What causes kidney stone pain?

sir i had underwent kidney stone surgery 3months before through lithotripsy process. but still i have pain in my right back and leg pain..please give me suggestions..i consult urologist he said may be u have minor infection…please tell me which medecine is better

i have intense pain in my groin and round my back and i suspect possible kidney stones
especially as i have been taking rennie for years which contain calcium which can lead to kidney stones and will be going to my doctor tuesday to see if this is the caus eo f the pain that i am feeeling.

Hello….I am 58 and have had kidney stones for the last 36 yrs. Have had over 300. Passed all but 7 of them. Most are about 6mm,but can take months to make their way down,then out. Have used hydrocodone daily for the pain,and seems to work fine. I take between 2 and 3 a day,unless one is passing,then I need more. Up until recently my Dr. had no problem prescribing the meds. Now,since the pain meds have become schedule 2 classification, my Dr. wants me to try to take less telling me he needs to warn me about dependence. I told him I do not abuse them,and they help the pain. He is now saying that even though I have 4 stone bilaterally,they should not cause pain if they are non obstructing. I now feel as if he is more concerned about coming under government scrutiny,then about treating my symptoms.
I am not sure if I need to change my P.C.P.,or tying to talk to him a bit more.
I must admit,after todays visit he is making me feel like a low life.

Thank you….

Hi,,am 37 and just diagnosed with 6m stone in left kidney. Been having problems for about 8 months, waves of abdominal pains, occasional fevers, testicular pain, blood in urine and lethargy, had to continually press andpress for tests, seen consultant yesterday, informed stone is in th kidney and unlikely to be the cause of all my symptoms. Had every test under Sun, pain occurring more frequently and given 2 options, a) do nothing and monitor,,b) procedure under General anaesthetic into bladder to remove. The laser/xray ewsl? Never even mentioned by him as an option and I’ve only seen it on here,, anyone had it, what is the procedure, also has anyone seen a change in their diets help with symptoms/recurring stones? Thanks

Hello
Im reading eveyones posts and well im wondering…..here let me start at the beginning..
7 years ago when I had mt second child I had 3 stones ( two In my right kidney and one in my left) during my whole pregnancy I had terrible pain. But they told me it made no sence because they were in my kidney which should cause no pain. Yet it did. And the blood in my urine was off the charts as they say.
Anyway long story short after my child the pain went away for three months then returned. I was told the same thing. Yes I have stones but it shouldnt be causeing me pain. After 4 years of trips to the hopit every three months. They decided to remove them. Yay…..so I thought. Not three months later more came and in the same three month cycles. Now this went on for another two years. After drinking leon water like it was sugar they got smaller and smaller and soon they were always small enough to pass on their own ( the previouse ones being 7-9mm)

But my problem now is that yes I still get stones some in the quantities of 10-40 at one time in one kidney, but my issue now is my a day everyday pain on a scale of 6-9 with no sign of stones. Trip to the hospital end in ” we see nothing wrong” !

So im downing dilodids( small amounts) every day a day just to be ablw to live my life . But all they can te me is that I have a very high concentration of crystals in my urine but cant change it. And that I will be dealing with pain and stones for the rest of my life.
I refuse to except this ( unless its somehow gods plan)
Has anyone hurd of such a thing?
They are telling me its a speci case and titeling it ” extreme renal colic”
Please im looking for advice or anything anyone can give me. I now have three kids and my latest child was in the hospital because of the pain meds I waS on . I wont be having anymore kids per their request as it seems to bring more stones and worry of damage. But what about my life and the life I want to have with my family. Us this what I have to look farwardt to?

Thx for reading my rant <3
~Jasmine~

I have passed stones before, but this one seems different. I have a 7mm stone in right kidney. I have ongoing, dull pain in the back where kidney is. Feel it especially when I lie on back in bed, but can also feel it when I get up from sitting position and start walking. It’s been going on for months. Sometimes disappears completely, but always comes back, yet it’s not the “in the tube” intense vomiting pain. (I’ve had that!) Not sure how long to put up with this or whether it’s causing damage just sitting in there and causing level 3 discomfort for weeks and weeks. Any advice?

I had them last spring, and it was the most intense pain I had ever felt in my life. I literally debated taking my life because the pain was so unbearable.

