Kidney Stones

What's up fella's... Wednesday night at 7:30 I started getting what I thought were spasms in my lower left side towards the back above my hip. I thought at first that it was just muscle pain as my body is adjusting. Well with in 20 minutes I knew something was wrong. I thought I was going to die. I waited about 1 hour thinking it would go away. Now, mind you. I don't even know (not smart I know) where the local hospital is/was. So I googled it and decided I needed to go. I got in my car, yes driving myself (again, another stupid moment) about half way there I realized that I was only doing 30mph in a 70 lane, so at this point I realized that I had made a mistake. But I motored on making it to the hospital eventually. I literally crawled into the ER, thank god they rushed me right in to the back and with in 10 minutes had me on a morphine drip. With in 20 minutes I was high as a kite (very cool, I forget what that feels like) and completely numb. After the give me a cat scan they inform me that I had my first dealings with stones. They also told me that it droped into my bladder and that I was almost finished. BUT, told me I had more that were going to work there way out. Calcium supliments + lack of water intake = reason for my stones... again, not smart. If this wasn't worse, it was now 12:30 and I had to be at the airport at 6 am for a flight to get to a meeting. At this point they told me that I had to call someone to come get me, due to the narcotics they had me on, legally they couldn't let me drive myself home. I explained to them, that I have no support system here. I am new to the area and if they don't sign me out I was going to walk out. Dr. explained to me that if I did that he wouldn't give me the script for the meds to cover the pain for when the rest of them started to move. So I negotiated with them and they let me leave at 2am, by the time I got my pills and had my head on my pillow it was 3am alarm clock goes off at 5 and I am on a plane shortly there after. After my meeting I had a show to go to (trade show), so I head to the bathroom at 10 am and man did it hurt ******g. I am guessing that I might have passed it at that moment, but all day long it would hurt for twenty minutes after I took a leak. This was Thursday. On Friday, I had no issues taking a leak, no pain no nothing. BUT, I had a VERY weak stream and I had to push hard to get every last drop out of me. Much like the days after the tube was pulled from my jimmy after my RNY. Anyone else deal with these? I mean, I compound fractured my leg playing football in school, looked at the inside of my bone and was dragged off the field... I thought that was painfull, but to be honest. I compare that to getting a splinter when talking about the amount of pain this stone caused me. They won't zap them cause they claim they are smaller, said I will just have to take the pain meds they gave me and relax till it drops. Chris

That sucks Chris, not something to look forward to. At least there were no other complications. Guy

When it comes to kidney stones I am a pro.  I have had them numerous times and they are from a variety of things.  It is next to impossible for them to diagnose you in the ER like that as far as what kind of stones they are, now the doctor may have preliminarily diagnosed you based on your nutritional history, but without the actual stone itself being analyzed - no way - I am a nurse and I know this for a fact.  Once you pass the stones, they are sent off to a lab for analysis.  Many people do get calcium stones, but another type that many overweight people get are uric acid stones from eating high protein diets and not drinking enough fluids - this is my biggest concern after having RNY surgery next week.  Fluids are one of the biggest culprets for getting the stones to cause problems and as we all know, fluid intake after surgery is pretty low postop.  As far as your **** stream goes, you probably have a stone sitting at the neck of your bladder.  It will come out on its hopefully, but it takes time and drinking lots of fluids.  In the event that doesn't work, they can do surgery to remove them, as I have had that done to myself twice now.  Just so you know, and this is the god's honest truth, I have passed stones the size of a pin head that hurt like hell and made me cry and I have passed stones the size of a pea that have caused me no pain.  You just never know how it will affect you.  There are so many nerves involved from your kidney going down the urethral tract and then eventually to your bladder, along with many twist and turns, which cause the stones to get stuck.  This is where drinking fluids will help tremendously, with all the twist and turns.  Don't be misled to believe that just because you feel good the stone is gone.  Many times when you move your body around it causes the stone reposition itself = sometimes it comes out and sometimes it will get stuck again.  I NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT MY PAIN MEDICATION, EVER.  My primary care physician has given me a prescription for demerol/phenergan (mepergan) to keep on hand when I have an episode.  This precription may last 2 months to a year without me needing to use it, but I always have it on hand wherever I go.  I hope you get my point.  You just never know when a kidney stone attack is going to happen.  I have been told by my urologist that once this happens to you one time, you are more likely to have it happen again at some point.  Having a kidney stone is the closest thing a man will ever know to what a woman goes through during child birth, as has been described to me by women who have had kidney stones and also had child birth.  I felt for you as you described how intense the pain was.  I have been there.  There is no position that makes it feel better.  My stones have brought me tears and dropped me to my knees.  It dang near took an entire cabinet full of narcotics, in the ER, to get me comfortable when I had my last bad kidney stone attack.  If there are two things I have learned in dealing with kidney stones it is as follows:  Don't leave home without pain meds when going on trips and don't hold back on drinking fluids ever.  Sorry to be so long, but thought you should know the real deal.  Good luck passing your stones.  Taz      

