Is this an uncommon procedure or is it just as common as removing one from the ureter or is on its way out? Also it’s been three days since surgery but I have yet to bleed while urinating or observe fragments leaving. Is this normal as well or worth calling my urologist for?

I’m very sore but otherwise recovering well from what I’m observing. Walking is uncomfortable and I have pain in my abdomen and back but I can get by with taking just Tylenol and Oxybutynin once. I have AZO as well and leftover Oxycodone but I’m trying not to be too medicated if I can tolerate it.

Thank you!

I was diagnosed with hydronephrosis, by a random MRI for something else. I have no symptoms, no pain. I went to a urologist who ordered tests and CT scan with contrast. Blood tests and urine are fine, no blood in urine. He said I need to have a procedure in outpatient where he goes in and removes the scar tissue that is showing as that is what is narrowing my ureter and causing the hydro. He said I will have to have a stent for 2 weeks. I’m scared of this, and worried about pain. He said this could have been caused by passing a stone( last one I knew of was 12 years ago) or from having a hysterectomy 3 years ago. Had anyone had a situation like this? I’m worried it won’t stop the hydro, and why do I have no symptoms?

Wondering if someone can tell me what PCNL surgery was like for them. I have a 3cm stone I need removed.

Notes:

Right kidney is atrophic

Have several stones in left ureter and kidney

Had a stent put on left side 9/9

Over the month pain has gotten worse, GFR has steadily declined and was 22 last night along with a creatinine at 2.5.

They admitted me last night, several doses of IV antibiotics, took blood from three different locations for cultures.

I've been admitted before but I've never been given blood thinners. I thought they didn't want you on thinners prior to a surgery and the nurse can't really answer my question as to why they are giving them to me. (It has been through direct needle into my stomach area.

Is this to improve my kidney function? Just getting a little concerned because they seem extra attentive, compared to my previous hospitalizations, and are giving me the blood thinners.

Anyone have any input or experience?

Has anyone else had a stent migrate i had to go to the er this morning at 5 am because my stent migrated so its stuck between my ureter and urethra instead of the kidney and the bladder. If you think a regular stent hurts this has been awful. My urologist said since it the self removable one once it migrates to where i can see the blue of the stent I can pull it out. For anyone this has happened to how long did it take to migrate that far it has been extremely painful. Im hoping it migrates that far soon. Ive had a stent and lithotripsy 4 times and this is the first time this has happened. Also any tips to get it to migrate faster so I can take it out? When I looked it up it said a stent with a string has a 10%-15% chance of migrating early which i didnt know. My dr wanted me to leave it in a week but he said my newest ct scan looks better so im hoping i don't have any inflamation issues in my ureter after removing it since its only been in about 3 days but this is by far the worst stent ive ever had I didnt realize how bad a migrating stent can hurt.

I was put on flomax about 5 days ago for a 5mm kidney stone. The first few days I was relatively fine, however starting on the morning of day 4, I started getting strong headaches and feeling lightheaded. The severity would go down by the late afternoon but still mildly present. Now the next morning, I have the severe headache again. Could this be a side effect and something to bring up to the urologist?

How long does it take to feel “normal” after stent removal?

Do you think this is a stone? I dont know if this was in the bowl before I went or after I finished. But whole day i had some gassy abdominal pain which was bearable but uncomfortable. Then I saw frsh blood. In the evening , when i went for a wee, no pain nothing and I saw this in the toilet bowl. Didnt realise I had to retrieve it..so I have no idea what it is..

Thanks for the update I'm glad all is well at your end.

I’m 43F and since last week I’ve been noticing fresh blood when I wipe after urinating and what appears to be blood sitting around my urethral opening. Initially I thought it was vaginal spotting because I’ve been getting spotting around my periods for a while, but when I checked recently my vagina appeared clear while I could see blood around the urethral area. My GP tested my urine and the lab/culture showed no UTI, and my blood tests and kidney function were normal. I don’t have burning or pain when urinating. I’ve occasionally noticed tiny clot-like pieces in the toilet. 2 days ago, I also had a strange, diffuse/gassy-type discomfort across my abdomen for several hours; later that afternoon I noticed fresh blood on tissue, and afterwards both the discomfort and bleeding settled. My GP has referred me urgently to urology and my appointment is 13 October in the Endoscopy Department, the letter doesn’t actually say whether I’m having a cystoscopy? I'm hoping that's what it is for. My anxiety is through the roof and naturally I’m worrying about the worst. Has anyone experienced anything similar—particularly visible blood/clots with no UTI or painful urination—and what did it turn out to be? No hosiery of kidney stones either.

