Dear Kidneys,

[JOES66FURY]

Please stop making stones. They hurt. They hurt a lot. I am not sure what I did to you to make you hate me so much that you would inflict that type of pain on me but I am sorry, so very sorry.

Stone # 15 or so finally passed this morning. Ended up in the ER Saturday. Hopped on the bike to take a long rural ride and about 15 minutes in the pain started. Stopped by a nearby friends place and the wife borrowed her truck to get me to the ER.

If you never experienced a kidney stone consider yourself lucky. I am a big guy, I consider my self to be pretty strong with a high tolerance for pain. Was buckled over laying on the waiting room floor crying like a baby.

Karma must be catching up with me for something. This is just after what I refer to as "the great gallbladder fiasco on August 2016"

Drink more water they said...I drink water like a god blessed fish...SMH....maybe it needs to be fermented with barley and hops.

[STINEY]

My wife (who is not compassionate by any description) swears kidney stones are many many levels of pain higher than childbirth.

Hang in there Joe. This too shall pass. Then your body will give you several years of relief while it makes new stones.

[DanStokes]

With all of the medical stuff I deal with I've escaped this ordeal (at least so far). Sorry you've had to go thru this and hope they stay away in the future.

Sending good JuJu your way.

Dan

[Dan Barlow]

My youngest when he was 19 had a kidney stone about a month before his head injury . He woke up one day and was in pain . From his description and from averything I had heard before , I just skipped the doctors office a went straight to the hospital . Hope you don't have to go thru that again .

[SuperBuickGuy]

"this too shall pass?!!!" oh Stiney - you are brutal. Maybe this should be a "make Joe laugh" thread to help him move those rocks out? You blame your wife for cold blood, I say she has a direct source for it.

[Barry Donovan]

I had them once.
I declared it air force training related, scrubbing the San antonio ground.
Can't stop and drink water.

my problems got much worse.
in 3-5 or more pots of coffee a day.

feed it nuclear byproducts, dissolves problems

[Deaf Bob]

Coffee and soda pop... Caffeine in them.

[malc]

I was mis diagnosed initially so two days were lost
before I went into hospital.
I had a painkiller and two days later luckily the stone
came out.
The pain is totally out of proportion to the size of the cause.
Those little buggers HURT.

During the scan they also found a stone in my gall bladder, when that moves it'll have to be removed,
the gall bladder whole that is.

[JOES66FURY]

During the scan they also found a stone in my gall bladder, when that moves it'll have to be removed,
the gall bladder whole that is.

I was having severe abdominal pain off and on for months. It would come on and hurt like a kidney stone but just below my sternum to my back. It would last about 20 minutes or so then go away. Had an MRI done and found a gall stone.

Doc sent me to a surgeon and she suggested removing the gallbladder. It was sent to my primary care doc but they did not put in the referal so I never got approved for the surgery and I've been so busy that I did not follow up on it.

Fast forward 2 months and the pain came on suddenly but lasted through the night and by the morning I could not handle it anymore so I went to the ER. They took good care of me and by that evening I was prepped for surgery the next morning.

Everything went smoothly. Hospital personnel were great. Doc said the gallbladder was in terrible shape and it was a good thing they removed it when they did which was something no one seemed to notice in the initial MRI. They sent me home with a clean bill of health or so they thought.

I was still sick days after the surgery. Pain was terrible and I could not eat or drink because it all came back up. To make matters worse I was jaundice. I looked in the mirror and I was yellow from head to toe. I went back to the ER the third day. They did another MRI and found that a gall stone had dislodged and got stuck in a bile duct. The next day they went it thru my throat and pulled the stone out but I ended up staying in the hospital for 3 more days (without any food mind you, just jello and my IV's) because there was something wrong with my liver. By the 3rd day I was starving and feeling much better but it was days after that I could finally eat comfortably.

Now that it is gone I have to be careful what I eat because literally within minutes I could be crapping myself if I am not near a toilet.

Good times...good times indeed!

[antmnte]

Cranberry juice helps. I had a friend go through it. Miserable. But he drinks straight cranberry juice not ocean spray straight bitter cranberry juice. He's been ok.

[STINEY]

Just so you know, wife says that this is all very normal for gall stone stuff. She has done those scans for 25 years.....I've heard stories for 25 years.....so while you are miserable at least know you are doing par for the course.

[Deaf Bob]

Trader Joe's has a very good cranberry juice.. Some are cut with other fruits to make them drinkable
Tart cherry juice is good for inflamation.. A half cup a day does a body good.. Not too much or the shitz arrive

[Loren]

For me, anything where you're supposed to drink more water, I can drink water until I'm sick and still have dehydration symptoms (dizziness etc.). It has to have a little "dehydration salts" or can be Gatorade...we buy Gatorade ten bottles at a time around here, a bottle a day is normal. Just an anecdote for what it's worth.

[Deaf Bob]

Alkaline water helps.. I get severe cramps.. Tried salt tablets, (when I played football coach handed out salt tabs), quinine, muscle relaxers (made me lethargic and sleep) high ph water (alkaline) helped. So I drink half gallon when I sweat alot like mowing, doing firewood etc..

[V12guy]

QUIT drinking soda (especially Mt Dew) and drink cranberry juice. I used to drink a 6 pack a day of 'dew, until I got a Kidney stone. Never again!