I had my first bout with kidney stones on 09/01. I had no idea what this excruciating pain in my back was. I thought I surely must have some sort of cancerous tumor that I was going to die from! At first, I was scared to go to the E.R. to find out what was happening. But then the vomiting started, so off we went. I always presumed the pain associated with kidney stones was when it was “exiting the body.” It’s been about 7 weeks now, and I have no evidence that I have passed it. Occasionally, I have days where I seem to be having “plumbing problems.” I feel like I have to go – that annoying, tingling feeling – but little or nothing happens. Then a day later, I feel “back to normal” again. My stone is only 2-3mm. I was given a prescription for Flomax, but I didn’t get it. I don’t like the sound of the possible side-effects (besides the fact that it’s being prescribed “off-label”). Should I be seeing a urologist, or do you just wait these %*^&er’s out ?

I have had stones since I was 5. My mother has had them since she was quite young as well. We know our pain. Like another that commented, I too had a nurse and my urologist tell me that I could not have kidney pain from a stone unless it is blocking my ureter (a specific pain I know well). But I also knew of another kind of kidney pain that my stones have caused. I knew better than to argue. It would have been pointless.

I went online to see what others had to say about just such a pain. And then I found the reference to the 2011 Journal of Urology article. I was only slightly comforted by the finding, because not only did it take until 2011 for this too be acknowledged, but it took a Urologist to suffer from it before it would even be recognized as a legitimate complaint.

I’ve had nothing but incompetence and uncaring from my providers. I even had to diagnose myself. I determined that what I had for almost 2 decades, and was the cause of my right nephrectomy, was Keratinizing Desquamative Squamous Metaplasia. The nephrectomy was not done because I was diagnosed with KDSM, but because I had blockages so often (from debris coming down the right ureter) that it was considered too dangerous, as I might find myself unable to get help at some point.

That was in the mid 90’s. Ever since then, I stopped producing stones and instead had this keratin debris (which caused the same problems as standard stones). But nobody seemed to care. I was fascinated by this stuff. I had to beg for pathology to be done on the debris. Then again to have a biopsy. I had to leave a letter in my exam room with the words “Please look into/consider Keratinizing Desquamative Squamous Metaplasia.” Sadly, it was confirmed. And it turned out to be rather rare.

I have since been given a ureteral stent to keep any debris from blocking my ureter. I highly recommend them. It can be painful, but it is NOTHING compared to a blockage. But that is all my providers are doing. They are not researching it, suggesting anything that might help. I had to do the research. I read that keratin builds up due to a deficiency in vitamin A. So, I decided to take vitamin A. But when I told my urologist, all I got from her was one of those nods that says, “I hear you” (the kind that starts before you even finish your sentence. She never said anything about it. Was taking the vitamin A a good thing? A bad thing? Was it a futile endeavor? I got nothing. Only later did I discover a website which indicated that a urologist was using vitamin A as a part of the treatment.

As I said, I have had kidney stones since I was 5. I am 47 now. I have had my urological issues longer than my doctor has even been alive, and sadly, that seems to be part of the problem.

20 years and 5 stones later I’m 44 now..
Passed 4 – lithotripsy once – sodium mostly with some calcium.
During attacks that can last from 10 to 90 minutes :
I try to jog in place and breathe deliberately.
When pain increases I lay on a hard surface and massage my abdomen directly at the site of the pain to shift the stone and move it along.
Some blood in urine common surrounding attacks.
Pain killers are useless for this type of pain.
Will go for x-rays if it won’t pass in one week to see if I require surgery.
We all have our cross to bear. Brings us closer to God.
I’ve learned how to deal with pain. Best treatment I’ve found.
I still wish there was a cure.

The very last sentence of this page actually bought me a little relief knowing that others including a urologist had non-obstructing stones which caused discomfort or pain.
I had had two ER doctors AND a urologist (who I just met today) informed me that kidney stones which are not in the uretha “do not cause pain”. I have had CAT scans done and a sonogram which showed I had a 9mm x 7mm x 8mm kidney stone in the lower portion of my right kidney. My PCP at least understood my pain.
I don’t see how doctors say the something that large would not cause pain.
Anyways….scheduled for lithotripsy two weeks from now.

I hope every who has any stones finds relief from them cuase they are not fun!

