Kidney stone adventures

My wife suffered from k-stones while she was pregnant with our first child. Not much to be done, so made do until the baby was born and then had the lithotripsy treatment.

Round-two with our second child brought on more stones. Four she passed, with two visits to the ER, and a week after the last bout our daughter was born.

... Mom's are hardcore tough.

 

Glad to hear. Dudes if you are over 50...get the PSA test. My opinion. Oh yeah your insurance (if your lucky enough to have it) usually covers it. No insurance? I used this lab.

https://www.privatemdlabs.com/?utm_...m=cpc&utm_term=privatemd&utm_campaign=Branded

 

Marv, glad you are feeling better. I've been there. 4 times.

The first time I passed a kidney stone I was in a remote area in Assam, India. I didn't know what was going on and spent 10 hours curled up in a ball, flopping back and forth in a bamboo hut. I was terrified I might have to go under the knife in such an area, but it passed right before I had a 12 hour drive over some of the worst, bumpiest roads I've ever been on. That would have been an extra bad day if I would have still been in my incapacitated condition.

I got that first one in my late 30's. I seem to pass one about every 3-4 years. Each time I end up in the emergency room just in case it's my appendix about to blow. And the drugs. You NEED the drugs. I don't care what kind of tough guy you are, Vicodin is about the only way to bear it. I've been fortunate that all of mine have been small enough to pass.

The last one I had about 3 years ago and it felt like my nuts had moved to the side of my abdomen and a psychotic midget was kickboxing non-stop on my side. I wanted to die. I felt better after a day and then the pain started again a couple weeks later. It took forever to pass. Now I try to save a small stash of meds for just such an unfortunate situation.

My urologist wasn't much help with offering advice to prevent them other than there were a lot of opinions on the internet. What I saw was that there were a few really good foods (like spinach which I love in salads), and then a lot of crap which I try to avoid like food preservatives and artificial sweetners. I wasn't aware of dark beer being a problem. But lately I've been doing a mostly keto diet so beer in general has been consumed rarely.

 

Changed doctors late last year. New one is Russian. 'Thorough' does not begin to do justice to her technique...

 

Amen!

 

if your kidney stone was originally diagnosed via XR, then it cannot be an uric acid stone since they are radiolucent. also, usually uric acid stones can be dissolved by alkalizing the urine or allopurinol, so no need for lithotripsy

the vast majority of kidney stones are calcium, specifically calcium oxalate. if you really want to know, you can ask for your PCP to go over the CT scan with you. you can tell the type of stone based on its density, measured in hounsfield units. need specialized software to view the image, so can really only do it at the doctor's office.

tbh tho, if ur having recurrent nephrolithiasis or large stones requiring lithrotripsy, they would have sent the stone for composition analysis, so just ask your doc. very important information to guide prevention, so you should definitely request it if they didn't already tell you.

regardless of the stone type, it is helpful to hydrate well enough that you pee out at least 2L daily.

 

I had mine at 31

 

Keto is awesome, transitioning can be hard but once you're into ketosis the health benefits are substantial. It fixes so many health and mental issues.
I'm doing it in combination with intermittent fasting and i feel 20 years younger, both mentally and physically. Constant energy throughout the day, eat when you have time, no hunger and no craving for bad shit.
My mood is much more stable, depression is gone, some aches i had for years have disappeared and my allergies have greatly diminished.

And the best part i can hear(and see) better.

 

Between a liver detox and quasi-keto, - I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m doing strict net carb calculations, But I’ve lost 20 lbs in the last month or so. I’m 6 ft 2 in, and around 215 lbs right now. Even at this point it seems like it has improved my hearing and reduced my left ear tinnitus significantly. Last year I remember getting really fatigued when spending a couple hours out in hot weather. This year is so much better. On Friday I spent almost 10 hours in a metal shed (aka hotbox) doing a car stereo installation and still felt pretty good even though it was in the mid 90’s. My ability to cope with the heat is so much better now. I’d really like to get below 200lbs and I think I could achieve that before the end of the Summer. All through my 20s I was at a steady 175 lbs, but I was also cycling 120-150 miles a week.

I also started a 5x5 strength program a few weeks ago and that has helped endurance a lot even though I’m still doing relatively light weights.

 

Yeah being in shape really helps when dealing with cold or heat. Lots of people are successful losing weight on keto, for me personally it's not a weight thing. I lost maybe 2kg of weight but most of it is water retention. Lower inflammation in the body due to reduced insuline resistance is one of the biggest benefits, which comes from switching to fats as a primary fuel source for your body.
Interesting fact is, is that your brain also works allot better on ketones then glucose. When you turn 18 the efficiency of glucose in the brain goes down while the efficiency of ketones stay the same throughout your life and they are much more efficient to begin with. Also allot cleaner and efficient to make by the body itself.
Your brain/nervous system uses up something like 25% of the energy your body consumes, which relative to it's mass is pretty nuts. I want clean fuel for my brain, if my body needs sugar it can make it itself no need for sugar through diet.

I don't really calculate my macros either, i just eat whatever is high in fat, make sure i get enough minerals and eat low starch vegetables. You can eat greasy, salty just not sweet. You can wane yourself off of sugar by gradually reducing sweetness, now when i eat chocolate it has to be 85% at least or it's too sweet for me.

 

We definitely need a keto, a colon and a prostate thread!

 

My urologist would probably be glad if he could get an alien to do that job. As one doctor commented before inserting the gloved finger, well, he had a mortgage to pay. They must be sooo glad latex got invented,

 

Marv, sounds like the worst of it is in the past. Best wishes, and be well.

-B

 

Hope you heal up quick! =)

 

Wish you a fast recovery, but more important hope you don't have recurrences Marv.

 

f**k the stones (kidney not rolling)
Stay well Marv...we still need want you around.

 

I'm really glad you are over those interventions! I've been through both (separately) as well as passing quite a few smaller stones. None in the last 5 years, knock wood...

On the pain gauge, I thought kidney stones were the worst until I smashed, dislocated, and broke my right shoulder in a backcountry skiing accident last year, and had to be dragged 2 1/2 hours bumping down a mountain to a waiting ambulance with the merciful drugs.

There's a claim that propensity to oxalate kidney stones decreases with age for some patients, and indeed that seems to have happened to me. But what all urologists agree on is that we need to drink a lot more water than we feel we need.

 

I had kidney stones a year ago. Still pissed off that they made me go through both an intravenous urography and CT, just to diagnose a stupid stone.

That was the worst pain of my life. Really redefines the pain limit. That feeling of barbed wire being moved from your kidney to your balls for hours without remorse or stopping.