All about ureteral stents

Hello, I have been dealing for two months now. I was bleeding through my urine. The first urologist I seen only mentioned a small stone on my left, until last Wednesday when the familiar pain of a kidney stone was apparent. I had a stone 25 years ago when I was 19. Long story short, LOL…..I had to visit three ER’s until I could be seen. After test, it was apparent that I had a large stone on my right. Several days later and another visit in between to the ER in absolute pain, I went Sunday night after 3.5 hours of the worst pain. I was admitted and a stent placed in. That was yesterday the 17th of August. I have been peeing blood and the constant pressure and feeling to urinate is annoying and then painful. Of course, not as painful as the stone. By the sway, my urologist instead of retrieving pushed the stone back into my kidney, and I have to wait until Sept 2nd to have the laser procedure. I just want it to end and get back to normal. Wait, need to go again…..Yea, not funny… I am not taking any medication, even though I have it, I refuse to because of the side effects, but I may start the flomax again, as many have said it helped. I hate taking antibiotic because it makes me gravely ill, and I have to work. So I am choosing to not take it and see how things go. With all the advances in medicine, and the apparent number of people who suffer from stones that they can’t come up with medications to stop the formation of stones, and a pain med that directly helps us…..

Hi. I went to the ER on Friday night with severe back and stomach pain, and nausea and sweats, and vomiting to find that I have a 2mm kidney stone. They gave me morphine in the hospital, and decided that since the stone was very high up and may take a while to pass on its own, to place a stent. It relieved the original back spasms that sent me to the ER in the first place, but now i not only have to pee every 5 minutes (literally), but have a new back pain! Hurts to move, or bend over kind of pain. I tried the pain med that they gave me to take home from the hospital, but it did nothing. I tried Aleve, again nothing. I tried heating pad and nothing…..any other ideas???? It hurts 🙁

Had one Stent removed on Aug. 10 2015. Have been doing nothing but peeing. When I bend over it just comes out. When I sit or lay down it just comes out. Dr. Said it’s common because I still have another stent to be removed. Any one else have this problem?

Had a stent put in on Tuesday August 11 2015 this pain is crazy!!!!! It’s worse than the small kidney stone I had, never do it again !! Comes out this Monday and a scared to death the pain is going to be worse. I hope it will be all over but reading some of the other patients comments I don’t think it will. I don’t like taking pain meds the time.

Hello everyone – what a miserable not-so-little club we are in, eh? I had a stent put in my right ureter Tuesday before last when my urologist discovered that there were several “crimps and bends” (he said to us after the failed surgery “just think of a garden hose twisted and full of kinks”) that were so severe they had caused the ureter to swell shut somewhere between the time I had my most recent CT-scan and then went into ambulatory care to have the procedure.

I knew something was more wrong that what I had been told just after the CT-scan was reviewed. The pain was so bad I was almost constantly shivering from uncontrollable chills and also hallucinating off and on. Called my primary care doc for pain management held and was told to take an aleve or two. But as we all have experienced, this is NOT an “aleve or two” type of situation. I know most people reading these comments already know that what I don’t understand is why the doctors act as if what I describe is completely unusual and I must be exaggerating.

The urologist could not reach the stone with his scope, so although it is just one relatively small (about 6 mms) stone it is causing me some big problems including the three a.m. ambulance ride I took absolutely convinced my appendix was about to burst because at that time I had no idea what was happening in my body. Now, as I count down the days until the next procedure, I have at least five or six moments every day were I am convinced I am going to lose my mind and never get it back. Can’t sit or stand at all. Am finding it impossible to distract myself with any of the creative endeavors that usually keep me from losing it too badly in times of physical duress and pain. Gardening – one of my favorite activities – is totally out of the question as well due to the pain level.

I thought there was a somewhat good chance that the surgery I’m having this coming Tuesday would eliminate the problem (except in my worst moments when I no longer believe there will be an end to this nightmare) but now I have been reading about how the intervention isn’t likely to end there as I thought it would. I read that the urologist will quite likely insert another stent so my ureter doesn’t swell shut again. I’m having a really hard time giving myself an effective pep talk about getting through more time of pain, blood, burning etc. Nobody prepared me for that reality! In fact everyone has consistently downplayed what’s most likely to happen – my urologist is an extremely likeable man and clearly very good at what he does but his level of upbeat optimism seems almost pathological under the circumstance. I would have preferred a straight shooter so I at least had some time to get into warrior mode and had a better idea of what was going to happen, and why.

