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What I Learned Passing a Kidney Stone—Old School Style!
Old School ^ | 7/5/19 | Patrick Rooney

Posted on 07/05/2019 12:20:19 PM PDT by rebuildus

What I Learned Passing a Kidney Stone—Old School Style!

Passing a kidney stone is a learning experience? EVERYTHING is a learning experience!

This is the third time for me—label me a slow learner.

The first one I attribute to using a Vitamin C product in excess many years ago.

The second one, frankly, I don’t remember the cause.

And now this one. You’d think with the amount of pain these tiny (in my case) rocks cause, I’d be done. Hopefully I will be now!

I’m going to tell you MY experience here, and MY choice. If you have a kidney stone, how you deal with it is YOUR choice.

I will tell you that, according to what I’ve read, the likelihood of needing surgery to remove a kidney stone is fairly small. I’ve seen a range of from about five to twenty percent.

I’ve thankfully been able to pass the stone each time on my own. But I did give them some help…

The first time, the excruciating pain drove me to the emergency room. While waiting to see a doctor, I passed the stone (“peed” it out, to be direct). Having no medical insurance, I was still charged over $2,000! I bargained the bill down to something over $500. The promise of immediate cash has always been a good negotiating tool.

These last two occurrences, I “learned my lesson,” and decided to take care of these stones myself “old-school style.” Both times I’ve used a 1:1 mixture of lemon (to help dissolve the stone) and olive oil (to smooth its passage out of the body). I used two ounces of each, in my case just one time, since I couldn’t stomach taking any additional doses. Some sources, like this article, recommend three, but the suggested dosage is meaningless if you can’t hold the dose down!

This last time, I also drank some cranberry juice, mixed with sweeter juice for taste. The cranberry acts as a kidney cleanser.

What I did worked. Not right away, it took several hours of pain. I took as much pain as I could stand, and then sought a pain killer. The problem with some pain killers, though, is that possible side effects include nausea and dizziness—two symptoms I already had in spades! No thank you. I opted for two extra-strength Tylenols.

One thing great pain brings—you “get religion” fast. I begged God for relief. Speaking of which, I found you don’t need to “be” strong—God is strong and will get you through each situation. The “strength” we need is Just not to show incredible weakness to others while we’re in pain.

Another thing I noticed, is the need for everything to be as comfortable as absolutely possible. I didn’t want certain people around (who have demonstrated a lack of empathy in the past and tend towards inappropriate, ill-timed comments).

When you’re in pain you only want pure energy moving through you. Anger is a “luxury” you can’t afford when you’re fighting the male equivalent of labor pain!

By the way, men are more likely to get kidney stones than women. There appears to be no exact consensus on why, but there is strong conjecture. This post makes sense to me.

Thankfully, a beautiful outshoot of this experience is that I ended up having a great conversation with one of these “low empathy” people, and they actually admitted to their troll-like behavior.

In the process, I saw my role in setting up this behavior.

So in the end the experience proved positive. I liken it to a pregnant woman who experiences a painful labor, but forgets the pain afterwards, only remembering the birth of a beautiful child!

In the midst of the trauma, I did everything I could to get comfortable. I finally had no energy left to fight, and had to lay down. I ended up falling asleep for ten minutes or so. Feeling a bit better, I got up, and simply passed the stone in my urine. It was incredibly small, in relation to the great pain it caused. The stone was reddish in color. I looked it up and the color indicated a uric acid origin—often caused by excessive animal protein, among other reasons, as noted in the above post.

I do have to re-examine my position on meat and other animal proteins—only in regards to amount. I have no intention on stopping meat eating. I did some thinking and research about other possible reasons I got this latest kidney stone at this time. A few things became apparent:

#1: I’d recently come back from Florida, which was extremely hot and humid. I was likely at least partially dehydrated. One of the biggest suggestions for preventing kidney stones that I saw in my research was to drink more water.

#2: I also ate more red meat than normal—beef salami on the trip down and back , and Whataburgers in Florida each day! (and yes, they were delicious!)

#3: And I had quite a bit of dairy—low-fat milk and full-fat cheese.

#4: I also had an intense, stressful drive home. We hit a huge electrical storm in northern Alabama moving toward Tennessee, which first appeared on the horizon as a big, dark cloud with visible lighting flashing inside of it.

It kept appearing as if we were heading away from the storm, but lo and behold, we ended up driving right IN to it.

Among the foreboding thunder and flashes of lightning, massive buckets of water fell from the sky. Visibility shrunk to near zero through northern Alabama and Tennessee, only finally relenting as we got close to home. My attention to the road was understandably intense.

