The formation of a kidney stone is a common disease these days. A stone passing your kidney causes a stabbing pain, blocks the ureter and urine can’t flow. The pain radiates from the lower abdomen and groin along with the below ribs.
A year ago, stones were detected in my grandma’s kidney. The only symptom she felt earlier was radiating pain. We took her to Social Security Hospital, Lahore for the check-up. It was the time when I got to know a lot about stone formation, its symptoms, and methods to treat them. Interestingly, in our urinary system, stones can be formed in ureters and bladders too. Firstly, when stones get detected, you don’t need to panic. It depends on the size of the stone what kind of treatment we have to implement on it. Let’s get a brief description of stones and their formation. Then we’ll head towards the treatment methods.
How Kidney Stones are Formed?
Kidney stones are formed of substances such as calcium phosphate, calcium oxalate, and uric acid. The most common type of stones are calcium oxalate ones. They can be formed due to excessive eating of some food items such as beets, nuts, tea, spinach, and chocolates. Tomatoes and nuts are rich in oxalates so avoid them. Sometimes, the enzyme responsible for breaking down these crystal substances is missing in our kidneys. This lack of enzymes makes the formation of stones easier. Passing stone in your kidneys can be identified by various symptoms. Some of the most common ones are as follows.
- Blood in your urine
- Infection of urinary system
- More sweat
- Feeling nauseous and ill
- Mild fever
- Stabbing pain in abdomen
- Men can face pain in the testicles
Ways to Get Rid of Kidney Stones:
During my grandma’s treatment, we gathered a lot of experience and exposure to treatment methods. According to Urologists in Lahore, kidney stones can be removed in three ways. The details of these ways are described below.
- Using Natural Remedies
All the doctors recommend some natural ways first to wash out the stones. There are many fruits, vegetables, and juices to eat as a remedy.
- Basil juice can help in reducing pain and breaking the stones because it contains acetic acid. Basil leaves are used traditionally to treat many digestive diseases. It is full of nutrients along with having antioxidants that keep our kidneys healthy.
- Water is most essential in washing out the kidney stones. Infrared the intake of your water. Go for 12 glasses per day instead of 8. Water has the power to dilute the stone in it and pass out in the urine. The stone is pure salty so a solution can be formed. If the stone passes out, keep a check on your body’s water level. You shouldn’t be dehydrated.
- Pomegranate juice is used to keep kidneys healthy. They can prevent the stones too. It has the power to steer away the toxins along with stones from your body. It’s up to you how many glasses of pomegranate juice you drink a day.
- Lemon has citrate in it that can break the calcium stones into pieces. Add lemon to your diet by putting it in your water or squeezing over the salad. Lemon has many other benefits for your health despite kidneys.
- Lithotripsy
Lithotripsy is the non-surgical removal of stones. It isn’t painful because anesthesia is used. High-frequency rays like shockwaves or lasers are used from outside of the body through a machine to break the stones inside of the body. This method is used if the stone is pretty large and can’t be dissolved in water and passes through urine. The broken stone becomes like ash and flushes out through urine. The whole process takes almost an hour or 45 minutes to complete.
- Surgical Removal of Kidney
If the size of stones is too large to remove, then they are removed through surgery. Though there are some risks like bleeding, infection, and damage to the ureter and bladder.
Prevention is Always Better!
It is always better to take care of your health before any unfortunate incident. Taking care of your diet is the best way to prevent many diseases. Eat healthy, steer away from tobacco, maintain a regular exercise routine and this will make you say goodbye to such diseases.