Safeguard your kidneys from renal stones

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Imagine a situation where you get up suddenly in the middle of the night with an excruciating pain in your abdomen. You scream and yell with pain and feel like a woman in labor! And then suddenly the pain is relieved. However, the trauma and the fear of that pain remain in your mind. It can come up again if it was because of a stone (calculus) in your kidneys. But, it is in your hands to prevent such a recurrence if you take the right precautions and medicines.

Kidney calculi are hard, crystallized mineral materials that are formed within the urinary tract. They are formed when the urine contains a higher concentration of crystal-forming substances, such as uric acid, oxalate and calcium, than your urine can dilute. It may also occur when the urine lacks substances that prevent the crystals from sticking together; thereby creating an ideal environment for stone formation.

What symptoms may be present when one has renal calculi?

Most patients are unaware that they have renal stones. Pain usually occurs when the calculus leaves the kidney and travels down the narrow ureters.

Surprisingly, it is not the large calculi, but the small ones that are more likely to cause colicky pain. Large stones are often asymptomatic because they tend to get stuck at one site. However, with time, these larger stones cause obstructions and superimposed infections and may result in serious damage to the kidneys.

• Pain that radiates to the groins
• Cloudy urine
• Foul-smelling urine
• Persistent urge to urinate
• Difficulty in passing urine

Simple tips to prevent kidney stones:

• The most effective non-medication therapy for this problem is increasing one’s fluid intake. The goal should be to drink enough fluids so as to pass more than 2 liters of urine in a day.

• Excess salt consumption can cause more calcium to enter into the urine, resulting in calculus formation. Hence, patients are advised to avoid salty foods.

• Drinking fresh lemonade or adding lemon juice to your drinks can also help to reduce your risk. It has been found that citrates commonly found in lemons help inhibit stone formation.

Kidney stone medications:

Sometimes, dietary modifications are not enough for preventing a stone. In such cases, it is essential to take oral medications like Zyloprim on a daily basis. This drug contains allopurinol that specifically helps in reducing the risk of uric acid calculi by lowering uric acid levels in the blood.

Patients are usually prescribed Zyloprim in a dose of 200 to 300 mg per day. You should consult your doctor to know the right dose suitable for your specific condition.

The pain caused by renal calculi can be so severe that the patient can not sit still or find a comfortable position. Also, if you had more than one kidney stone in the past, you are prone to developing more of them in future. But, luckily there are drugs like Zyloprim that, along with some dietary changes, help prevent this problem.