I had to rest up pretty good after that.

So it’s safe to say that the conditions were ripe for a kidney stone occurrence.

Filling out the nutritional prescription, beyond merely drinking more water and eating a bit less animal product, is the need to add something acidic to my water. I used to drink a full glass of water with lemon every morning after arising, but I had not been doing that at the time of the attack.

I also had cut down on the apple cider vinegar I had been taking for decades with my water (typically one to two teaspoons per glass, a couple times a day or so). I’ve always been a big proponent of “ACV.”

Citric acid from fruit—such as lemon and orange—is considered a good tool in the prevention of kidney stones. But excessive Vitamin C in supplement form can actually form kidney stones. As I mentioned, I’m convinced that my first kidney stone was caused by a Vitamin C supplement.

In closing, in addition to what I’ve mentioned, here are some recommendations for preventing kidney stones, and while I can’t vouch for all of them, in general they appear sensible.

So after some heavy trauma, solid lessons emerged for me, which will only contribute to my good physical—and spiritual—health moving forward. I seem to emerge from each situation stronger and wiser, without necessarily trying to be either. That in itself makes it all worthwhile.

I wish you the same—and if you’re wiser than I have been, you will be able to move forward without having to endure so much pain! Pain is a good teacher, but wisdom is a better one!

Patrick Rooney is the Founder of OldSchoolUs.com, a website that believes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Its focus is Health, Success, and Freedom—yeah, in that order. Patrick is the author of GREEK PHYSIQUE: The Simple, Satisfying Way to Sculpt Your Body—Even if You’re Old, Weak, or Broken Down; and is also the creator of Greek Yoga™ and the Greek Yoga for Beginners video. To reach Patrick, email him at info@oldschoolus.com.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: baloney; diet; fitness; health; kidney; kidneystones; meat
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To: cyclotic

That is about the only relief you will get if you intend to pass it at home but the doctors in the ER give you limited amounts, just enough to go see the urologist.


81 posted on 07/05/2019 2:28:02 PM PDT by wild74
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To: rebuildus

I just passed one.
Couldn’t be smooth like a river rock.
Nahhh my last one looked like a buckey ball.


82 posted on 07/05/2019 2:30:57 PM PDT by Joe Boucher ( Molon Labe' baby, Molon Labe)
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To: Al Hitan
For prevention, my urologist recommends drinking lemon juice in water daily and eating nuts for the magnesium. Unsalted are best. Sunflower seeds have lots of magnesium.

Thank you, Al Hitan. Yes, I'm doing the lemon again in water as I mentioned, I hadn't heard of the unsalted nuts and sunflower seeds for magnesium, but I can understand it due to wanting to maintain calcium-magnesium balance. I tend to eat a lot of peanut butter, I just may consider swapping it out for sunflower butter. I've seen it in the stores.

83 posted on 07/05/2019 2:32:37 PM PDT by rebuildus (MAGA! Last chance, folks!)
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To: arthurus
6 Coca Colas- original Coke- in a two hour period. Try not to go pee. Follow up with a can of asparagus or the equivalent of fresh. Relief is immediate and there is no “passing.” If not repeat the next day. I am prone to little stones and I have done this four times in 10 years to good effect.

I've heard this one, arthurus, and wrote it down. Glad it worked for you!

84 posted on 07/05/2019 2:36:41 PM PDT by rebuildus (MAGA! Last chance, folks!)
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To: Jane Austen
Drinking a lot of water (8 cups) is highly recommended. Also, generally recommended to avoid eating spinach, rhubarb, chard, and beets.

Thanks, Jane Austen. The water I'm definitely doing. Seems sad to have to take out otherwise healthful veggies from the diet. I use spinach in smooties, and beets sometimes in salads. I mean, how many foods pack the power of the beet?

85 posted on 07/05/2019 2:40:27 PM PDT by rebuildus (MAGA! Last chance, folks!)
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To: Persevero
That’s what I am wondering. Does he think the oil enters his bladder and greases things up? I don’t think there is oil in there.

Not about the bladder, Perservero. As someone previously mentioned, once that jagged rock hits the bladder, you're home free.

86 posted on 07/05/2019 2:43:15 PM PDT by rebuildus (MAGA! Last chance, folks!)
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To: AU72
have you had gout? Caused by excess uric acid. I have and been prescribed alinpurinal and had no gout nor stones for 35 years.

No, AU72, but as mentioned in the article, I eat a fair amount of meat. Reconsidering amount at this time, along with making some other changes. Hope it works for you.