Just needed to vent about all this – the pain, the burning, the blood, the dwindling mental and emotional resources. Even though I haven’t been dealing with the stint nearly as long as many other have, and not facing the reality the multiple stones. Like many say in these comments, pain meds don’t seem to work very well. Ibuprofen (aleve, and so forth) made the bleeding so much worse that I stopped taking it. They gave me oxy for surgical bruising but the rebound pain I experienced was really overwhelming and scary. I’ve had better luck, relatively speaking, with my existing Vicodin prescription which I take for sciatica. For almost a solid week after the stent went in the stone was pressing hard against my sciatic nerve. That’s when I realized I will never take peeing normally for granted ever again. Assuming I am lucky enough to reach that stage. Like I said, I’m losing some faith that there’s an end in site. Despite the stone’s small size it isn’t behaving in a textbook way.

Were other people given cipro as an antibiotic? That’s another very scary drug to me as I’ve had some bad reactions to it in the past. I assume they’ll give me more after the second procedure, so I have printed out some tips for healing and coping with negative side effects.

I’m not happy anyone else is having problems of this nature but it was weirdly comforting just now to read through many descriptions that mirror my symptoms and general experience. Thanks to everyone who spoke up. Now I’m one of them.

It’s Friday and I had my surgery on Wednesday. I am trying to manage the pain of the stent. It hurts to sit for even a short period of time. It feels like a wire hanger I side me pushing at the base of my pelvis. Vicodin is not helping the pain, just getting me stoned. My stent has a string and I slightly pulled it yesterday and the pain is now constant. I have no idea what to do. This is unbearable.

Hi fellow sufferers. I had surgery for bilateral stents this morning. The doctor could only place one in and now I have to go to another doctor to have a nephrostomy tube put in on the right. It is so painful to pee now I can’t begin to imagine how much worse it would be if the doctor had been successful with getting both stents in. When I get the nephrostomy done, I am going to have that doctor put a tube on my left side as well and remove the stent! My doctor said that the stents could cause some discomfort, but unless a doctor has firsthand experience, they really have no idea how painful these stents can be.

i live in australia i have had many stents in this one on left side worst ever pain unbearable op to have removed has bee n put off till 27th august

I am so very sorry for all of you lovely people that are suffering! I am very new to this. I had Surgery on Monday 10th August 2015 this week. I thought that my Urologist was just going to take a look to see why I have had pain in my left kidney since February and all that goes with it. I woke up to be told I had to have a stent put into my Kidney and Bladder. I have been in agony walking around for three nights just not knowing what to do with myself! The pain and discomfort has been just awful! It was so un expected! I had to go to my GP this morning for stronger painkillers and antibiotics as I have an infection which I now know is common with this procedure. When I showed him the paperwork from the hospital of what I had done he said Ouch! that is very invasive procedure. I am getting some relief just from Codeine and Paracetamol. I was on Naproxen gave me stomach ache and diarrhoea. Stents should come out in 2/4 weeks. But what next? Tina (UK)

They just discovered I have 5 stones in my left kidney. I currently have a stent and it is the most uncomfortable thing I have ever dealt with besides kidney stones. I am trying to get a percutaneous nephrolithotomy done. I do not want multiple runs up and down my ureter. My urologist initially agreed but then was turned back by another urologist. My urologist explained that going after them with a laser and pyeloscopy would take multiple sessions and would irritate by ureter and I would still have a stent. After telling me it was not a good idea he has now changed his mind. Well I haven’t. I DON’T WANT ANOTHER STENT.

I went to the emergency room a week ago in excruciating pain due to an 11mm kidney stone that had lodged in my ureter. They broke up the stone, but had to stop the procedure early due to heart complications. They placed a stent temporarily until the could ascertain that I had not suffered a myocardial infarction. The stent was supposed to be removed yesterday, but the x ray showed that I had a 9mm stone and several others that need to come out too! They have rescheduled me for outpatient surgery tomorrow.

The stent is seriously annoying to painful at best. I feel like I have to urinate or defecate every 30 minutes! The urologist gave me some pills for the pain, but it made me feel worse than I did before. I dread tomorrow..

I just had my Stent removed and I’m in so much pain. Is this normal? I would have thought that getting the Stent removed would be painless, but I’m in more pain now than I was in the last 6 weeks with the Stent in place. Will this pain ever go away?

So the stent was inserted yesterday and I was hoping that this right stent (the last 2 were inserted on the left side) would be the easiest of the 3, but my hopes have been dashed. Honestly I feel that the pain & irration only get worse & not better the more times you have a stent inserted. The only way I can achieve mild comfort is by laying in bed with 2 rectangle pillows and 2 v shape pillows supporting me.

