Kidney Stones

[dn5150]

I've been diagnosed as a T2 diabetic for almost a year and a half. For the past two years or so I've been having issues with kidney stones. My first attack was a little over 2 yrs ago in my left kidney. That was the most G*d awful pain I've ever had. Recently I had another attack on the left kidney but these didn't hurt as much (i also had some left over Vicadin from a dental issue) that I used so that helped. Two nights ago I had an attack on my right kidney that sent me to the hospital. They gave me Norco this time. The ct scan showed nothing out of norm for stones.

Any ideas on why I'm having these attacks? I'm 38, not overweight, I watch my calcium intake, I don't eat a lot of cheese or dairy in general, and I drink soy milk. THe only thing I can think of is that I take 10mg of prednisone for crohn's disease.

[wiseguy]

It may be that you drink too many carbonated soft drinks and/or not enough water. You might want to check into an herb called Chanca Piedra that is widely used to dissolve kidney stones.

[blacklightmike]

Did they analyze the stones? You mentioned having them pre-diagnosis for Diabetes... they could be stones that are acidic, which wouldn't be caused by calcium intake, possibly by kidney issues or ketoacidosis

I've had a few stones, and they were acidic; from what I've been told, they were caused by both my diabetes as well as my sarcoidosis. My diabetes is now under control, as it wasn't for a while, and my sarc is in remission... so I haven't had even a symptom of them since... is there a smiley for 'knock on wood'?

Drink, drink, drink loads of water. My heart goes out to you, as they are quite painful as they travel through. My last bout required a temporary stent in my kidney, which was waaay more painful than the stones themselves.

[notme]

Are you 100% sure it was kidney stones during the most recent attack? Did they check for pancreatitis? Just a wild guess, but I had a friend with Crohn's and he has issues with pancreatitis quite often.

[ladytaz]

you may just be prone to them! I get them every so often, usually not too bad pain wise, but sometimes they do hurt pretty bad, and a couple of times I've had to go to the hospital for it. Kidney probs run in my family tho.

[dn5150]

^^^Yes it was confirmed as kidney stones, I could see them when I checked my urine. Plus the CT scan showed I had a couple still left in the kidney waiting to exit. So far mine have been in the 4mm-5mm range, I dred the day I'll have to have something else done.

I've had pancreitis before and its painfull also but its been at least ten years.

And I drink plenty of water, at least 5 or 6 bottles of Ozarka per day. The doctor now has me taking Flomax to open me up some. As far as cokes go only one per day usually at lunch. I don't drink much coffee, I have a twice a week starbucks habit. And no alcohol since I'm on glyburide.