Kidney stone treatment incorporates diagnosing the size, location and composition of the renal stone, pain management, kidney stone removal, and preventing future kidney stones from reoccurring.
Kidney stone treatment may include waiting for the stone to pass on its own by drinking water to help the renal stone travel through the urinary system. Sometimes taking over the counter pain medication or prescription medication may be ordered by the urologist. Kidney stones can take a week or a month to pass out of the urinary system. Drinking eight to ten glasses of water a day (unless you have restrictions) helps the urinary system stay open and active allowing the stone to work its way through the kidney, ureter, bladder and urethra. In men the stone also has to go through the prostate. During this “wait and see” period you may experience the symptoms of kidney stones such as blood in urine, kidney pain (flank pain and side pain), painful urination, urinary frequency, and fever.
Kidney stone treatment alternatives
Kidney stone treatment is contingent on your symptoms and your diagnostic results. Our urology team can use many tools to investigate the cause of your kidney stone and your chances of passing the stone out of your body without a procedure.
Kidney stone size and location will be determined with an intravenous pyelogram (IVP) and the cause of your kidney stones can be determined with urine, blood, and metabolic tests. If your test results determine that you may not need a procedure to remove the stone immediately, then you may be given dietary modifications and possibly some medications that will help dissolve the stone so that you may pass it without incident. With the analysis of the kidney stone once it is passed out, our urologists will help determine what is occurring internally that has given rise to the stone formation in your kidney. For those that have recurring kidney stones our urologists will help with structuring new supplements such as vitamins, minerals and natural medicines along with dietary adjustments to curb stone formation.
Kidney stone treatment includes stopping stones from reoccurring and dissolving those that exist. Kidney stones may be composed of different minerals; the majority of stones are composed of a combination of calcium oxalate and phosphate. They may also be composed of just phosphate or just calcium oxalate. When calcium oxalate is the major component there may be unusual levels of vitamins causing them to appear. High levels of vitamin C and low levels of vitamin B may be the cause of calcium oxalate kidney stones.