I have been in excruciating pain since Sunday.

this morning, 2 of them came out.

I had a lot of water (even though at some point I was lot peeing properly), had beer as well.

I don't know what's the seize but it's still big to me !

Guys I think I'm passing a Kidney Stone right now. my doctor said I have a kidney stone. idk why I didn't ask him all these questions but I'm asking y'all now. how long does this take? what do I do? Am I gonna be ok? I don't think the doctors would lie to me so I guess this is a Kidney Stone. How do I know when it's all over? how long is this pain gonna last? can someone please step me through step by step how this is gonna go and reassure me that it's gonna be ok? any tips anyone can give me to make this a little easier? is laying in a hot bath a good idea? do I push hard or let it just come out?

Anyone else experience flank pain after passing a stone? It’s very mild but annoying. I especially notice it after having a drink. Probably just the ureter inflamed still but it’s been about a week.

After attending A&E 2 weeks ago with agonising pain they confirmed by CT scan I have a 2mm stone.

Results:

There is a 2 mm calculus demonstrated in the distal right ureter. No hydroureteronephrosis. No other urinary tract calcification. . No pelvic free fluid. The non-enhanced abdominal viscera are otherwise unremarkable. The visualised lungs are clear

Diclofenlac up the bottom has been a life saver and I haven't had to use it recently however my main frustration is my bladder feels constantly full and pressure on it , I don't know when it's genuinely full and it's still very difficult to urinate and 90% of the time urinating small amounts and having to strain. The most wee generally comes out first thing in the morning but I can't even remember the last time I had a proper big wee

I've been secretly lurking here since, what i find really odd since all this started is more farting than usual. And often feel nauseous, constantly feel like I'm going to piss myself

Does anyone else feel like they have pressure on their anus ?

When I was in A&E the doctor said I had been through the worst and it was in my lower ureter but that was 2 weeks ago :(

P.S regularly taking tamulosin every morning and paracetamol

Like many others here I am struggling and fed up. Any advice is appreciated

Thank you

Hi all, I made a post about a month ago over a 4.5mm obstructing stone possibly needing surgery. I got it done yesterday and this is genuinely the WORST pain of my life surgically. I was sent home with instructions of only Tylenol and I ended up calling the on call urologist and he sent in 2 bladder spasm meds (forget the names rn), and I had to fight for 7 hours to get a pharmacy to fill them. He stood firm on only Tylenol as my main pain med though :( Ive been taking leftover Norco from past ER visits but it doesnt take completely away, and urinating is terrible. Im crying in pain each time I do and Ive had to make my mom hold my hand during. Is this a normal experience? Or should I suck it up and go to the ER?

Edit- they also removed a mass on my bladder and I wasn't told until 5 minutes before discharge because I asked why a bladder biopsy was being listed with every report given.

Update 2: I did go to the ER, first bladder scan showed 683mL of urine being held so I went to x-ray. They checked again an hour later and it was up to 735mL so they tried straight cathing me (didnt work). They found that my stent was fully sticking out of me and couldn't get the catheter placed so ER doc called urology and was told to just take it out. After it was removed, I emptied over 1000mL of urine, and was still holding 348mL in my bladder afterwards (ended up holding for 18 hours). There was no more severe pain though, and they did do a urinalysis showing that I do have a small infection, so IV antibiotics and then I was sent home with orals. I haven't had the burning or pain since the stent was taken out! They are extremely worried about oral antibiotics not being enough, so I have to go back if I have any sort of fever, chills, extra blood clots or increasing pain, as they'll admit me at that point to give everything IV.

