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Kidney Stones

Discussion in 'Physical & Sexual Health' started by Anthemic, Dec 13, 2016.

  1. Anthemic

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    For those of you who have had a kidney stone, you know how awful they are. I'm interested in hearing your stories about what you went through when you had one.

    I've had 3 kidney stones. They were all uric acid stones caused by Diamox. Diamox is a diuretic that is commonly used to treat Pseudotumor cerebri (elevated cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, which mimics a large brain tumor). The Diamox caused uric acid kidney stones. The first time I had one, I thought an ovarian cyst had ruptured. I took a Lortab, which didn't touch the pain a single bit. I suffered for 4 hours, until I passed out from either the pain, or the Lortab. The 2nd attack happened a few months later, and it was the absolute worst pain I have ever experienced in my entire life. When I was 11, I almost lost three of my toes (they were sliced to the bone), and that was nothing compared to a kidney stone. When I had the 2nd attack, my sister took me to my OB/GYN, because I assumed it was a ruptured cyst again. I told them it was an emergency, so they let me come into the office right away. My GYN did an ultrasound and found no cysts present. My doctor could tell I was in an intense amount of pain (because I was close to tears and was looking pale and disoriented), so she assumed my appendix had ruptured. She put me in a wheelchair and had me rushed to the ER. I was going in and out of consciousness while waiting on a room, so I was put at the top of the list (I felt guilty, but all the patients who were in the waiting room before me were perfectly fine with it, because they were worried about my well-being, lol. I guess I looked pretty bad. Bless their hearts.) When I got into the room, I was given Dilaudid immediately. Within minutes, the pain started to fade a bit. I went to the bathroom and it felt as if a needle was trying to come through my urethra. I was so loopy from the Dilauded that I just shrugged it off. When the doctor came into the room, he said that my ureter was severely swollen, as if I passed a kidney stone. He asked what my pain was like, and I said that it was as if someone was playing tug of war with my spine while using a drill gun, while having period cramps (that's the best description I have, lol). I then told him about the needle-like pain I felt while going to the bathroom, and he confirmed that it was a kidney stone. No living thing should ever have to feel that amount of pain.

    The 3rd attack I had was about 8 months later. I was feeling moderate mid-back/lower abdominal pain, but it wasn't as severe as the first two times. What was so bad, was the fact that I could not urinate; not even a drop. It felt like my bladder would explode. I knew right away what it was, so my sister rushed me to the ER again. They catheterized me and gave me a dose of Tramadol. I felt so much better after that. I haven't had another stone since. (I also quit the Diamox.)

    tl;dr

    Kidney stones are the devil's cookie crumbs.
     
  2. AuroraBorealis

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    I've only had one kidney stone. I was staying at my cousins the time that I started to hurt, I didn't really think it was a big deal, I thought it was a pain that would pass. I took some aspirin and laid down, but kept tossing and turning. There was only one position where I didn't hurt as bad so I'd lay there like that and fall asleep, I did that a couple of times. That night I started to hurt really bad and that's when I told my cousin how bad I hurt. I was walking around the entire house, trying to sit or stand in some way that would make me comfortable, I eventually ended up throwing up from the pain. I was taken to the er, got x-rays, and an IV..no idea what they gave me but it stopped the pain and knocked me out for a while, but I remember trying to keep myself awake. They kept me off food and water, monitered my urine, then the next morning took some more xrays and I was sent home. This was in July, I finally passed the stone in November. Once I got out of the hospital the experience was fairly painless, I'm not sure why, but only a few times did I hurt and it wasn't unbearable pain, but yeah, one day in November it finally passed.
     
  3. Anthemic

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    Oh gosh, that sounds awful. I'm so sorry you went through that. I realized that laying down actually makes the pain worse. As I was reading your post, I was imagining myself pacing around the house trying to get comfortable, because that's exactly what I did when I had my 2nd kidney stone (aka, The Stone from Hell). Power walking/jogging actually takes a tiny amount of pain away, but it's so hard to do that because the pain is still pretty bad; when you feel that much pain, you just want to curl up in a ball, but you can't because that makes the pain even worse. It's like a fight that you can't win, lol.

    The medicine you described sounds like Dilaudid. That's exactly how my experience sounded when they gave it to me; it took the pain away and I was struggling to stay awake. Did it make you feel like your body was heavy? At the hospital I go to, they don't usually give patients Dilaudid unless they think the patient is in severe pain. The 3rd stone I had wasn't as bad as the first two; the pain was only about a 7/10 on the pain scale, while the 1st one was an 8/10 and the 2nd one was a 9/10. They actually tried giving me Morphine during the 2nd attack, but it wasn't touching the pain. But the 3rd attack was actually calmed by Tramadol (which is weaker than Morphine).

    Gosh, that sucks that you had to deal with the stone for 3 months... :icon_sad: I passed all of my stones on the days of the attacks. I hope you don't experience another one ever again. >_<;
     
  4. AuroraBorealis

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    Thanks, I hope I don't either haha. And yes, it might have been, because my body did feel very heavy. I can remember at the time, when I was trying to keep myself up and my brain was working, but I couldn't get my body to work with my brain, my mouth was wide open and they were wheeling me through the hospital and my brain was thinking "Shut your mouth...shut your mouth...you're gonna drool...shut your mouth..wake up"
     
  5. Anthemic

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    LOL! Yep, definitely sounds like Dilaudid. That stuff is crazy, but it sure does help with the pain.