I now know why I keep developing kidney stones. This is going to be tricky...

I saw the urologist today because he had the LithoLink urine analysis results back.  I still am not drinking as much as I should (no surprise there), but the problem is that the amount of calcium in my urine is VERY high (hypercalciuria).   As far as treatment to prevent further stones, the short version is that I must keep taking my calcium citrate because my latest DEXA scan showed some bone loss in one hip (but am supposed to find a way to get my protein in with smaller amounts of dairy), must decrease my sodium intake to 1000-1500mg per day, and start taking thiazide (which will decrease the amount of calcium the kidneys have to process and therefore decrease stone formation).  He also again suggested lowering my protein intake.

When I told him that I had already decreased my protein from 80-90g per day to about 70, he said that was more than enough for someone my size, but I reminded him that they don't really know how much protein we malabsorb and that my protein level was ok at my last set of labs, but didn't have room to drop very much... and taht was before I decreased i, so I am not willing to decrease it much more than that.

I don't really eat that much sodium except for deli turkey and ham (which I eat several times a week) and the occasional soup or pizza meal, so I guess I will have to cut down on my ham consumption, go back to roasting an entire turkey breast and then slicing it up and packaging it with the vacuum sealer, and start buying low sodium soups when I can.

Because the calcium level was so high, he also had me go get blood drawn to double check my PTH (which was fine when I had my full labs done this spring).

I still need to increase my daily water intake by about 30%.   

At least I now know what is causing them and we have a plan in place.

 

Lora

Define "fine" for PTH.

How ya doing? Been awhile.

You must have oxalate stones? The foods that contain the most calcium also contain the most oxalates. The worst are the "brown liquids", coffee, tea, colas. The caffeine is not the issue.

High use of anything like Tums is bad. Calcium CITRATE is the offset.

The old wive's tale, lemonade for stones? That's citric acid. So, avoid the oxalates, calc carbonate & high calc foods. Use as many things with citric acid as you comfortably can. When I had these issues, I doubled and later tripled my calc citrate, late added mag citrate, and next bottle of potassium will be the citrate. Smacking them with the 3 best citrates bones and hearts like should sparkle up my labs some. But mostly, I didn't care for my first bout with kidney stones and prefer not to repeat it.

Most docs don't know about increasing cal citrate to lower the high blood and urine levels. Works like a charm because the citrates sorta eat up the oxalates, so the amount of calcium running around free, sneaking into places we don't want it, and they herd the calcium into the places we DO want it,.

Reminder that I'm not medical. Just make stuff easier to understand.

Hi, Michelle.  Good to hear from you!

My last PTH was 29.

I don't take anything with calcium carbonate (after my last kidney stone issues, I even switched to a multi with no calcium), and I did start drinking lemonade with Splenda after several people mentioned it.

When my DEXA scan showed some bone loss in one hip, I increased my calcium citrate from 1600 per day to 2100, and this is the urologist who confirmed that calcium citrate does NOT contribute to stones (the opposite, actually, as you said), whereas my first one told me to cut my calcium citrate in half (which I refused to do... I got a new urologist instead).  Do you think it would be worthwhile for me to increase it another 500?  I can also add the magnesium citrate (how much daily would you recommend?).  I didn't even know potassium citrate existed.  I don't currently take any potassium.

 

Lora

What about using Unjury's chicken soup once a day to up your protein without adding dairy?  The warmth will be nice in the cool months ahead.

I have it periodically in the winter, but the sodium content is sky high on it (770mg, which is more than half the amount of daily sodium he wants me to have) and lowering my sodium is more important than eliminating some dairy.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Lora

Glad you are getting some answers. you will figure it all out.

Lora,  Check latest study on high Vit D and calcium deposits and  Stones Formation ... You may need vit K. And other Minerals.

Im glad you have some answers Lora. It does seem tricky though you need the calcium yet it contributes to the stones... keep working on getting tha****er intake up.

Calcium citrate does NOT contribute to kidneys stones.  That's what Lora has said here and that's what research shows.  We do need calcium, but we need calcium citrate because we can't absorb calcium carbonate.  Calcium carbonate can contribute to kidney stones, but not calcium citrate.

actually I never said that calcium citrate does contribute to the kidney stones... but thank you wouldnt want to cause confusion