Anybody had kidney stones?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

I have had painful attacks since last June. They happen about once a month. I got an ultrasound diagnosis. I don't have the money to get it treated.

What helps it?

[mopinko]

1. low salt and lots of water.

but you probably knew that. i have a friend who gets them, and she always has her water bottle with her. it does help.
good luck. sucks to not be able to get treatment because of money.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Yeah, I knew about lots of water being good for it.

I do low salt, because I don't like salt anyway. I switched to sea salt and it tastes better.

The pains were awful. In fact, they were almost as bad as a busted ovarian cyst that sent me to the ER in agony a few years ago.

[safeinOhio]

3. I rode the last one out without going to the ER.

Doc gave me some oxycodone to keep on hand. She said if I start taking it at the first sign, I might make it. In the hospital I went through 3 shots of morphine that never touch the pain. I think there are 2 different types. One from calcium and the other from acid. You have to determine which one to find the right diet.

[Warpy]

4. A specific diet is dictated by the type of stone, although there is no proof

that any specific diet has ever worked. If you are passing the stones, then they can be analyzed to see if they're calcium, uric acid, or one of the rarer types, but it won't make that much difference. However, if they're uric acid stones, a chronic bacterial infection is suspected and can be treated.

Until then, drink plenty of water to keep them flushed through while they're small. A lot of people pass small stones without ever knowing they have them. Get pain control when you get an attack, it's the first line of defense.

Diet has been insufficiently studied as either prevention and treatment and much, like the role of megadoses of Vitamin C in stone formation, has been so poorly studied we can pretty much dismiss it as folklore.

Good luck. Most episodes can be treated with pain control, alone, good news for people like us who are uninsured.

[HereSince1628]

5. I passed mine. the size and shape of the tip of a sharpened lead pencil point

Passing it was painful. Getting it out REALLY helped.

[wiggs]

6. Lithotripsy tomorrow! They'll blast the thing with shock waves and hope

that it breaks up into small enough pieces that I don't have to pass something painful.

Sorry you can't get treatment yet. Man, if I wasn't covered the cost would be astronomical. Just got a call from the surgery center that wanted to make me away of potential costs. Cost just for facility is normally 17,000 for the procedure (probably high "retail" number that no one pays). The insurance company has a deal so that their cost is 3200. I pay 10% of that, so I pay 320 and they pay 2900. The doctor will cost 1600 (paid by insurance I believe). Tests and scans so far probably total in the thousands, paid for by insurance except for deductible.

So will the new health care bill help you, if passed? (no pun intended)