It’s 2:00 AM and the kidney stone pain (about a 9) woke me up over an hour ago. I am going on three weeks with this one. Tonight the pain is a bit different. Up to now the pain was centered on the right kidney in the back with pain down to my right testicle but tonight the pain is centered below the kidney in the back with sharper pain in the front as well. I hope this means it is moving down the ureter. I just want it over with. Last CT scan showed 3 stones on the right (8mm, 6mm, and 5mm) and one on the left (don’t remember the size). I agree with many others here, ibuprofen doesn’t touch the pain.

oMG had the second bout of a moving kindney stone in the past year within 1 hour I had to take myself to the A&E department of the hospital I work at due to the pain after 3 hours finally given morphine but it really was worse than child birth pain I cried the whole til

3 days later still in agony and now have to see urologist tomorrow due to yet another stone that is on the move

Pain killers really ain’t cutting the discomfort

Feel so sorry for my fellow sufferers of renal colic

Thanks to all for the information. It’s very helpful and I want to give a special shout out to Ryan. Your description of the pain you felt mirrors mine almost exactly. Also, I work at a university and we just had our own move-in day, so I understand what a terrible time that is for you to have this experience.

Anyway, I am a 44 year-old female who just had my first run-in with kidney stones this Monday (happy Labor Day to me). At first I thought it was appendicitis, but at the ER, I had a lot of blood in my urine so they did all the tests and found multiple small stones in both kidneys (nothing over 2 mm). Urologist on call said that he thought one stone was causing all the problems – but it was “high up” in the ureter and he didn’t know how long it would take to pass. He offered to keep me in the hospital just in case I needed morphine again (and wow did it hurt, and wow did the morphine help). I opted not to stay in the hospital indefinitely and left that day, armed with Flomax and painkillers.

I have two questions for other more experienced stone sufferers:

1) Is it possible for a stone to pass without me knowing it? I’m supposed to leave the country next Thursday and I’m a bit worried it won’t pass before that, or that it will and I just won’t feel it. I’m not feeling any pain right now and I’m not taking the painkillers.

2) The hospital docs told me to call my primary care physician and schedule an evaluation with a urologist. When I called my PCP, he told me not to see a urologist. He said all a urologist would do is try to take my stone out to make some money. My PCP (who I trust) told me to come see him first so he can figure out why I got the stones in the first place. He can’t see me until this Sunday morning. What do you think about this advice? So far, I haven’t contacted a urologist. And my PCP is usually an excellent diagnostician, by the way. He’s a bit like House, weird but really smart.

I have had stones every month for 14 years. I have Crohns disease that makes them form rapidly. I’m currently experiencing extreme pain in both kidneys. Drs say it can’t hurt because they aren’t in my uretor! I say bs it hurts! Anyone else who has this problem?

I am 58 now and have had stones every few years ever since I was 20. Recently I have been suffering from stone for the last 1 1/2 month. The stone showed up in the Ultrasound and the doctor said 1 stone is about 3 mm and other two are about 1mm. I was put on flowmax. The urine flow is better now. We did an x-ray about 2 weeks ago and stone was about 1 1/2 inch from the bladder and about 9 to 10 mm. How is that possible that the size has increased. I have no pain now. But we did an x-ray today in the morning and the stone is still very close to the bladder (still 1 ½ inc from the bladder) . But the good news is that I don’t have any pain. I got a call few min ago from the doctor that he wants to setup appt for stone removal from the bladder. More later.

I’ve had kidney stones since the age of 11. I’m now 61. Yep — 50 years of those miserable things! I’ve had lithotripsy (ESWL) 11 times and it’s about the only option in many instances. Learn as much as possible about managing the pain and when all else fails get to your local ER. They’ll get you feeling comfortable again.

Currently going through second bout of kidney stone. I’m 55 and first episode was 12-13 years ago. Extremely painful, to the point of inducing constant vomiting and unable to keep liquids or medication down. First episode years ago it took 2 weeks for stone to be flushed out. I’ve been w this current stone for about 1.5 weeks and know more pain is coming. All you can do for most small to medium stone is get ibuprofen and pain killers and drink lots of liquids. Pain usually comes in waves. Doctor did prescribe Flowmax this time beside pain killers. Doctors do recommend you go in when any of following occur – blood in urine, unable to urinate, pain killers ineffective, or if you’re unable to maintain liquids due to constant vomiting. Hope this helps. PS: I did ask doctor if there was anything I could do (i.e. Jump) or eat/drink to speed up process, answer was no. As for Lauren – I’d get a referral to see kidney specialist. If you’re getting stones at 13, something is not working right

