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Treatment of Kidney Stones – Different Treatment Options for Different Kidney Stones

November 24th, 2009

Kidney stones start out as minute pieces of crystals, formed out of insoluble salt and minerals known as oxalates, which the kidney was not able to excrete through its urine. Often times, this may be due to lack of water intake to keep the stones soluble enough to be washed out.

The treatment of kidney stones is necessary in order to eliminate these particles from the renal system; although the type of treatment to apply depends on the size of the crystals to be taken out. Hence, if you are beginning to feel the early symptoms such as the incessant pain in the lower back and changes in your urine, your doctor may present you with the following treatments:

Treatment of Kidney Stone by Simple Home Therapy and Medications:

Kidney stones that are analyzed as small enough may be treated through water therapy and non-steroidal medications. As a sufferer, you have to drink at least 2 glasses of water for every 2 hours during the day. This will help your urine clear up and make your kidney stones soluble enough to be washed out bit by bit through urination.

The doctor will consider this treatment suitable for you if you are not in any kind of fluid restrictions, as required by some other form of ailments you may be suffering from. In addition, certain types of medicine called alpha blockers may be prescribed by your doctor since they can aid in passing kidney stones with very little or no side effects at all.

However, if your kidney stone is causing you severe pain, it is possible that the stone is already blocking your ureter or the entrance to your urinary tract. This now is one of those instances when the doctor will recommend surgery as your form of treatment.

Treatment of Kidney Stones by Surgery

The following are your treatment options if kidney treatment is no longer possible via home cure:

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL), a treatment where shockwaves are directed at the area where kidney stones were detected. The intensity of the shock waves passing through the body are said to be at certain levels where it can break up a kidney stone into smithereens. These being the case, the patient can now easily pass the kidney stones out of his renal system.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy or nephrolithotripsy  – This treatment is done through the use of a telescope which the surgeon puts into the kidney by way of making an incision at the patient?s back. By doing this, the surgeon is able to locate the exact position of the kidney stone, which will enable him to perform manual extraction. This type of surgery is often resorted to if the stone is too large to be broken down by the ESWL treatment.

Ureteroscopy ? this time the telescope that the surgeon uses will pass the urinary tract until it reaches the location of the kidney, often found blocking the ureter. During the surgical operation, the doctor will use a small tube to keep the ureter open in order to extract the kidney stone or break it up whichever method is necessary for easier removal.

Open Surgery – The doctor here makes an incision at the side or on the belly area in order to reach the kidney stone for extraction. Due to the high risk of causing further damage to the kidney, this type of treatment is rarely used.

Keep in mind though, that the nature of your lifestyle or diet may cause the re-formation of kidney stones in your system. It is necessary therefore, to be more mindful of what we intake if we do not want to go through the same pain and treatment in the future.

Alvin Hopkinson is a leading health researcher in the area of natural remedies and kidney stone removal. Discover how you can get rid of your kidney stones for good using proven home remedies, all without using harmful medications or drugs. Visit his site now at http://www.nomorekidneystone.com

Alvin Hopkinson is a leading health researcher in the area of natural remedies and weight loss.

He had published many health articles online, is a platinum expert author in EzineArticles and writes for Health Central, which is a leading health authority website.

Some of his sites includes:

High Blood Pressure Treatment

Gout Relief

Fat Loss Diet

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Natural Treatment for Kidney Stones

November 22nd, 2009

Kidney stones are solid accumulations of material that form in the tubal system of the kidney. Kidney stones cause problems when they block the flow of urine through or out of the kidney. When the stones move along the ureter, they cause severe pain.

Kidney stones probably aren?t caused by a diet too high in dairy products. Even though the stones are made from calcium, research shows that a diet high in calcium actually decreases your risk of forming them.

Causes and symptoms

Kidney stones can be composed of a variety of substances. The most common types of kidney stones include:

Calcium stones. About 80% of all kidney stones fall into this category. These stones are composed of either calcium and phosphate, or calcium and oxalate. People with calcium stones may have other diseases that cause them to have increased blood levels of calcium. These diseases include primary parathyroidism, sarcoidosis, hyperthyroidism, renal tubular acidosis, multiple myeloma, hyperoxaluria, and some types of cancer. A diet heavy in meat, fish, and poultry can cause calcium oxalate stones.

Struvite is the name given to the crystal composed of Magnesium, Ammonium, and Phosphate. (Struvite is also occasionally referred to as ?Triple Phosphate? due to an old erroneous belief that the phosphate ion was bonded to 3 positive ions instead of just magnesium and ammonium.) Struvite crystals are not unusual in normal urine and are usually of no consequence but when the are present in very large amounts, they can form stones.

Heredity: Some people are more susceptible to forming kidney stones, and heredity certainly plays a role. The majority of kidney stones are made of calcium, and hypercalciuria (high levels of calcium in the urine), is a risk factor. The predisposition to high levels of calcium in the urine may be passed on from generation to generation. Some rare hereditary diseases also predispose some people to form kidney stones.

