Did you know that around 6 percent of women and 11 percent of men in the US will have kidney stones once in their life? If you want to learn about the signs of kidney stones, we can help.

In this guide, we’ll go over the symptoms of kidney stones and potential treatments.

Want to learn more? Keep reading.

What Are Kidney Stones?

A kidney stone gets made from chemicals in your urine and ends up forming a hard object. There are four kinds of kidney stones. You could have struvite, cystine, uric acid, or calcium oxalate kidney stones.

Urine will have other wastes dissolved inside it. If there’s too much waste in a bit of liquid, the crystals will begin to form. Crystals will attract different elements and clump together, forming a solid.

Often, the elements will get bigger. The chemicals tend to get eliminated in your kidney. Most people will have enough liquid to wash out the chemicals and prevent a stone.

The stone could stay in your kidney or move down the urinary tract into the ureter. The tiny stones can leave the body in urine and not cause pain.

Yet, stones that don’t end up moving could cause a back-up of urine in the bladder, ureter, or kidney.

What Causes Kidney Stones?

Sometimes, if you don’t drink enough water, you could end up with kidney stones. Overeating sugar or salt, obesity, or weight loss surgery can also cause kidney stones.

Family history and infections can also play a role. If you overeat fructose, you could increase your chances of developing a kidney stone. Fructose can get found in high fructose corn syrup or table sugar.

Some kidney stones are only the size of a grain of sand, while others are as large as a pebble or golf ball. People with larger kidney stones will notice more symptoms. Let’s take a look at common signs.

1. Pain in Your Lower Back

Some people will experience severe pain on the left or right of their lower back. People tend to describe the pain as getting stabbed with a knife or similar to childbirth pains.

Many people end up going to the emergency room because the pain feels so intense. The pain starts when the kidney stone begins to move into the narrow ureter, causing a blockage. Pressure will build up in the kidney.

The pressure will activate nerve fibers that will begin transmitting pain signals to your brain. Once the kidney stone moves, the pain can change in intensity and location.

2. Burning Sensations or Pain When You Use the Washroom

After the kidney stone reaches the area between the bladder and the ureter, people tend to feel pain when they urinate.

The pain tends to feel like a burning sensation or sharp. Some people end up mistaking their kidney stones for a urinary tract infection.

3. Fever Symptoms

Another sign of a kidney stone problem is if you have chills or a fever. Often, people end up with an infection in their kidney or their urinary tract because of kidney stones.

You should go and get medical attention if you have a fever with pain.

4. Vomiting or Sick to Your Stomach

People who have a kidney stone also experience nausea or end up vomiting. There is a shared nerve connection between the GI tract and the kidneys.

Kidney stones in your kidneys can end up triggering nerves in the GI tract, resulting in nausea.

Other times, people will vomit because of the intense pain from kidney stones.

5. You Feel Like You Need to Use the Washroom Often

Another sign of a kidney stone is if you feel like you have to use the washroom more often than normal. When this occurs, the kidney stone could have moved into the lower region of your urinary tract.

Some people end up going to the washroom throughout the night or during the day.

6. Your Urine Smells or Looks Different

If you have healthy urine, it will appear clear and won’t have a bad odor. Bad-smelling or cloudy urine indicates you might have an infection in your kidneys.

When your urine appears cloudy, that means there’s pus in your urine. The new odor will come from the bacteria causing the infection.

Potential Kidney Stone Treatments

Kidney stone treatments tend to be the same for adults and children. You will get asked to drink plenty of water.

A lot of doctors try to have the kidney stone pass instead of seeking surgery as an option. You might also have to get medication, so your urine becomes less acidic.

Yet, sometimes, people seek treatment too late. The kidney stones could also block the flow of urine or even cause infection. In the latter situations, people will need to get their kidney stones removed in surgery.

There’s a non-invasive option called shockwave lithotripsy. The treatment uses high-energy sound waves that blast the stones into tiny fragments. The fragments will have an easier time passing in the urine.

An endoscope will get inserted through the ureter to obliterate the stone. For large stones, doctors will use percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

If you’re worried about potential kidney stones, you should seek medical attention. Consider visiting MEDNOW.

Now You Know More About Kidney Stones

We hope this guide on kidney stones was helpful. Now that you know more about the signs of kidney stones get medical treatment.

Your doctor will ask you to drink more fluid to try and flush the kidney stone from your body. In difficult situations, people will need to get surgical treatment.

Are you looking for more health tips? Check out our resources on the blog.