So, I really cannot identify anything that triggered my stone forming problems.

I don’t associate my episodes with stress, mental or physical, except sweating. I really don’t sweat much, but I do have problems if I sweat very much at all. But, that is a dehydration issue.

The episodes I have now are “livable.” I definitely do have a confirmed narrowing of my right ureter at the spot it joins the bladder. So, what I feel now is a little pain in my kidney and a dull pinch where I have the narrowing. This tells me I have a very small stone stuck there. Since my research I’ve been following the diet, drinking a gallon of water per day and taking the minerals, and I have succeeded each time in passing the small stone while it is still small. My pain level rarely gets to 3 sometimes 4. It makes me more nervous than anything… just nervous that it will grow and cause a horrible blockage again. But, having had so much success in the last couple of years, I am gaining my confidence back. If I make it through this September without a bad blockage, I will feel even better about it.

Do you have any thoughts on how these frequent kidney attacks started for you. I know the first time I was dehydrated. I was pregnant, it was July and I had just pushed my son in his stroller 30 min. to the lake, played and back without drinking much. Not so smart. But I certainly have not been hydrated since then. Sometimes I wonder if the stent damaged my ureter and now the crystals that I used to pass have difficulty passing.

Do you ever see a connection between stress or a physical activity that will set one of these attacks off. 6 times I have passed a stone/crystal it was after something like having to pick my daughter out of bed 6x’s in the night. So many questions.

You said in the last 2 years you haven’t had any “bad” attacks. What are your attacks like now?

Sorry for all the questions. It is just on my mind alot right now.

Thanks again for your help. Debbie

I know I need to rewrite Parts 2 and 3. I wrote as I learned and went back and edited. Perhaps I will get some extra time in the winter to rewrite them to incorporate the edits in a more organized fashion.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Your symptoms and lack of help from the medical community sound so much like mine. I feel confident in your case, that the minerals will help. I’m sure I will have to take them the rest of my life. Once you clear out your kidneys by using the minerals and drinking plenty of water, you will re-familiarize yourself with the way urination is supposed to feel. I had truly forgotten what was normal. Then when your kidneys start forming crystals, you will be alerted immediately by the change in urine flow. The urine should feel like it is easily falling out of you, flowing… not dribbling nor spattering. Depending on my symptoms, I adjust the calcium/magnesium doses up and down, but in the same proportions. I don’t change the potassium or B6. I continue to measure my water and drink about a gallon of water per day.

I did try a kidney cleanse. The minerals I list in this post are actually a part of some of the cleanses I’ve seen. And the herbs used in the cleanses are basically diuretic herbs. You should not take diuretics, natural or otherwise, without medical supervision and rarely long-term. But, I do find herbal diuretics helpful to use occasionally. The actual flush did not seem to do any more for me than my minerals plus occasional diuretics. While I prefer natural, I’m not a health fanatic… just a person who wants to live pain-free! So, I prefer the easy herbal diuretics over doing an actual cleanse. I use these natural diuretic tablets that contain Uva Ursi, Buchu, Juniper and Parsley:

Extra Strength Water Pill Tablets

To use these tablets as a cleanse, follow the directions on the bottle, but take only one or two per day for about a week. I just use them now, one or two in a day, for only one or two days, when I am having increasing symptoms. You must increase your water intake. The idea is to run a lot of water through your kidneys. But, take care to not over-do it.

I agree with you… the pain has made me much more sensitive to the pain of others. And, I have never been so focused in prayer than when I was in severe pain.

My story started almost 2 years ago while I was pregnant with my daughter. I had all the typical kidney stone symptoms but they couldn’t find it on the ultrasound. They couldn’t do any other test since I was pregnant. I ended with a stent for the rest of the pregnancy. Not fun!

I ended up in the hospital 3 more times in the first year after her birth. Same pain but they couldn’t see anything. They did the dye test with x-ray and multiple ultrasounds but nothing showed up. No answers or help from them at all. Drink water!

Finally I went to another hospital and told them to check me over. They sent me to the kidney specialist and I had to collect a days worth of urine and have a blood test plus an ultrasound and an exam. Nothing. My kidney looks great.

They send me down to urology. She looks at me like I am crazy then looks at my kidney again with ultrasound. SHAZAM! She sees crystals! The first one to see anything! Nothing can be done I just need to drink and exercise. This was in November 2007.

I drink, drink, drink and have had a kidney attack now in January, February, March, May, and now June, 2 days ago. I am TIRED of it. I have not gone to the hospital for any of these times but fight it out at home. The drugs there haven’t worked for me anyway.

Your suggestions give me hope. I am going to start with the magnesium citrate, calcium citrate and potassium citrate and see what happens.

Have you ever done a kidney detox. Someone suggested it to me and I would like to try it out.

I am a christian as well and trust that the Lord has a reason and purpose for all this pain. It certainly has made me more sensitive to others who are suffering and generally made me more dependent on Him. There is nothing else I really can do.

Thank you again for sharing your experience. Debbie

What a nightmare! I don’t think I’ve written about the stint I had once. It was a bad experience also, but not as bad as your story. I hope you find some helpful tips here. I still have chronic stones, but it’s been almost 2 years since I’ve had a painful stone. What I pass now is what is commonly called gravel. It’s not painful, but I have to live with constant “restrictions.” I complain about the restrictions, but if I stop and remember a painful stone… that puts everything in perspective.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned in a post that, for myself I can see a definite correlation to my allergies. Too many allergy meds will dry me out from the inside, causing a stone. And, even when limiting my allergy meds, the allergic response of my body causes dehydration. So now, in addition to monitoring my urine output, I also limit my time outdoors when I am having increasing allergy symptoms.

Eileen, I hope your second stone will pass easier than the first. For myself, I would even prefer to pass a painful stone on my own than to undergo the medical procedures with all their side effects. Although, if it is painful as in a 9 or 10 on the pain scale again, my plan is to call an ambulance (so I can skip triage at the hospital) and let them give me morphine as I pass it. I hope it never gets that bad again!