Every time I am up & moving or just standing still, I constantly feel the need to pee, even if I only went 30 seconds ago. When I do go it’s bright red always with clots as well. I also must drive home yet and its a two and a half hour drive from where the surgery was done. I also have 3, maybe 4 lithotripsys to be done in the next 2-3 months, one every 2 weeks until the two of the largest stones ( 22mm x 17mm & 25mm x 18mm) are reduced to gravel, as well as the 4 or 5 smaller stones(between 8mm & 10mm), before I can have the stent removed.

To top it all off my Atrophied left kidney(which has stones in as well) has been extremely more painful since I’ve woken from surgery. I have been prescribed 4 different painkillers (which are really not giving me much relief and make me sleep alot), as well as two different antibiotics.

I wish there was another way,, it just becomes too hard after awhile.

my stent hurt so much taking ty3 for the pain. It does work.

I am on my 3rd stent as it has taken 3 lots of surgery to laser my stones under GA cystoscopy with flexible ureteroscopy one stone being 17mm. I also developed septicaemia after my second procedure. I went back to have the stent removed and was told my X-ray still showed fragments left , went last week to have SWL now they have said i should not need anymore SWL,there are no stones left. I am now awaiting app to have the stent removed. I had to go to ER 2 weeks ago and they have now discovered my blood calcium levels are too high and that is why I am making kidney stones so now I have to go to the Endocrinology Dept as I may have hyperparathyroid disease. The stents I have had have caused the most horrendous pain I cannot walk any distance without pain and bleeding lying down is the only thing that relieves this no pain medication helps this pain I have tried them all. The Doctors do not believe you when you say how much pain you are in they seem surprised that a stent can cause this much pain. I cannot wait to have it removed and get back to having a life with no pain.

Hi, I’m having my third renal stent in my right side this time, inserted on the 11th of August. I have two large stones in my right kidney, the smallest being 22mm x 17mm. There are also several tiny ones all ranging between 5 & 9mms. I’ve suffered from renal stones since I was 17yrs old and I’m now 38. I’ve had two stents placed on my left side during this time, the first one had to be removed after a week due to every single symptom that the stent can cause at the same time. The second time the left stent was in exactly 3 months, in which I suffered painful extremely frequent urination, pain in my back & a series of infections. I’ve had over 20 lithotripsys, as well as Ureteroscopys, Pcnl on both sides and so on. Due to having so many stones & procedures to remove them on my left side. My left kidney has now Atrophied to the point where its almost useless. It’s less than half the size of my right kidney and I am in constent pain. Plus, to top it off there’s stones in this left kidney as well, the largest being 21mm x14mm. I have had every xray, scan & medical test known to medicine to stop the stones recurring & I have tried every single suggestion put my way, no matter how crazy it was medical, herbal, nutritional, physical, with no luck. Unfortunately the pain medication I have to take everday makes me extremely tired and at times I feel like I don’t have much of a life. So here I go again for my third stent, first time on the right side, I’m really hoping this will be easier than the last two, but I wonder if that’s a bit of wishful thinking really. Goodluck to you all.

I have suffered from kidney stones for the passed 6 years. I have passed a 2mm, 3mm, and two 4mm already. On July 12th, I was in the hospital again. 8mm this time. I went to the Dr the very next day. He did emergency surgery that day to put a Stent in. I had surgery again on July 29th. The stone was embedded. He was able to remove the stone, and put in a new Stent. I have surgery again on Wednesday to remove the Stent and blast the remaining stones still in both kidneys.

My question is: is the Stent supposed to hurt this much? I feel like I’m having back labor. The Dr said it was normal, but this can’t be. This is way worse than some irritation. It takes everything I have to not just lay in bed and cry all day.

I had emergency kidney stone removal surgery on Monday August 3, 2015
And they put the stent on my left side. I have to tell you my experience with this darn thing. I was in excruciating pain and even pain medication only gave me relief for a very short period. I finally called my Doctor yesterday on Friday 8/7/15. They told me to come in right away. They did pull the stent, I watched on the monitor and he had a difficult time finding it at first. Dr. Told me no wonder I was in such discomfort the stent was pressed up against my bladder. This was removed yesterday at 11:30am and it is going on 2:00pm on Saturday and I am still experiencing this horrific pain. Has anyone experienced this and do you think this is normal? Thanks

I have suffered with kidney stones for aprox.15 yrs. Had lithotripsy 14yrs ago to blast them away but they are back . was taken into hospital 3 days ago and had a stent fitted, I asked why they couldn’t remove the stones then and there instead of fitting a stent. They said it coulun’t be done at this stage could be dangerous so I am still none the wiser. Stent is really irritating me, cant stand the feeling of constantly wanting to pass water. must go now and sit on the toilet it’s the only place I’m any where nere comfortable Mel.

