A Painful Guide to Keeping Your Sanity
Table of Contents
About four months ago, I started having an intense pain in my side and back. The pain didn’t go away. After about 12 hours of writhing around in intense pain, I was rushed to the hospital. My mom thought I had appendicitis or a blockage, but after a CT scan and urine analysis, I was diagnosed with a kidney stone.
Here’s my first piece of advice. If you have an intense pain in your stomach/side/back, and it does not go away with 30 minutes, go to a Doctor immediately. It could be appendicitis or a blockage, which can be fatal if not treated. I’m only 21 years old, and I’d rather not die because of laziness or pride. Secondly, the pain medication they gave me at the hospital was spectacular. After 12 hours of intense pain, 2 small pills completely alleviated me.
After I left the hospital, the doctor told me the stone was about 80-90% through my body, and it should be out soon. The only thing they could tell me was drink lots of water and take pain medication when needed.
For a week, I drank literally gallons of water, and I peed in a strainer. Nothing came out. I thought the stone must have been broken up by all the water I drank, so I stopped straining. A month went by with no symptoms, and I assumed it was gone. Was I ever wrong.
what does passing a kidney stone feel like
About once a month for 4 months I had the same intense pain that caused me to roll around and cry for many hours. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t sit. The pain was so intense, I thought I would die. I was peeing clumps of blood, and I felt dizzy. Trust me, these are scary symptoms to have, and it is important to see a doctor immediately, even if you are sure it’s another stone.
I went back to the doctor thinking I had multiple stones. He said the only way to find out was to do another CT scan and then surgery to remove them. This is four months later from the original stone, remember. After the scan, I went home, and about an hour later, wouldn’t you know , I peed out the stone.
Symptoms of passing a kidney stone
The stone was about 2mm, which, if you look at it, looks like nothing at all. A spec had caused my pain for all those months. And it turns out it was the only stone. It was stuck inside me for four months.
So how do you prevent a kidney stone? Well, drink lots of water. A few months before I got the stone, I drank tons and tons of green tea and lemonade, but not water. This caused the stone.
And what if you already have a stone? Always have a vial of pain medication nearby. Drink about 2 liters of water a day — water is all I drank for months. See a urologist. They can order a CT scan to track the stone, and then do surgery to remove the stone if it gets stuck. I recommend waiting a while to see if the stone comes out naturally first. But if you have a second attack, do the surgery.
I really hope you never get a stone. It is the most painful thing you can imagine. I had 4 separate kidney stone attacks that lasted literally all day long. It would have ruined my life if I was not on summer vacation.