Cystine stones are yellow and crystalline. They develop if you have high levels of cystine in your urine, which happens if you have a hereditary disorder called cystinuria. Only one in a hundred kidney stones are caused by this condition. Cystine stones tend to develop earlier in life than other kidney stones, usually between the ages of 10 and 30 years.

Sudden spasms of excruciating pain (renal or uteric colic) – this usually starts in the back below the ribs, before radiating around the abdomen, and sometimes to the groin and genitalia

Natural Treatment for Kidney Stones

Small stones that aren’t causing symptoms, obstruction, or an infection usually don’t need to be treated. Drinking plenty of fluids increases urine production and helps wash out some stones; once a stone is passed, no other immediate treatment is needed. The pain of renal colic may be relieved with narcotic analgesics.

Eat a whole foods diet that contains leafy green vegetables, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and fish and poultry in small portions. Include foods that have a high ratio of magnesium to calcium such as brown rice, bananas, oats, barley, and soy, and that are high in fiber such as oat bran, psyllium seed husk, and flaxseed meal.

Avoid sugar (check ingredients for hidden sources of sugar), alcohol, antacids, excessive protein, dairy products (especially milk), salt, carbonated beverages, caffeine, and refined white flour products such as pasta, white bread, and baked goods.

Drinking lots of water (two and a half to three litres per day) and staying physically active are often enough to move a stone out of the body. However, if there is infection, blockage, or a risk of kidney damage, a stone should always be removed.

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Kidney Stones – Causes and Symptoms

November 15th, 2009

 

The kidney acts as a filter for blood, removing waste products from the body and helping regulate the levels of chemicals important for body function. The urine drains from the kidney into the bladder through a narrow tube called the ureter. When the bladder fills and there is an urge to urinate, the bladder empties through the urethra, a much wider tube than the urethra.

Kidney stones can form when the urine contains too much of certain substances. These substances can create small crystals that become stones. Kidney stones may not produce symptoms until they begin to move down the ureter, causing pain. The pain is usually severe and often starts in the flank region, then moves down to the groin.

Kidney stones are small, solid masses that form when salts or minerals normally found in urine become solid crystals (crystallise) inside the kidney. In most cases, the crystals are too tiny to be noticed, and pass harmlessly out of your body. However, they can build up inside your kidney and form much larger stones.

The formation of stones in the kidneys or urinary tract is not an uncommon disorder. The stones are formed from the chemicals usually found in the urine such as uric acid, phosphorus, calcium, and oxalic acid. They may vary in consistency from grit, sand, and gravel-like obstructions the size of a bird’s egg.

Symptoms of Kidney Stones

Symptoms of kidney stones (aka, renal calculi) vary from person to person, but most people experience severe pain. Kidney stone pain is characterized by its severity. The excruciating pain is usually centralized in the back or sides and sometimes moves as the stone moves. During an attack, many sufferers experience nausea and vomiting. They may discover blood in their urine. About eighty percent of stones are small enough to be passed without symptoms and there are some people that have kidney stones but never experience pain.

Kidney stones form when there is a decrease in urine volume or an excess of stone-forming substances in the urine. The most common type of kidney stone contains calcium in combination with either oxalate or phosphate. Other chemical compounds that can form stones in the urinary tract include uric acid and the amino acid cystine.

Most kidney stones pass out of the body without any intervention by a physician. Stones that cause lasting symptoms or other complications may be treated by various techniques, most of which do not involve major surgery. Also, research advances have led to a better understanding of the many factors that promote stone formation and thus better treatments for preventing stones.

The size of the stone does not dictate the size of the pain. A small jagged stone can produce more distressing symptoms than a larger smooth stone. A great deal of the pain experienced while passing a stone is not the result of the stone ripping through the urinary tract (although it certainly can feel that way). Much pain is due to muscle contractions as the ureter attempts to force the stone into the bladder. If the sufferer experiences a fever along with these other symptoms, he or she may have an infection.

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What Cause Kidney Stones

November 9th, 2009

Kidney stones are made of salts and minerals in the urine that stick together to form small “pebbles.” They are usually painless while they remain in the kidney, but they can cause severe pain as they break loose and travel through narrow tubes (ureters) to exit the body during urination. The kidneys are the master chemists of the body. Normally, there are two of them, one on either side of the spine under the lower ribs. They are reddish brown in colour and shaped like kidney beans. Each kidney is about the size of your clenched fist.

Kidney stones form when the components of urine ? fluid and various minerals and acids ? are out of balance. When this happens, your urine contains more crystal-forming substances, such as calcium and uric acid, than the available fluid can dilute. At the same time, your urine may be short of substances that keep crystals from sticking together and becoming stones. Kidney stones are also prone to develop in highly acidic or highly alkaline urine.

A kidney stone develops when substances in urine form crystals that stick together and grow in size. In most cases, these crystals are removed from the body by the flow of urine, but they sometimes stick to the lining of the kidney or settle in places where the urine flow fails to carry them away. These crystals may gather and grow into a stone, ranging in size from a grain of sand to a golf ball.

