What are kidney stones? How are they formed and their treatments

Kidney stones are one of the most common issues in urology. It is estimated that one in ten people will have a kidney stone at some time in their lives. Kidney stones are likely to occur after the age of 30, but it can occur earlier. Diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity can increase the risk of kidney stones. Urine contains many minerals and salts. When your urine has high levels of these minerals and salts, you can form stones. Kidney stones usually start small but they can grow bigger in size, even filling the inner structures of the kidney. Kidney stones are made by chemicals like calcium, oxalate, urate, cystine, xanthine, and phosphate. After a kidney stone is formed, the stone may stay in the kidney or it can travel down the urinary tract into the ureter. What are the causes of kidney stones?

• Not drinking enough water.
• Following a high protein, sodium and/or sugar diet
• Being overweight
• Intake of certain medicines, like diuretics (water pills) or calcium-based antacids.
• You have a condition that causes your urine to contain high levels of cystine, oxalate, uric acid or calcium.

What are the symptoms of a stone? symptoms could be one of the following:

• sharp pain on either side of your lower back
• Pain while urinating
• stomach ache that doesn't go away
• blood in the urine
• nausea or vomiting
• urine that smells bad or looks cloudy

What are the treatments for kidney stones? The first thing that doctors do is they recommend patients to drink a lot of water. Usually, Doctors try to let the stone pass without surgery. They can also suggest medication to help make your urine less acid. But if the stone is very large, or if it blocks the flow of urine, or there is any sign of infection, it is removed with surgery. Dr Shagun Sikka who is one of the best urologists in Jalandhar recommends having a urine test, blood test, x-ray and/or CT scan which can give proper information about the kidney stone and can be treated accordingly. If your stone is large in size following treatments are used Shock Wave Lithotripsy: In this treatment, shock waves are used to break up the kidney stones into very tiny pieces. After the treatment, the tiny pieces of the kidney stone pass through the urinary tract easily and out of your body with your urine. This treatment usually takes less than an hour and is done under anaesthesia, which means the patient will be asleep during the operation and will be unable to feel pain. Ureteroscopy: In this treatment giving anaesthesia to the patient is important. the doctor uses a long tool shaped like a tube to remove the stone or to break the stone into small pieces. If the stone is small, the doctor may be able to remove it.iff the stone is big then the doctor will break it into tiny pieces.