Kidney stones and lemonade?

[fullhousemom]

I have never had a kidney stone, but I think I have one now. I have waves of sharp pain way down to the left of my pubic bone by my thigh. It just started last night. I have read a lot of old posts on the OH site, trying to get info. There is a great deal of information that is way over my head. One thing that fascinates me is the reference to lemon or lemonade therapy. Can someone give me a little more info on this? How many lemons? How can I get it without sugar? Is there a supplement (like one you can take for cranberry juice for uti's)? I should mention that the only thing I drink is water, and lots of it, especially lately. Thus, i don't think that dehydration is an issue. I take Calcium Citrate petites and just started about 2 weeks ago. I had been taking the wrong type of calcium prior to that. If I can avoid stones by taking some kind of lemon supplement, that would be ideal. I got lost reading about oxates and what to eat with what, what not to eat, etc.

Also, I read that in some cases it took 5 days to pass. At what point do you go to the dr and get xrays etc. I'm pretty confident its a stone. I have no fever, no other symptons. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!!!

[Deleted]

It feels like labor pains, to me. You go the ER when you figure out that there is NO comfortable way to sit or stay or lie and the pain is unmanageable. They give you dilaudid and find the stone(s) via imaging.

My uro said that lemon juice is a charming thought but worthless in practice. I take UrocitK, 15 MEQs three times a day.

[fullhousemom]

Thanks Sue. Labor pains is the perfect way to describe it. Unpredictable, sudden, and then its over. I will head to the drs tomorrow. I want to avoid ER! Hopefully, the pain doesnt get too intense or I pass the silly thing. Its more of a nuisance at this point. I will provide my doc with your suggestions as well.

[sassyjonz]

I just spent NYE in the ER and was diadnosed with a kidney stone. The dilauded was wonderful but did not last long. None of the pain meds are lasting more than about 2 hours. I have had the pain for over a week and I'm wondering why they think I will just pass it when I haven't passed it on over 8 days? I have to make an appointment with a Uro next week.

[Deleted]

Must be the time of year as I was in the ER today with a kidney stone. The drugs wore off before I got home .

This is the second in 4 months. I've never been pregnant so I can't compare the pain to labor. The first one came with a UTI so I was peeing two drops every five minutes. It was on Labor Day, so that was also a trip to the ER. This one was so much like the last one, I knew it was a stone. Yet on holidays, I have no choice but the ER.

I'm gonna take some left over hydrocodone from Sept and go to bed.

[beth28]

When I had my kidney stones (before surgery), my lips turned blue because I was in so much pain. I haven't heard of lemons or lemonade helping kidney stones, but if you find out more info, let us know.

When I was treated, they gave me Dilaudid at the ER and a script for Percocet to take at home. They x-rayed me and saw several stones in the kidney. I also had to use a paper strainer and when I passed the stones I had to take it back to the hospital to have it analyzed. It was a "run-of-the-mill" stone, so no probs there.

I had more stones almost a year later, more of the same.

[bearmom]

While I'm one the the lemonaid drinkers, consider it like a drop in the ocean. If you have low citrate contributing to the stone making, that is not nearly enough by itself.

I drink some sort of citrate in everything I drink, but also take urocit-k, which got bumped up to 6 15 mEq tablets a day. That is a crapload, and there is no amount of citrate I could drink to duplicate that.

I've had too many problems with kidney stones to not use every available weapon on them. You need to have calcium and pth in check, but you also want to make sure you are taking magnesium and b6.

[Psyche]

I am what my doctors call a "stone thrower". To combat them, I drink things with citric acid in them, and this has really helped. If I go on a plain water or ice crunching kick, I end up with a stone fairly soon after. I also take citrate and magnesium.

One thing that has been super helpful is when I know I am passing a stone, I take cranberry extract supplements to help prevent UTIs. I also drink as much cranberry juice as possible. The more fluids I drink, the sooner it passes.

[poodles]

I think they should start checking DSers citrate levels at a year out to see if there is a deficiency. That way we can suppliment if needed to avoid a stone in the first place.

Pre op I would read that stones were a risk after surgery, but was told that it is only if you were prone to them to begin with. After surviving several small stones that passed and two lithotripsies in a year, I don't think they were right. The surgery causes the deficiency, IMO.

[Psyche]

I actually throw less stones post-DS than I did prior to. I was surprised at that.

[poodles]

Hmm... I wonder what it is then? We have a lot of people here that have the stones post op.

My doctor put me on lemonade therapy. I have to drink the juice of 4 real lemons (no artificial flavor stuff) a day. I have added carrot/apple juice to the mix and some Chia seeds. But, I find that if I get all the liquids in that I am suppose to have then I don't want to eat. Since I am borderline on some other vites/protein as well, it is becoming quite a chore to get everything in and I honestly haven't figured out how to do it. This is my fourth day trying to get in 42 oz water/lemon with or without splenda, and 32 oz apple/carrot juice. Then I usually drink some coffee in the morning and some tea with lemon at night. I have tried mixing protein into the carrot/apple juice but it is thick enough as is, and I am already really tired of lemonade.

Wish I had a good plan because so far my goal of drinking at least 6 oz of liquid an hour just keeps me too full to eat. That is going to cause another set of problems I am sure.

[poodles]

Sorry for the double post, but wanted to point out. If you are in full kidney stone passing stage, you will be praying for death and begging for drugs. The ER is the only way to go in that situation. They did a sonogram/CT and got me drugged up right away when I went thru the ER. I tried to avoid the ER the second go around and went to my PCP, who sent me to my Kidney guy, who set up an outpatient CT scan after an xray, and a week later I was in the hospital for a lithotripsy. If I had gone thru the ER it would have happened the next day. So, I have learned my lesson. No at home care for me. I want IV drugs, stat.