Kidney stone risk?

Good morning OH friends,

I am 7 months post op. Since my surgery, I have found dairy foods to be my best friend. Even now, I joke with people that I survive because of the dairy case. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are the staples of my diet. I do eat an egg for breakfast, some meat and veggies for dinner, and some fruit in a smoothie each day, but the rest is dairy. My milk of choice is Fairlife for the higher protein and calcium content.

My question is, am I putting myself at risk of a kidney stone with all of the dairy foods that I am eating? Aren't kidney stones formed of calcium? If so, what can I do to decrease my risk? I'm not particularly interested in changing my diet as I am happy with what I am eating. Dairy foods are yummy and convenient, and I have lost over 100 lbs doing what I'm doing. I'm looking more for ideas for supplements that help prevent kidney stones.

TIA!

Calcium carbonate can increase risk of stones.  Calcium citrate can actually decrease the risk.  And keeping yourself super hydrated can decrease risk as well.  

It's kind of complicated...most kidney stones are calcium oxalate (the other common type is uric acid), but the primary cause of kidney stone formation is dehydration.  Another cause can be a high protein diet, so while we WLS patients are hopefully doing well with hydration, we're eating high protein diets, too.  

I've had several calcium oxalate stones in the past 10 years, and without going into minute detail, the best treatment for them isn't reduction of dietary calcium, it's reducing dietary sodium and increasing hydration. Another good way to prevent stone formation is to eat/drink your dairy along with a food high in oxalates, like spinach or sweet potatoes.  Doing so causes the calcium and oxalate to bind in your stomach and pass through your intestines instead of being filtered by your kidneys at separate times but then binding in the kidney itself.  Some docs, however, will put you on reduced oxalate diets but my nephrologist no longer does so.  He recommends strict adherence to hydration and watching sodium levels.

There's a lot you can read about stones and formation/prevention.  The National Kidney Foundation's website is great, breaks it down pretty easily but there's also more detailed info available.

Extremely helpful.

Thank you.

I'm looking over at my 30 oz glass if ice water thats going to be had in the next hour.

It's sure worth it to not have stones.  I've had a c-section, 2 natural births, a shoulder reconstructed AND a hot appendix...I'd take them all again, at the same time, instead of another kidney stone.  That **** hurts.

Wow.......I"m going to load down on yet a 2nd 30oz cup of water now......

Me no want kidney stones.

What those guys said^^^^^^^^

The number one cause of kidney stones, by far, is not drinking enough. Drinking more solves a whole slew of issues.

Our kidneys and liver work overtime already, processing the fat we are burning and protein we are eating. We need extea fluids to do those things as well.

Drink, drink, drink.