Taz... Thanks man. I really appriciate it. I have to make an appointment this week with a urologist. I will post updates. They gave me Merozipan (sp?) I have pills in my car, my desk, my house and I am going to figure out how to put one in my wallet with out it breaking. Chris

Well if it does break all apart just chop it up even finer and snort it .LOL   Just kidding . I know they hurt like hell . No other pain quit like it is there .   Get well soon    Nick

Hey Chris...Been there done that.  I had a kidney stone caused by high uric acid years before RNY.  This is the same thing that causes gout.  Both are more common with RNY patients than the general population.  Mine stayed lodged in my urinary tract for months.  They did a test and found nothing.  A few months later the did the same test and found it.  Surgery with a probe, up through my ding dong (don't want the astrisks) into my bladder headed toward my kidneys.  They pounded it like a jack hammer.  Not fun but have been ok for years now.  Sip sip sip...even more than before.  Never ever ever get dehydrated.  Urologist are not fun, but thank God for them.  They are life savers.  Let us know how it goes.  Brian

Man, I feel for you on the Kidney stones. I had one about 15 years ago, it was pretty big. They wound up doing Lithotrypsy on it to break it up, but before they did that they felt like I needed a stint run between my kidney and my bladder, because a stone that size simply wouldnt pass, and they were afraid after it was broken up it could clog. Soooo...... Off to surgery I go, and I still remember a couple of things that make me chuckle. The first was being wheeled into this preop room. I was laying in my bed between two women who were also waiting for surgery. Well, let me tell you this room was about 5 degrees warmer than a refrigerator and soon I had to pee in the worst possible way. So I called for the nurse and I told her I really had to go. She said not to worry, that the doctors would take care of it for me, then she left. Well, that would have been fine if they were wheeling me in there right then, but about ten minutes went by and there was no sign of me being wisked away, so I called her again and told her I had to go right then or I was going to wet the bed. I must have been getting yellow in the eyes because she ran and got me this plastic bottle that you pee in at the hospital. She hands it to me and draws the little semi circle curtain shut around me. Now let me explain a little bit about me. I dont perform well under pressure. I dont like public bathrooms, I dont like to pee standing next to some other guy. It is a quirk, and oddity, a crazy thing I know but it is just me. So here I am with this plastic bottle, and women I dont know are about 4 feet away on my left, right, and at my feet were the nurse was standing right outside of that thin curtain. I had to go so bad, it didnt matter. I tucked that jug up to my personal business and let it go. Have you ever sprayed a water hose into a milk jug? Do you have any idea how much racket that makes? Well that was me. There was no way to hide it, I just let it go and go and go and go. For some strang reason I thought that singing our national anthem quietly would help, but it didnt. Instead it just made the women on all around me start laughing. But hey, what can you do? So I finally finished, and the room was suddenly deathly quiet accept for some giggling. The nurse asked "All done?" It was funny to me because it was so obvious. I just said "Yes, I am done." So she opens the curtain and holds out her hand for the bottle. "I said you cant have it until it cools off, it is the only thing keeping me from freezing to death." That got a good laugh out of all of them. I wasnt nearly as shy as I would have thought I would be. The second thing I remember was waking up with a piece of string coming out of my personal business and it was taped to the base. I dont know if I am a freak or what but I do know that they didnt leave near enough slack in there and the first time I got aroused I wound up with a bow. Seriously I could have shot tiny arrows with it. I didnt feel good at all so I had to undo it and retape. The third and final thing I remember was going to see the urologist to have the stint removed. He came in wearing this big rubber apron that covered him from the ching down. I didnt think much abut it until he pulled that stint out and I peed all over the front of him. Man talk about embarrasment, but obviously that was the reason for the rubber apron. The lithotripsy went well, and I had very little pain until the stone was ready to pass after the stint was out. That morning I was at work and I felt like I had to go really bad. So I ran to the restroom and like three drops were all that came out. Let me tell you that feeling right there blows. I wound up going home and drinking a ton of water and finally it came tumbling out. It felt like it was end over end and it was as jagged as the day is long. It came out with such force that it actually did not land in the water it was like a rising fast ball that wound up hitting the rim and bouncing onto the floor. But ahhh the relief. I havent had any problems since then thang goodness but my gallbladder has to go in a week. I hope it goes better than the stone did. Troy