My First Kidney Stone

[kybearfuzz]

After work yesterday, I played the good boy and went to the gym. I'd been having some lower back pain lately, but attributed that to some recent weightlifting and sleeping in a hotel bed over the weekend. I figured a good workout might stretch things out.

So after jumping into my gym clothes in the locker room, I walked into the restroom to take a whiz before sweating it up. I felt a sharp jolt of intense pain down there and I looked down to notice I was peeing blood.

Now this was a first and I felt the panic that Carrie must have when she thought she was bleeding to death in the shower. So I pulled up, washed my hands, went back to my locker, threw on my sweat shirt, grabbed my gym, and bee-lined for my car.

At my doctors' office, the receptionist found (or created) an immediate appointment for me, after I told her about the bloody urine. Graphic images seem to express urgency.

After a urine test and a discussion of the symptoms, the conclusion was that I had unknowingly and likely given birth to my first kidney stone.

My lower back is still hurting a bit. I'm wondering how many more of those little bastards are creeping around in there.

Comments

[squirreltot.livejournal.com]

You're a bigger man than me. The minute I would have seen blood come from there I probably would have passed out. Could you imagine that sight at the gym?

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Oh, there was a minor freak out moment and I was relieved that no one else was around.

If I'd have been there, I'd have dumped some water on you and told everyone you'd just lifted 2000 lbs, ran 20 miles on a treadmill, and helped change the tire on a bus (without a jack) for a group of nuns taking orphans to the local McDonalds, Burger King, and/or sweatshop.

Gotta maintain a macho image, you know :)

[squirreltot.livejournal.com]

That'd be so awesome of you! Hopefully this will pass quickly for ya! It's only marginally punny, not really intentional. :o)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

You're very fortunate to be able to get rid of it/them. As you know by now, the pain is nothing like anything you've probably experienced. dendren and dewittar have had recent severe bouts with kidney stones. I've had two experiences that landed me in the hospital ER. May you have successfully passed all of the stones and may the residual pain go away!

HUGS!

ps ... By the way, one of the main causes of the stones is drinking diet sodas. Do you partake?

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of dewittar and the hell he's gone through of late with them. I count myself as lucky that mine haven't been so bad.

And I drink at least three diet sodas a day, so there may need to be a change.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

There have been recent studies that put the diet sodas at the top of the list ... They're finding kidney stones in children as young as five due to consumption of diet drinks.

[spikejrt.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Hope it was a one-shot deal.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Amen to that, passing buckshot isn't easy!

[martini-tim.livejournal.com]

Ug, kidney stones. I'm sorry you had to experience one of those. I had one about seven years ago and hope never to experience it again. It took four months to pass it, but most people pass theirs in a day or two.

I avoid all high oxalate foods now, including spinach, soybean products and all berries. You can find lists of these foods online, and hopefully your doctor counseled you on them as well.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Four months???? YIKES!

My doctor looks like he's 16 and didn't mention anything about dietary changes. Strangely, he seemed more concerned about my homosexual activities (if any) and whether I'd been tested for STD's.

I'll have to look to see if I need to avoid anything (like the diet sodas) in my diet.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

I went through this in December/January and it was pretty awful. But the high oxalate list... damn! All the foods I've been eating for my health the last couple of years... spinach, nuts, whole grains... my urologist basically said I need to weigh the probability of future kidney stones vs healthy eating. What a rotten choice :P

[spatts5.livejournal.com]

Your doctor has after work hours? Hopefully the pain goes away and you won't be birthin' no more babies. Feel better.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I was at the gym at 4 PM and my doctor's office doesn't close until 4:30 PM, so I got in under the wire.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

ok... now wtf is going on here. I have so many on my flist, myself included, that have had kidney stones in the last 6 months. Hopefully yours was just a one time thing. Did they do an x-ray or ct-scan at all? It wasn't until x-rays that they discovered I actually had a large stone in my kidney that needed to be dealt with...

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

There was no testing done, except on a urine sample. They came to the conclusion based on my symptoms. Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't go back.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't sweat it too much unless your symptoms continue. I had trace amounts of blood in my urine for a year, that should have clued the doc in to the fact there was something wrong. It may not hurt to follow up in a few weeks for another urine test just to see if there is still blood in it or not. And drink lots and lots of water to clear those kidneys out.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

That is actually the strange part. When I went to the doctor's office and gave a sample, they said they didn't find any blood in it. This was probably a 1/2 hour or so after the gym episode where there was visible blood. If it wasn't blood, I'd like to know what other red substance I can produce like that.

And I've been drinking water, a bottle every few hours, since.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

maybe (I'm not a doctor I'm not a doctor I'm not a doctor ;) that just means you passed everything and all is clear. Did you actually see stones/gravel come out when you pee'd the blood?

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I never saw the stone, but I felt it "pop out" so to speak, which was the part that hurt. I then noticed the blood in the water.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

ah, got it. Actually for me there was zero pain when it popped out. It was all the time before hand when it was still in my kidney. I didn't even feel any of it come out the pee hole, just got used to seeing bunches of gravel in the bowl for a while LOL

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Ugh... you're right, I just saw some "sand" in the bowl this morning...

[dendren.livejournal.com]

well, that's still good news really. Better out of you than in your kidney. But, I suspect you may want to follow up and make sure there isn't a larger stone in there trying to break apart.

[cincycub.livejournal.com]

Yikes. I consider myself really fortunate that I've never had to deal with those when I have lots of friends that do. I hope that's ALL it is and that you can change your diet to prevent them from recurring.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look into the list of causes and see which apply here. While mine wasn't as painful or prolonged as everyone else, I'd rather not experience it again.

[labeartorycub.livejournal.com]

You were lucky! Sorry that you had to go through that experience though, and hopefully things aren't going to get any worse. HUGS!

[snowboardjoe.livejournal.com]

Damn, I definitely got behind on my LJ reading. I was definitely shocked to see this from you since you're so young! :)

Start weening yourself of those diet drinks. You're just as bad as my friend Dave with this Diet Mountain Dew's--those are going to kill him sooner or later, but he's not listening to me.