How does kidney stone come out

Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Goldman L, et al. In: Goldman-Cecil Medicine. Accessed Jan. Kidney stones. McKean SC, et al. In: Principles and Practice of Hospital Medicine. McGraw-Hill Education; What are kidney stones? American Urological Association. Kellerman RD, et al. In: Conn's Current Therapy Elsevier; Warner KJ. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic. Curhan GC, et al. Diagnosis and acute management of suspected nephrolithiasis in adults.

Yu ASL, et al. Diagnostic kidney imaging. Fontenelle LF, et al. Kidney stones: Treatment and prevention. American Family Physician. Preminger GM. Options in the management of renal and ureteral stones in adults.

Related Kidney stones Preventing Kidney Stones. CDT Mayo study finds that pregnancy increases risk for women to develop first-time symptomatic kidney stones April 15, , p. To reduce your risk of developing more stones, make sure you drink enough water to keep your urine light yellow or clear, and eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in salt. The most common home remedies for kidney stones involve drinking different fluids, including just water, to help flush your stones out and prevent new….

Learn which foods to eat and avoid on a kidney stone diet. There's no one sure way to prevent kidney stones, especially if you have a family history of the condition. Here's how diet and medications may help. Kidney stones, or renal calculi, are masses made of crystals.

Learn more about causes and symptoms here. Collagen is found throughout your body's connective tissue, including your bones, skin, and ligaments. This article looks at whether collagen…. A kidney stent can make sleeping uncomfortable, but you shouldn't have severe pain. Here are tips to sleep better.

Soreness after passing kidney stone is likely the result of irritation caused by the stone. Weight-bearing exercise not only helps to build muscle, but is key to building stronger bones. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. How long it takes Speeding up the process Getting medical help Surgery Takeaway What are kidney stones? How long does it take to pass? Is there any way to make them pass faster? Nonsurgical medical treatment. When surgery is necessary.

The takeaway. Read this next. Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph. Medically reviewed by Natalie Butler, R. Medically reviewed by Judith Marcin, M. Medically reviewed by Amy Richter, RD. High acid levels make it easier for calcium oxalate and uric acid stones to form. The breakdown of meat into uric acid also raises the chance that both calcium and uric acid stones will form. Certain bowel conditions that cause diarrhea such as Crohn's Disease or ulcerative colitis or surgeries such as gastric bypass surgery can raise the risk of forming calcium oxalate kidney stones.

Diarrhea may result in loss of large amounts of fluid from the body, lowering urine volume. Your body may also absorb excessive oxalate from the intestine, resulting in more oxalate in your urine. Both low urine volume and high levels of urine oxalate can help to cause calcium oxalate kidney stone formation.

Obesity is a risk factor for stones. Obesity may change the acid levels in the urine, leading to stone formation. Some medical conditions have an increased risk of kidney stones. Abnormal growth of one or more of the parathyroid glands, which control calcium metabolism, can cause high calcium levels in the blood and urine. This can lead to kidney stones. Another condition called distal renal tubular acidosis, in which there is acid build-up in the body, can raise the risk of calcium phosphate kidney stones.

Some rare, inherited disorders can also make certain types of stones more likely. Examples include cystinuria, which is too much of the amino acid cystine in the urine, and primary hyperoxaluria, in which the liver makes too much oxalate. Some medications, and calcium and vitamin C supplements, may increase your risk of forming stones. Be sure to tell your health care provider all the medications and supplements you take, as these could affect your risk of stone formation.

Do not stop taking any of these unless your health care provider tells you to do so. The chance of having kidney stones is much higher if you have a family history of stones, such as a parent or sibling. Other people have their stones diagnosed when sudden pain occurs while the stone is passing, and medical attention is needed. When a person has blood in the urine hematuria or sudden abdominal or side pain, tests like an ultrasound or a CT scan may diagnose a stone.

These imaging tests tell the health care provider how big the stone is and where it is located. A CT scan is often used in the ER when a stone is suspected. It is used because it can make a quick and exact diagnosis. Treatment depends on the type of stone, how bad it is and the length of time you have had symptoms.

There are different treatments to choose from. It is important to talk to your health care provider about what is best for you. Often you can simply wait for the stone to pass. Smaller stones are more likely than larger stones to pass on their own.

Waiting up to four to six weeks for the stone to pass is safe as long as the pain is bearable, there are no signs of infection, the kidney is not completely blocked and the stone is small enough that it is likely to pass.

While waiting for the stone to pass, you should drink normal amounts of water. You may need pain medication when there is discomfort. Certain medications have been shown to improve the chance that a stone will pass. The most common medication prescribed for this reason is tamsulosin. Tamsulosin Flomax relaxes the ureter, making it easier for the stone to pass.

