A kidney stone is formed by the concentration of minerals inside the kidney. A stone can be a cause of worry if it remains inside the kidney, otherwise it passes out with urine. Read to know how to deal with a kidney stone.
Lifestyle changes
A simple and most important lifestyle change to prevent stones is to drink more liquids, water is best. It is recommended to drink good quantity of water throughout the 24 hours period as it will make a person less prone to stone formation.
Previously it was believed that people prone to kidney stones should cut the calcium products from their diet however, the recent advancements in this field have proven otherwise. The high calcium diet like dairy products, actually help in preventing calcium stones. But if the calcium is taken in the form of tablets, then it may actually increase the risk of stone formation.
Patients may be told to avoid foods with added vitamin D and certain types of antacids that have a calcium base. It is advisable to eat less non veg if a person has high acidic urine. The non veg foods usually increase the acid quantity in the urine.
To prevent amino acid stones, it is recommended to drink at least two liters of water in a 24 hour period. This helps in passing these stones along with urine which may otherwise be difficult.
Medical therapy
A urologist may give specific medicines to prevent formation of calcium and uric acid stones. Such medicines reduce the quantity of acids and alkali in urine, which are the main components of crystals. The medicine allopurinol may also be useful in some cases of hyperuricosuria, which means abnormal levels of calcium in the urine. Urologists try to control such cases, and thus control calcium stones, by giving certain diuretics. These drugs reduce the quantity of calcium passed by the kidneys into the urine by inhibiting calcium resorption by the bones.
In some cases, patients with abnormal urine calcium content are prescribed the drug sodium cellulose phosphate, which controls the release of calcium into the kidneys.
Sodium and calcium intake
Sodium restriction is important to minimize the amount of calcium that is excreted into urine. So whenever possible while cooking, always choose fresh or frozen foods over canned foods. The canning process adds large amount of sodium to the food. If you have softened water, you should find a non softened source for your drinking water as water softening removes most salts from the water and replaces them with sodium.
Calcium is a component of most kidney stones but recent studies suggest that a modest dietary calcium intake might actually reduce the chances of recurrence of stones by reducing urinary oxalate levels. Calcium supplements do not confer the same protection as the normal dietary calcium. Calcium containing antacids and supplements should therefore be avoided. The main source of calcium in the diet is dairy products. Milk in modest amounts with meals has been shown to have a beneficial effect on oxalate excretion.
Drink tea
The most efficient method of coping with kidney stones is to remove them from the body. This may be possible using the medicines or the surgery but using a natural way is always great.
A few of the natural ways in removing the stone from the kidneys is by drinking tea. There are a lot of benefits in tea and the major benefit is that tea helps to remove the waste products which could otherwise be a cause of deteriorated health.
Those who had kidney stones will tell you that tea can remove kidney stones since it has certain ingredients, which are capable of removing the excess uric acid in the kidneys.
If used in combination with certain herbs such as corn silk tea, the preparation can be very effectively used to treat the kidney stones in a very short span of time.
Shock wave therapy
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a widely used method for dealing with kidney stones. In this therapy, the treatment is done using shock waves which pass through the skin and body tissues until they reach the stones. The stones break down into small particles and are easily passed through the urinary tract in the urine.
There are various shock wave devices available. Majority of the devices use either ultrasound or the x rays to determine the location of stone. Anesthesia is necessary for most of the shock wave treatment methods but the patient need not stay overnight in the hospital. Recovery is very quick and a person returns back to normal in a few days.