Diet plays an important role in the development of kidney stones, especially in patients who are predisposed to the condition. A diet high in sodium, fats, meat, and sugar, and low in fiber, vegetable protein, and unrefined carbohydrates increases the risk for renal stone disease. Recurrent kidney stones may form in patients who are sensitive to the chemical byproducts of animal protein and who consume large amounts of meat.

Calcium Stones: people who form this type of stone either have too much of one type of three chemicals in their urine, or not enough of another. In particular, they have either too much calcium, oxalate, or urate in their urine, or too little citrate. Eating too much salt may cause too much calcium to stay in the urine A few patients will have kidney stones from overproduction of the calcium controlling hormone, parathormone. Drinking milk does not cause kidney stones.

Uric acid stones: These stones are formed of uric acid, a byproduct of protein metabolism. You’re more likely to develop uric acid stones if you eat a high-protein diet. Gout also leads to uric acid stones. Certain genetic factors and disorders of the blood-producing tissues also may predispose you to the condition.

Struvite Stones: This type of stone, also called an infection stone, develops when a urinary tract infection (e.g., bladder infection) affects the chemical balance of the urine. Bacteria in the urinary tract release chemicals that neutralize acid in the urine, which enables bacteria to grow more quickly and promotes struvite stone development.

Struvite stones are more common in women because they have urinary tract infections more often. The stones usually develop as jagged structures called “staghorns” and can grow to be quite large.

Cystine stones are formed by a build-up of cystine, combining with lysine, arginine and ornithine. Cystine stones account for 1 percent of all stones and are found in persons suffering from a hereditary disorder called cystinuria. Cystinuria occurs as a result of the kidney tubules not reabsorbing certain amino acids adequately. Cystine stones occur in both men and women equally.

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Dog Cystitis With Bladder Stones – Dog Health

November 3rd, 2009

Look out for the following symptoms of dog cystitis with bladder stones (crystals):


1. The dog may go to the toilet a lot more than it does usually.

2. It may struggle to produce any urine

3. There may be a small amount of blood in the urine that is produced.


Small crystals forming on blood cells and bladder lining cells are what cause bladder stones or urolith in your dog’s bladder. Bladder stones can be caused by either a too high acidic level or a very low one and in some cases they even form irrespective of the pH levels in the dog’s urine. There are six different types of bladder stones that can be formed.


A dog’s urine contains several normal chemicals which form these crystals but these crystals will only form at certain pH levels and they will require something to attach to and grow on.


The lining of the dog’s bladder constantly gets rid of old cells and forms new one this gives the crystals something to attach to and grow on. The crystals can attach to one of these dead cells and continue to grow from being microscopic to the size of a golf ball in cases where they are left untreated.


These crystals, when formed, will have sharp edges causing inflammation and burning of the bladder due to these sharp edges constantly scratching and aggravating the bladder lining.


The bladder contracts due to the aggravation and burning and it makes the dog feel like it needs to urinate but the bladder contains little or no urine. Furthermore, there may be a small amount of blood in the urine due to the ruptured blood vessels caused by the inflamed muscles.


If your dog is a male there are chances that the bladder stones can travel from the bladder down into the urethra. The risk of this is that these stones may become wedged into a cylindrical bone that the urethra travels through and cause severe pain to the dog as it obstructs its urine. If this happens the bladder stones will be too be removed urgently before the bladder bursts or the toxins in the urine kills the dog.


The vet will normally ask for a urine sample when the dog is suspected to have this condition. This urine sample will be tested for blood, acidic levels and glucose.


These samples will help the vet in determining whether inflammation is the problem if blood cells are found in the urine or whether the dog is diabetic has a relatively high level of glucose in its urine making it vulnerable to cystitis since glucose helps the bacteria grow and requires a separate type of treatment. The urine sample will also help the vet determine whether the acidity levels in the urine are enough to fight the bacteria.


After the presence of inflammation and cystitis have been confirmed due to the initial testing the dog can be treated by either the appropriate antibiotics or further tests can be conducted to check for bladder stones. These further tests include ultrasound, x-rays and using a small camera which will be passed through the bladder of the dog.


The vet may be able to determine the type of bladder stones present in the dog by the amount of pH levels in its urine. Another method of checking for the type of bladder stones present in the dog is to remove the larger ones and send them for further testing.


If the bladder stones have moved down to the urethra of the male dog the vet may need to push a need through the abdominal wall and into the dog’s bladder to remove some of the urine and ease the dog’s pain and discomfort. After this, the vet will try to slide the bladder stones back into the bladder by using a catheter and flushing the urethra with water and then later operating on the bladder.


If this procedure fails then the vet may have to resort to a more risky surgery on the urethra itself in order to remove the blockage caused by the bladder stones.


After the surgery has been performed and the dog has been given the appropriate medicine the vet will probably put the dog on a special type of food in order to correct the amount of pH levels in its urine. Furthermore, in accordance with previous test results the vet may also prescribe antibiotics.

For more information on Dog Cystitis With Bladder Stones or Dog Health take a look at this Dog Training website.

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