Shocking Solutions For Kidney Stones

Not all attacks of kidney stones are painful. Some people have them for years without feeling anything. In fact, it's not uncommon for stones to be discovered accidentally during a routine X-ray examination for another problem.

But it's hard to forget the pain that kidney stones bring. This happens when the stone becomes too large and forces its way to the bladder. Other signs of kidney stones are blood in the urine and a persistent urge to urinate.

"Problems arise when a stone becomes so large that it obstructs or irritates a part of the kidney or causes problems as it passes out of the kidney. Symptoms include severe pain and tenderness over the affected kidney, frequent and painful urination, nausea, blood in the urine, fever, chills, and extreme exhaustion," said the editors of Consumer Guide's Family Health & Medical Guide.

Despite the pain they cause, kidney stones are seldom serious. They rarely cause permanent damage but they shouldn't be taken lightly either.

That's because even the smallest stone can destroy delicate tissue in the urinary tract. A few may lead to complications like urinary tract infection and obstruction - both of which require immediate medical attention to prevent kidney damage.

If the stone is small enough and located further down the body, it is usually left alone to exit on its own. A large stone that is high up and causes great pain, urinary bleeding or infection, needs medical help.

In the past, that automatically meant surgery - a major procedure that required a two-week hospital stay and left a large scar both on the skin and in the wallet.

Today's patient has many options. The most popular is extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) which can successfully remove 90 percent of kidney stones.

ESWL was developed in West Germany and became available in the United States in 1984. In this non-surgical method, the patient is given a general or local anesthetic and lowered into a large tub of water until the body is submerged up to the shoulders.

The stone is then bombarded with hundreds or thousands of shock waves, shattering them into tiny fragments that easily pass out in the urine a few hours or days later.

"It is not usually necessary for you to be admitted to the hospital to receive ESWL. It can be done in an out-patient clinic in the morning and you can leave the same night, or at the latest, the following day. After the procedure, you should drink at least two quarts of water a day until your urinary symptoms have cleared up and all the stone fragments have been passed," explained Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld of the New York Hospital-Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in The Best Treatment.

Does the procedure have any side effects? Find out in the third part of this series. To help you relax, take Sedamine, nature’s answer to a good night’s sleep. Visit http://sedamine.com for details.