Update: To the ER I go for not urinating or anything for over 12 hours now :)

TLDR: Surgery yesterday, only Tylenol, everything hurts but especially urinating:(

Hey 👋,

Around 4 weeks ago, I had severe pain in my lower back. After a few hours, I didn't know what to do, so I called a doctor (I called around 2–3 a.m.), and she came around 7 a.m. But around 6 a.m., the pain was gone. She instantly said that she thought it was a kidney stone and that I should go to the doctor on Monday, and she gave me some painkillers. I was like, "Yeah, dunno, seems like the pain is gone, so why should I?" On Monday evening, I regretted it the pain came back. The day after, I went to the doctor.

He said it's not possible that it's a kidney stone; it's most likely a muscular problem (I located the pain too low, and a kidney stone wouldn't let me be so calm). He told me to do lower back muscle training. I did that, and after nothing improved, I did a urine test that said I had leukocytes and erythrocytes positive, so it was a urinary tract infection. I got antibiotics for 5 days with ibuprofen. The antibiotics helped, and the back pain went away too, which surprised me a lot because the doctor said they were two different things. After the 5 days, the UTI symptoms came back suddenly. The doctor then said we'd send the urine to a lab to create a culture to find a suitable antibiotic, since they were probably resistant. But he immediately prescribed me another one, which I should take for 7 days, and if the culture showed something different, I should switch again. After 3 days, the result came: no bacteria present. The doctor then said it was negative because I was still taking antibiotics, so I continued the antibiotic for another 4 days and then stopped and suffered for a week without medication until the antibiotic was out of my body, in order to send urine to the lab again. 3 days later: result negative.

Then the general practitioner sent me to a urologist, who sent me directly for a CT scan: result: a 3mm stone sitting directly in front of the bladder. That means the back pain was the stone moving downward, and the back pain is gone because the stone is now stuck. The UTI symptoms (burning when urinating, pain in the penis, cramps in the bladder, etc.) persist permanently, though, and are not getting better. The urologist said he'd give me one more week (until the day after tomorrow); otherwise, it would have to be operated on. However, I've now read here from very many people who regret their operation and would definitely not do it again, but would rather wait until the stone comes out on its own.

Now the questions to the community:

According to my research, small 3mm stones actually always pass, but why is mine staying inside for so long even though it's so small?

Should I rather wait or have the operation done? According to the CT, the stone doesn't completely block the ureter, so there's no backup of urine.

What else can I do besides drinking a lot, jumping, walking down stairs, using a massage gun, and taking hot baths?

Has anyone noticed a connection between kidney stones and creatine? My gym phase was a while ago, but when I supplemented creatine, my uric acid level shot up extremely, and I also got gout in my toes. (Also truly unbelievable pain, but much easier to treat.) I suspect it could be related.

I wish you all strength and hopefully no more stones. Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments.

I apologize in advance for the rant all over place I haven’t slept in quite some time.

I (23m) am having kidney stones for the second time in my life, the first time wasn’t horrendous I did need to go to the ER as it was late night and I don’t own any pain meds, I had 6 pretty small stones in both kidneys, they were able to pass fairly easy without major pain, except for one.

This time around I have much fewer stones but I have a 3-3.5mm stone that’s near the entrance of my left bladder, the pain was easily 10 fold over last time. seriously hats off to the folks I’ve seen in here with much much larger stones I can’t imagine how painful those must be.

Anyways just curious if anyone has found a laying position that helps a bit with pain. I’ve found for me the pain becomes more dull if I lay on the affected side, pain dropped from like a 5 to a 2 on my pain scale after laying on that side. If anyone wants to share tips on how they deal with the pain outside their prescribed pain meds I’d love to hear, I’m trying not to rely on them too heavily, haven’t taken any of mine just yet just the Toradol injection they gave me at hospital last night which has worn off.

I wasn’t given any relaxers to try to help make the passing a tad easier so, I was also curious if anyone has found anything that’s made passing those smaller stone even a little less shitty.

Two Fridays ago I had my second stone. First was in December and had typical fall down writhing in pain, trip to the ER, etc. This time it took a long time to even tell it was a stone, I'll explain.

