What Causes Kidney Stones?

Anyone who has suffered from kidney stones will know how painful this disorder really is. It is a very common problem affecting 600,000 people each year. Most of the time kidney stones will pass through without any treatment needed. For the ones that do not pass however, there are some techniques which can be applied.

Basically a kidney stone is a solid mass which comes from crystals which separate from the urine. It is then that the stones will mount up on the inner surface of the kidneys. Most of the time urine will have chemicals in it which prevents the stone from forming, but for some people this may fail and that is why the stones will form.

You will know when you have kidney stones due to the extreme pain you will be suffering from. It will be blocking the flow of urine and you will experience a sharp or cramping pain in the kidney area. Other symptoms may include some vomiting, nausea and even some pain in the groin area.

If you have kidney stones, try to drink plenty of water to try and help them pass through the body. A doctor might prescribe you some medication to help stop uric acid and any calcium stones from forming.

Kidney stones are small lumps of calcium and uric acid which crystalise in the kidneys or the ureters (these are the tubes which carry urine to the bladder).
They can be caused by urine which is too concentrated, low potassium levels or be the by-product of an infection in the kidneys. Concentrated urine causes the stones, because the body has been dehydrated, often over a long period of time and the kidneys flush water back into the bladder. Lack of water means that the kidneys hold on to the water they have and it becomes dark and concentrated and this is when the stones form.
Some foods are also thought to contribute to kidney stones. These include red meat, spinach and a very salty diet. Drinking plenty of water every day can help minimise the risk of the stone forming.
Kidney stones can be very painful and medical attention should be sought if you think that you have a kidney stone.

In medical terminology, kidney stones come under the heading of "urinary calculi." The stones may be almost microscopic in size, so-called "sand," or large enough to fill a whole kidney, and they may be in any part of the urinary system. They are composed of many substances and assume various shapes. In the main there are three kinds of stones, apparently caused by three differing chemical conditions, the most common being the calcium oxalate stones. What initiates the building up of most types of the stones is not known, but certain elements in the urine collect around a nucleus and in time a stone develops.

Ordinarily the pain associated with kidney stones is caused as a result of the stone's having lodged in the ureter. This causes excruciating pain in the back or flank and it spreads across the lower part of the body and down to the groin and inner thigh. According to statistics, one percent of all Europeans, Asiatics and Americans are "stone carriers." In the United States some 200,000 persons are annually hospitalized because of kidney stones.