Living with Kidney Stones

I started having kidney stones with my first pregnancy. I would have these spells where I would hurt so badly on one side of my abdomen that I would cry. Tylenol was all I was allowed to take at that time and it didn’t even come close to easing the pain. My doctor admitted me to the hospital and found nothing wrong with me and two days later at home I passed two pea-sized stones. What a relief.

I immediately called my doctor to let him know what happened. He had initially thought I just had a low pain tolerance and basically in a very nice way told me to toughen up. Well he was wrong and after I told him I passed a stone he knew! I had a lot of trouble with my last two pregnancies because of developing stones at such a rapid rate. Even my urologist could not belileve how fast they were forming. Every time, they got bigger and bigger. The last ones were around the same size as a marble. I had never gotten stones before my pregnancies and nowhere in between so I think that it is a metabolic disorder that causes people to get stones.

I am currently waiting on one to pass that is left over from lithotripsy and it seems like it will never happen! Stones are the most painful thing I have endured and during a pregnancy it’s twice as bad. Anyone that has severe, unexplained pain in the back or abdomen should be checked for renal stones. Also one of my children was born with hypercalcuria and has to take medication daily. She was passing stones at age 2!