of the pain.
- Blood in the urine from damage within the kidney or ureter.
- Pus in the urine as a result of urinary tract infection.
- The constant need to urinate.
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