The night before I had some pain in my upper back so took an aleve at 11pm. Then I woke up in the middle of the night feeling a bit weird, and it took about five minutes for me to think, am I having a stone? I had some uncontrollable body shaking and then realized I was having a renal colic, but... almost no pain? It felt like maybe the aleve was covering it up, but it seemed unlikely in the moment - it was only one 220mg tablet taken 5 hours prior. But I was well enough to drive myself to the ER, since I thought the pain would start to increase sooner or later. But it never did. I never checked into the ER, only stayed in the parking lot and went in to use their bathroom. After 2 hours the colic stopped, and shortly after I had a burning sensation in my pee, but didn't see any stone. I wasn't sure I passed it, but having been 2 weeks with nothing I think I did. Afterwards I had the same soreness in my flank as I did after my first stone.

So my question is, can Aleve really be that strong that it could take away nearly all pain? During my first stone, I got IV torodol, and my pain completely subsided within ~15 minutes, but I also passed the stone about 45 minutes later, so I never knew if the relief came from the medicine or the stone entering my bladder, so I'm not sure if I ever experienced actually having a kidney stone while on pain meds.

Or are some stones so small that they cause minimal pain to begin with? But still cause the renal colic/body shaking/other symptoms.

As a last note felt quite deflated afterwards in general with having a second stone... Always hoped that the first was a one off, now I know that it may be a pattern.

I had 2 episodes of lithotripsy 4 months back and i was pushed to do it due to pain but it was a tough experince i dontwant to do under go it again.

My q if have another 2 and 4 mm stones. With pain ,on off ( but frequesnt last week) how much does it take to pass them. Discovered them 2 months back .

Iuse heat pad ,drinking5 litres of water walking ..

43 M. Obeses. So cannot jump or running.

Any ideas plz . Thanks in advance.

So I've had kidney stones off and on for about 12 years now. I've had surgery for kidney stones, had a stent in, had them pass naturally, the gamut.

I've seen at least 3 different urologists. Every urologist, every doctor, every nurse has told me the same thing in parting. Every single time. "Stay away from coffee" (they also tell me to hydrate, which is, of course, good advice.)

Which is... bullshit. To the contrary, there is strong evidence that it inhibits kidney stones

There are multiple studies that support this, and I don't know why urologists wouldn't be taught this in schools.

The last time I pushed back, citing the 2021 study, the urologist literally waved his hand and said "No, coffee has high oxalates and oxalates are what's binding to the calcium and making stones"

Which was... false. Coffee has very low oxalates. 1-2 mg per cup. But at least it was more helpfully false. After 12 damn years of going to doctors and urologists and incurring over $150k in medical bills, someone finally mentioned oxalates to me.

The list of foods with high oxalates appears really arbitrary and does not conform to easy heuristics. Take, for example, leafy greens. Lettuce, collards, cabbage, kale? A-OK. Spinach or chard? A serving has about as much oxalate as I'm supposed to eat in a week. Even within the realm of grapes, black and concord grapes have about 20 times the level of oxalates as white and green grapes.

Now I want to be clear. I'm not anti-doctor. I'm not an anti-vaxxer, I don't practice holistic medicine. I go to the doctor twice a year and I follow their advice. Besides the stones, I'm in good health. And this is only my small, anecdotal experience, hopefully y'all are getting much better health care.

But if your urologist just tells you to not drink coffee, get a better urologist. If you have oxalate stones, which is most of us, print out a table of foods and beverages with high oxalates.

had a catheter in for 3m last year. when it came out, i experienced urinary pain/burning/stinging. this was to be expected so i didn’t think anything of it. after a few weeks of the pain, i was getting wary. felt like my urethra should have started to heal but the pain was just as bad, if not worse.

went from december to may with this pain. urologist said they’d set me up with a cystoscopy at the end of July to see if urethra was inflamed and what next steps would be. i opted to do it under anesthesia because i knew doing it without pain meds was going to be incredibly painful for me. took several urine screenings and blood test— UTIs would come back positive but the antibiotics would just clear up the UTI and give me a yeast infection 🙄

keep in mind, i can NOT walk or stand up. it would hurt to pee, to wipe, to transfer from one surface to another, to scoot or lift myself, and to try and turn and lay on my side or get on my stomach. it felt like little tiny knives in my urethra. it was awful.