87 posted on 07/05/2019 2:47:03 PM PDT by rebuildus (MAGA! Last chance, folks!)
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To: wally_bert
Tang OJ is one I have heard about. The last time I felt what might have been a stone, I guzzle the stuff. No stone and the twinges I felt stopped.

Thanks, wally_bert. Haven't heard of that one.

88 posted on 07/05/2019 2:49:42 PM PDT by rebuildus (MAGA! Last chance, folks!)
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To: rebuildus

Thanks for the report. I understand the pain and its good to share any information that may help spare someone else down the road from experiencing these.

Being a proverbial kidney stone factory, I can say its not always something you do/don’t do, though you can mitigate chances in some cases. Often they are genetic or can be more prevalent in certain locations. NC has a higher kidney stone rate than most states they tell me largely due to mineral content in water.

I’ve had maybe 50-60 stones I knew about and doctors say likely thousands I never knew even passed. This included 8 emergency room visits and lots of dilaudid. One was removed via knife (nice 3 inch scar), 4 by litho (sonic stone buster), two by grabbing tool(yes inserted thru ‘there’ up to the bladder) and the rest passed naturally given time.

You can afford to give them time if they are not painful and clearly that is the preferred way to pass them. Blood in the urine may come and go but is normal as they move towards the bladder. I sincerely hope very few of you folks have issue with these in your lifetime, but if you do seek advice.


89 posted on 07/05/2019 2:53:32 PM PDT by LeoTDB69
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To: IronJack

” I’ve done the cider vinegar thing a couple of times, in black tea with some olive oil. Tastes horrid, but seems to help a little. “

I found I could mix a lot of ACV into red Gatorade and it wasn’t too bad.


90 posted on 07/05/2019 2:54:23 PM PDT by Clay Moore (You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.)
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To: rebuildus

A dad’s friend told me.

He’d learned it from a guy who worked on appliances. Tang would clean calcium deposits.


91 posted on 07/05/2019 2:54:50 PM PDT by wally_bert (Hola. Me llamo Inspector Carlton Lassiter. Me gusta queso.)
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To: rebuildus

No. It’s not you. He is an ass to everyone.


92 posted on 07/05/2019 3:05:38 PM PDT by battletank
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To: rebuildus

Humor me then. Where is this oil supposed to be going to make things slippery for the stone? The kidney?


93 posted on 07/05/2019 3:06:42 PM PDT by Persevero (Desmond is not -Amazing- Desmond is -Abused-)
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To: LiveFreeOrDie2001

Misery loves company.


94 posted on 07/05/2019 3:07:24 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: rebuildus

Lemon juice and olive oil sounds like a great dressing for a spinach and feta cheese salad with maybe some cracked pepper and cranberries and arugula and almond slices. There may be some pineapple chunks sweeten it up a bit.


95 posted on 07/05/2019 3:07:32 PM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
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To: GSWarrior

I had to call for an ambulance to take me to the ER back in late February, when I experienced horrendous lower left back pain. I was diagnosed with a 4 mm kidney stone, which eventually became trapped in my uretha.

Finally, after not being able to dislodge the stone naturally, I underwent an external shock wave lithotripsy on April 18 that proved successful. Followup xrays and ultrasounds were clean.

I think my culprit was that I do not drink enough water and drank far too much tea, which I have since replaced with sugar-free lemonade.

I was proscribed Oxycodone (I was given 15 but only used 5).
Thankfully, tylenol managed my pain adequately.


96 posted on 07/05/2019 3:21:36 PM PDT by edie1960
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To: rebuildus

Reminds me when I use to drive a taxi in New York city when I was completely out of my mind. I was driving down in lower Manhattan when this guy jumped in front of my cab wearing only his underwear and he threw $20 bucks at me and told me to take him to the emergency room, and he was freakin out in a fetal position in the back seat screaming the whole way there. I thought at first he got shot but he managed to tell me he had a kidney stone. I don’t ever want to to get one of those, and we hit traffic. It was crazy, people in other cars looking at me wondering why someone was screaming in the back seat.


97 posted on 07/05/2019 3:28:46 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary walks free, equal justice under the law will never exist in the USA)
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To: humblegunner

Is our date still on tonight? You promised to wear that lacy black dress...


98 posted on 07/05/2019 3:52:35 PM PDT by dakine
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To: battletank

FR’s kidney stone that we can never seem to pass.


99 posted on 07/05/2019 4:11:18 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Who will think of the gerbils ? Just say no to Buttgiggity !)
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To: wally_bert

Citric acid in the Tang


100 posted on 07/05/2019 4:43:12 PM PDT by kaktuskid
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