Living with Kidney Stones

I am a woman 55 years old, fit, never have been to an emergency room until 4-19-07. The pain began at 2:33 am 4-17-07. I made an appointment that day at my clinic due to the extreme pain I was in. I had no blood in my urine, no chills, no vomiting, no sign of a UTI

The doctor checked my urine and found it was clear & the culture came back clear also. She said I had diverticulitis and was very, very adament about it. I refused to take a CT scan that day and also refused to have a colonoscopy done. I told her I would take my chances that the antibiotics would work. The next day I was fine, no pain anymore, so I thought. I went back to my doctor and she was very smug & said see I told you it was diverticulitis

The day after that the pain came back with a VENGENCE. I finally could not stand the pain anymore and went in to the emergency room. The nurse that took my vitals laughed (which was good!) and said you probably have a kidney stone! And sure enough, after 5 1/2 hours in the ER, I have a 2mm kidney stone. NOT DIVERTICULITIS! I equate a kidney stone with having a baby (I don’t know which one was worse). It was a very horrible experience to go through. But nothing to be afraid of.

The nurse in the ER room told me of her time “with the stone” and that helped me greatly. I wish I would have read more on the web about someone who had this, maybe I wouldn’t have been so scared.