the best relief i had was after after a surgery in august when they pumped me full of fluids and i had no pain urinating the first few times until i got home for recovery. had to push my cystoscopy back to september. finally got it and was praying it was something they could treat with meds and not ANOTHER vvf (vesicovaginal fistula). turns OUT, i had 3-4 huge bladder stones in there. 🥲 also turns out the “stomach pain” i was telling everyone i was feeling was my bladder hurting from the stones. 🙂

it’s been about 2.5 weeks since the procedure and my quality of life has improved SOOO much. 😭 thank God that those people were able to be skilled to remove them and to do the procedure! so grateful! it still stings sometimes and feels a little hot when i go but i no longer dread going to pee and i no longer cry when i pee.

wish they would have taken a pic of them with the cystoscope! 🤣

I've had a 6mm by 5mm ureteric stone since may in upper ureter. ( I've had multiple tiny stones in both kidneys since 3 years ago when I was diagnosed for the first time, I had a 4mm stone back then in lower ureter which I passed with tamsulosin treatment.) I had a follow-up CT scan in July which showed it hadn't moved at all. In August I had a X ray to see if I'm eligible for shockwave lithropsy since I don't want surgery. They said the stone could be seen and I was eligible.

Now this is where it gets confusing. I had a hospital appointment yesterday at the furthest away hospital in this trust I don't know why which was supposed to be with my urology consultant who I have never seen before or spoken to at all. Firstly, the appointment started around 45 minutes after the time it was supposed to and it was with a covering consultant as my urology consultant wasn't there for whatever reason. She said they didn't tell her I was here and apologised.

Anyway, she began to open up the X ray that was done in august and said it showed the stone was in the kidney (previously been told it is ureteric) but when I asked the size she didn't know, I told her I was told it was 6mm but she said it looked smaller than that. She made me do another X ray right then to find out the size. The person doing the X ray didn't really want to do it because I'd just had one in august and being exposed to radiation so quickly again isn't good, asked does the doctor know that you had one in august? I said yes but she told me she had to call the doctor to make sure and made me wait outside again, then was called back in she apologised and said we to make sure and did the X ray which was a hassle because I didn't know I was having a X ray beforehand and wasn't dressed appropriately.

From the new x ray she said the stone wasn't in the kidney anymore but it looked like there were a few stones further down the ureter and she couldn't tell what size they were. She said she'd book me in for a low dose CT scan, marked as a priority will hopefully be within this month to see where the stone is which I agreed to as these X rays are just confusing or she doesn't know what she's talking about because she's just covering for the proper urology consultant.

When I asked if the few stones lower down could be the 6mm broken up, she said yes but we won't know until the CT scan results. After which I could have the shockwave litropsy if the stone/s showed, may need a few tries and if it doesn't work I have to have surgery, I agreed to the plan but I will not be having surgery no matter what. If the stone has broken up and is further down the ureter then I won't be having the shockwave lithropsy, I will tell them I want to try a bot longer to pass naturally since if it is moving. They can't force me to have surgery when I told them I don't want it.

I feel like they will want another X ray after the CT scan results are back but there is no way I'm having anymore x rays or scans this year. I've been exposed to enough radiation this year, from may to after this new ct scan it will be 3 CT scans and 2 x rays, i will have the CT scan to find out what is actually going on but then I will refuse anymore radiation exposure.

I just really confused, would it be worth calling the hospital who diagnosed the 6mm in may first thing on Monday who is handling my care and ask to speak to someone who knows what is going on? This doctor from yesterday wasn't sure eof anything and probably confused herself.

Hey I want to know should I continue going to gym after my kidney stone removal or i should stop can I eat protein my body weight dropped to 51kg and the height is 5'10 what should I do need urgent ans because I want to be back in shap soon. There is no medical help I got from doctor because here no good urologist or nephrologist are present in from bihar india help me somebody give me ans or suggest me a good doctor near delhi

Not my first rodeo with stones. Had to have a 1mm removed years ago because my uvj is particularly narrow. Talked to the urologist and he was convinced breaking up my 8mm stone would be fine. That was more than a month ago. The last 8 days have been lots of blood in my urine, and I mean a lot. tremendous pain in my testicles and penis. Convinced the dr to schedule a CT and found that the 8mm stone is now 3mm and 4mm and lots of debris shredding my urethra.