My experience with kidney stones 

I want to tell you about my experience having a kidney stone, so that if it happens to you one day, you will know exactly what it is and if you need to go to the hospital or not. I experienced having one, about 2 years ago. I do not wish this pain on my worst enemy. The pain is absolutely excruciating. It is very painful, in fact it was so painful that now, i am paranoid every single time that i have pain around the same area i had kidney stone pain. I never had one before, so i didn’t know what was coming.

Kidney stones are hard deposits made of minerals and salts that form inside our kidneys. Diet, excess body weight, some medical conditions, and certain supplements and medications are among the many causes of kidney stones. Kidney stones can affect any part of our urinary tract. Often, stones form when the urine becomes concentrated, allowing minerals to crystallize and stick together. So avoid holding your pee in and get antibiotics when you get a urinary tract infection.

Passing kidney stones can be quite painful, but the stones usually cause no permanent damage if they’re recognized in a timely fashion. Depending on your situation, you may need nothing more than to take pain medication and drink lots of water to pass a stone. If stones become lodged in the urinary tract, are associated with a urinary infection or cause complications, surgery may be needed, especially if the stone is too big. But usually, most people are able to naturally pass it.

It might be different for a man, but since I am a woman, I will tell you what my symptoms were. It all started with a dull pain in my bladder. Then I had symptoms of urinary tract infection. I get a lot of those, so I didn’t really worry about it too much at the time. But the ache, on my left side, started to get more and more annoying over time. I think it all started 2 weeks before I passed the stone. My bladder also felt achy, and I noticed that I wasn’t peeing very much. But there was always this nagging pain in my bladder, and my back started to hurt as well. The pain would circle from my side to my back.

One day as I was sitting in my bed with my dog, I suddenly felt this urge to push, like something was stuck in my urinary tract. So I pushed a little bit, and actually felt the stone fall in my bladder and get stuck at the “exit” and the sudden urge to pee. So i went on to the bathroom almost running and then the pain struck me suddenly. I felt this wave of pain, like a huge, painful spasm where my kidney is, for almost a full minute. It was severe, sharp, in the side and back, below the ribs. Pain that radiates to the lower back. I lost my breath, got up, and started walking back and forth, out of breath and almost blacking out from the pain. I almost felt like I was having a heart attack and it scared me. I was going to call my husband to go to the hospital, but as I was almost about to pass out from the pain, it just stopped. I finally passed the stone ! I’m not going to lie. This pain was the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life, beside MAYBE…. my appendicitis. I have a high pain tolerance, but this was something else ! I will never be able to ever forget the pain of having a kidney stone.

I am going to tell you that, if you ever have one, you will know ! 2 Years later and to this day, I am still traumatized from it and scared to get another one. The symptoms started not too bad from 2 weeks before, until i passed it. That’s why the pain was really bad. 12 on 10 was the pain level felt for me at the time. Drink a lot of water, avoid soda and eat too much sodium from frozen or already prepared meals like the Nutri system, MRE’S. Some people might just be more prone to them than others as well. My ex boyfriend told me that has had a couple in his life. I feel for him! This is not something someone wants to get twice, for sure ! I also heard that once you get one, you are more likely to get another and frankly it’s scary. I’m already scared to get another, but thankfully I changed my diet and drank a lot of water. I’m crossing my fingers that I will never get another one.

Have you ever experienced one ? What were your symptoms ?