I am 20 and just had my first kidney stone today. I woke up early in the morning the day after moving into my college dorm. I ate a ton of food the previous day and thought that I was having some severe intestinal cramping, but it simply didn’t go away. I had no idea what was wrong so I eventually dialed 911 after waiting for the pain to recede with no success. I was afraid to call because i didn’t want to cause a commotion at my dorm, especially if it was for something as simple as a bowel movement, but after staring at the “911” typed into my iphone for a while, i eventually hit the send button because the pain was too much and I no longer cared about the consequences (I’m glad I called btw because I couldn’t imagine going through the pain for much longer, and I didn’t know what was causing it). All I could fathom was the relentless pain until they gave me morphine at the hospital and I started laughing because I was so happy that the pain was gone. I still haven’t passed it yet, but i feel much better after getting a cocktail of kidney stone medications, and most importantly pain killers. I’m sure many of you know the pain I had, I didn’t know whether to lay on my side, stomach, back, stand up, walk around, sit down… but i ended up just laying on my bed and smothering my face into my pillow until the EMS arrived in hopes that the lack of oxygen would make my start to lose feeling.

I’m 43….Past weekend I had the most grotesque kidney pain that I can describe……Thank God the stone got out with a minimun of lacerations….In fact that was horrible. From 1 to 10, the pain was very close to 14 or 15. (Simply unbearable).

Im having kidney stone that I fell d pain all the time,but the thing that I did not Understand Is im felling more pain after drinking more water,Im trying Acv+lemon+olive oil+ water Im felling releive of the pain when I take this portion

I have two very small kidney stones, don’t know exact size, in my left kidney. They are located in the lower pole. I was in the hospital for chest pains three months ago. Heart tests fine and most likely from GERD. They found I had a kidney infection with crystals. My blood work was normal.

I went to my PCP twice after that as infections returned. This was the fourth infection since last August when I might have passed a stone but was not in a lot of pain. The second time she sent me to get a CT scan, the stones were found and a follow up with a urologist. When I saw him we decided to wait and see and I see him again this Tuesday.

I have been trying the ironing board positioning and drinking lots of water with lemon with no luck.

Pain and pressure has been slightly worse the last several days as well as the feeling that marbles are rolling around in my kidney but have had these symptoms since April just not as badly. I don’t think I am trying to pass the stone yet but I am becoming increasingly uncmfortable.

My question is what are the treatment options for KS in the lower kidney if it won’t pass. I know these stones are harder to pass as they need to defy gravity to get to the uterer. Are the same options as KS in other location?
Thanks.

Just passed a kidney stone, must have been a small one because I hardly felt it when I urinated. I haven’t had one for about 6 months which was extremely painful, my urologist said if it doesn’t pass I would need surgery. I heard that jumping up and down sometimes help the passage of the stone, so I tried it. The stone finally passed but probably on it’s own. The most recent stone created quite a bit of constant burning type pain as it made its way out, almost a full day, jumping didn’t seem to help, consumed lots of water, that made me feel nauseated. Today, I’m weak, and tired from lack of sleep. I have changed my diet, but recently found that eating berries is not recommended which I consume quite a bit. Another food item I cannot eat, among the many.

I turned 30, and then got stones… That was 6 years ago I an now 36.. I have passed more than 15. It happens more when I drive long car road trips not sure why… I have been to a urolagy doctor and was given flowmax and after that my stones were gone for a year and a half.. But will get small ones now and then.
To me when they are passing it feels like I am getting niped and can feel them all the way down to my penis..not sure why but when I feel the wave of pain and the consant urge to pee I know I have a stone… Dose any other guy feel the same pain as I do or have??

I’m 13 and have kidney stones. I’ve been through IVP’s ultrasounds and well anything they do for younger people. Mine hurt so bad I can’t go to school or anything they just took me in for another IVP and said there might be smaller ones in there and they say that I won’t have pain but I do! The pain makes me dizzy and I get a migrane. I end up throwing up and they said my kidneys might be a little swollen.. I seriously hate how I’m in the ER every 3 days because of my pain. I have tried ibuprofen to stop the pain and it never helps. I just want to know why this happens? I don’t quite know much about kidney stones except they hurt like crap! Ugh 🙁