Symptoms

Symptoms of kidney stones

Many kidney stones don't move and are too small to cause any symptoms. However, if a kidney stone causes a blockage, or moves into your ureter, you may:

• have severe pain or ache on one or both sides of your back
• get sudden spasms of excruciating pain - this usually starts in the back below your ribs, before radiating around your abdomen, and sometimes to your groin and genitals
• have bloody or cloudy urine
• feel sick or vomit
• feel a frequent urge to urinate, or a burning sensation during urination
• get fever and chills

You can also have these symptoms if you have a urinary tract infection (UTI) or cystitis. If you have one or more of these symptoms, you should ask your GP for advice.

The pain of kidney stones - referred to as 'renal colic' - can be very severe. It begins as soon as the stone becomes stuck in the ureter and tends to come in waves. It's not usually associated with the size of the kidney stone - sometimes small stones can cause more pain than very large ones.

Small kidney stones are usually passed out of the body within a day or so and mostly within four weeks of the onset of symptoms. The bigger the stone the less likely it is to pass out of the body spontaneously. Stones greater than 5mm (a quarter of an inch) in diameter are the least likely to pass without medical help.

If you're pregnant and have any symptoms of kidney stones, see your GP straight away.

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What do my kidneys do?

Your kidneys are bean-shaped organs, each about the size of your fist. They are located near the middle of your back, just below the rib cage, one on each side of the spine. The kidneys are sophisticated trash collectors. Every day, your kidneys process about 200 quarts of blood to sift out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water. The wastes and extra water become urine, which flows to your bladder through tubes called ureters. Your bladder stores urine until
you go to the bathroom.

The wastes in your blood come from the normal breakdown of active muscle and from the food you eat. Your body uses the food for energy and self-repair. After your body has taken what it needs from the food, wastes are sent to the blood. If your kidneys did not remove these wastes, they would build up in the blood and damage your body.

In addition to removing wastes, your kidneys help control blood pressure. They also help make red blood cells and keep your bones strong.

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Causes

Causes of kidney stones

Your kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of your fist. They're located in back of your abdomen on each side of your spine, and their main function is to remove excess fluid, unneeded electrolytes and wastes from your blood in the form of urine. The ureters carry urine from your kidneys to your bladder, where it's stored until you eliminate it from your body.

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.

Problems in the way your system absorbs and eliminates calcium and other substances create the conditions for kidney stones to form. Sometimes, the underlying cause is an inherited metabolic disorder or kidney disease. Gout promotes specific types of kidney stones, as does inflammatory bowel disease. So do some drugs, including furosemide (Lasix), used in treating heart failure and high blood pressure; topiramate (Topamax), an anti-seizure drug; and indinavir (Crixivan), which is used to treat human immunodeficiency virus, the cause of AIDS.

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kidney stone

What is a kidney stone

A kidney stone is a hard mass developed from crystals that separate from the urine within the urinary tract. Normally, urine contains chemicals that prevent or inhibit the crystals from forming. These inhibitors do not seem to work for everyone, however, so some people form stones. If the crystals remain tiny enough, they will travel through the urinary tract and pass out of the body in the urine without being noticed.

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.

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Symptoms

Typical symptoms of heart attack

The typical symptoms of a heart attack are similar to those of angina, but more severe and longer lasting. The victim feels a pain that is usually squeezing or burning or feels a terrible pressure in the middle of chest. This pain may also travel up to the neck, jaw, or shoulder or down the arm and into the back.

Sweating, dizziness, weakness, and shortness of breath often accompany the pain of a heart attack. If you have chest pain that lasts longer than 15 minutes and is not relieved by rest (or by a dose of nitroglycerin), get immediate medical attention.

In some cases, a heart attack may cause a sensation that feels like indigestion: you get a sick, aching feeling high in the middle of your abdomen. It can cause a feeling of great weakness, or a sense that you are about to faint. (Many of the people who had heart attacks thought that they had intestinal problem instead of associating it with a heart attack).

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