Last Update (Hopefully)

I posted a couple of comments previously, with this one hopefully being my last. After having my stent in since June 26, and laser lithotripsy on July 24, I finally went back August 4 praying the doctor would remove the hellish thing.

First I got an X-ray which confirmed the larger stones were gone. Then I heard the words I was praying for; “the stent is coming out “. Thank God!

For those wondering about the stent coming out, here was my experience. First the nurse puts the antiseptic on my “unit”. Then she came at me with this huge needle/tube thing with a numbing agent that she stuck right up there. I chose to close my eyes at that point. It wasn’t painful but certainly uncomfortable.

Next they placed a clamp on me and let the numbing agent kick in for a minute. Now the fun. The doctor gets his scope and other apparatus and starts going up there to remove the stent. Again, I’m not looking at any of this.
This definitely was extremely uncomfortable and just a weird feeling. When he pulled the stent out, Holy Crap! I could feel it coming out of my ureter tube and then pulled out of the penis. This was not a pleasant experience at all, but at least it was quick. Only took less than a minute or two. I had mild to moderate pain for about an hour or two after, but the stent was finally out!!
Now the best part; I could pee without any pain for the first time in over a month. What a relief.
It’s been 3 days now and I am a little sore where the stent was but can pee no problem now.

So that was my stent removal experience for anyone curious as to what to expect there. This site provided me with lots of info and other experiences and for sure helped me out. I hope everyone else going through this experience gets well and can get through it all.
Good luck to all.

i have 9mm which has a 5mm sitting on top of it and a 4mm along side if it. 2 weeks ago I went to the ER with horrendous doubling over pain in my left flank where they found these beauties. They out the stent in during emergency surgery at which time my left kidney poured out yellow pus. Needless to say I was quite ill. I am now scheduled to have a EWSL on the 14th of August which they only give me a 75% success rate of it curing it and it will need a second procedure. I am in constant agony with this Stent in place. I take Rapaflo for some relief but it is like a bearing down down pain like childbirth. Certainly not looking forward to this especially after reading everyone’s comments. I have othe kidney stones but the just went in and retrieved them.
All of this and I had to postpone my vacation to the beach:(

I have had stones for 25 years and have had plenty of surgeries to remove them. I think the more surgeries and stents you have the worse the pain. The pain is almost as bad as having an actual stone attack. After they remove the stents I get relief and usually that is when all the small broken up pieces of stones pass. Good luck trying to get the surgeon to not put in stents!

Hey everyone! So glad I found Thai website. I went in for a partial hysterectomy 3 weeks ago and 18mm (possibly larger don’t know yet) were found imbedded in my left ureter. A urologist was called in and I saw him a few days later. He said they had probably been there forming for a few years which was also when I started having problems with my uterus to begin with. Had my stone removal yeaterday. They attempted to shockwave and auck everything out but I then bolted out of anesthesia like I’ve never done before in excruciating pain in the left side of back, leg, stomach, you name it. They went right back in and stented me as my ureter was swollen shut from bladder opening to kidney. I only have to have the stent in one week and my dr was really good at telling me there would be discomfort but I wasn’t prepared for this. Ok so I’ve been in worse pain, I’d compare it to the very beginning of labor (for those of us who have had contractions) on the pain scale. The stent is irritating and there is blood here and there. The flomax seems to help the most. Just waiting for my next dose! I also have loratab but eh, it’s not as relieving as I thought it would be. I was very relieved to see that many of you found some relief after a couple of days, gives me hope. I am supposed to go back to work Monday, I work 10hour shifts as a lab tech so I can sit most my shift but now I’m kind of stressing about that. Anyhow. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! Can’t wait to get back to normal

I have had stones for the last 25 years and always been able to pass them. I had surgery for a 7mm stone yesterday and had stents put in on both sides due to stones in both. I will never have stents again the pain is horrible i feel for everyone that is or has gone through this.

Hi one more suffer of the stem procedure for tree months now i been suffering terrible pain and bleeding tomorrow i have time for surgery to remove the stem and the stone due to my heart condition was no much they could they do for me just wait until my heart was stable to have surgery I wish I free of pain from tomorrow I have suffer enough