You may also need pain and anti-nausea medicine as you wait to pass the stone. Kidney stones should be removed by surgery if they cause repeated infections in the urine or because they are blocking the flow of urine from the kidney.

Today, surgery usually involves small or no incisions cuts , minor pain and minimal time off work. Shock waves are focused on the stone using X-rays or ultrasound to pinpoint the stone. Repeated firing of shock waves on the stone usually causes the stone to break into small pieces.

These smaller pieces of stones pass out in the urine over a few weeks. Because of possible discomfort caused by the shock waves and the need to control breathing during the procedure, some form of anesthesia is often needed. SWL does not work well on hard stones, such as cystine, some types of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate stones, or very large stones.

With SWL, you may go home the same day as the procedure. You may be able to resume normal activities in two to three days. You may also be given a strainer to collect the stone pieces as they pass. These pieces will be sent to the laboratory to be tested. Although SWL is widely used and considered very safe, it can still cause side effects.

You may have blood in your urine for a few days after treatment. Most stone pieces pass painlessly. Larger pieces may get stuck in the ureter, causing pain and needing other removal procedures. Ureteroscopy URS is used to treat stones in the kidney and ureter.

URS involves passing a very small telescope, called an ureteroscope, into the bladder, up the ureter and into the kidney. Rigid telescopes are used for stones in the lower part of the ureter near the bladder. Flexible telescopes are used to treat stones in the upper ureter and kidney.

The ureteroscope lets the urologist see the stone without making an incision cuts. General anesthesia keeps you comfortable during the URS procedure. Once the urologist sees the stone with the ureteroscope, a small, basket-like device grabs smaller stones and removes them. If a stone is too large to remove in one piece, it can be broken into smaller pieces with a laser or other stone-breaking tools.

Once the stone has been removed whole or in pieces, the health care provider may place a temporary stent in the ureter. A stent is a tiny, rigid plastic tube that helps hold the ureter open so that urine can drain from the kidney into the bladder.

Unlike a catheter or PCNL drain tube, this tube is completely within the body and does not require an external bag to collect urine. You may go home the same day as the URS and can begin normal activities in two to three days. If your urologist places a stent, he or she will remove it four to 10 days later. Sometimes a string is left on the end of the stent so you can remove it on your own.

It is very important that the stent is removed when your health care provider tells you. Leaving the stent in for long periods can cause an infection and loss of kidney function. General anesthesia is needed to do a PCNL. PCNL involves making a half-inch incision cut in the back or side, just large enough to allow a rigid telescope nephroscope to be passed into the hollow center part of the kidney where the stone is located.

An instrument passed through the nephroscope breaks up the stone and suctions out the pieces. The ability to suction pieces makes PCNL the best treatment choice for large stones.

After the PCNL, a tube is usually left in the kidney to drain urine into a bag outside of the body. This will allow for drainage of urine and stop any bleeding. The tube is left in overnight or for a few days. You may have to stay in the hospital overnight after this operation.

Your urologist may choose to do X-rays while you are still in the hospital to see if any stone pieces remain. If there are any, your urologist may want to look back into the kidney with a telescope again to remove them.

You can begin normal activities after about one-to-two weeks. Other kidney surgery is rarely used to remove stones. Open, laparoscopic or robotic surgery may be used only if all other less invasive procedures fail.

Part of preventing stones is finding out why you get them. Your health care provider will perform tests to find out what is causing this. After finding out why you get stones, your health care provider will give you tips to help stop them from coming back. Your health care provider will ask questions about your personal and family medical history.

He or she may ask if:. Knowing your eating habits is also helpful. You may be eating foods that are known to raise the risk of stones. You may also be eating too few foods that protect against stones or not drinking enough fluids. Understanding your medical, family and dietary history helps your health care provider find out how likely you are to form more stones.

After taking a complete history and doing a physical exam, your health care provider may take blood and urine samples for testing. Blood tests can help find if a medical problem is causing your stones. Your urine can be tested to see if you have a urinary tract infection or crystals that are typical of different stone types.

If you are at high risk for getting stones in the future, a hour urine collection can be done. This test will reveal the levels of different stone-forming substances in your urine. The results of this test can help your health care provider recommend make specific diet and medications to prevent future stones.

When a health care provider sees you for the first time and you have had stones before, he or she may want to see recent X-rays or order a new X-ray. They will do this to see if there are any stones in your urinary tract.

Imaging tests may be repeated over time to check for stone growth. You may also need this test if you are having pain, hematuria blood in your urine or recurrent infections. If you pass a stone or a stone is removed by surgery, your health care provider will want to test it.

Testing the stone will determine what type of stone it is. This information helps your health care provider decide the best way to prevent future stones.

Once your health care provider finds out why you are forming stones, he or she will give you tips on how to prevent them. This may include changing your diet and taking certain medications.