[rebuildus]

Calcium oxalate stones hurt bad because the crystal facets are sharp. Look up the use of magnesium citrate every once in a while to dissolve calcium stones before they get too large.

Thanks, imardm1, I've heard that. Made another note for the "toolbox"!

[imardmd1]

I had to have the focused shockwave lithotripsy once. Even then the stone I passed was about 9mm long. Kept it somewhere. The surgery team thought that the stone was too tough to break, but maybe that loosened things up enough for it to be excreted. The procedure was very expensive, but Medicare took care of most of the cost.

Other times it was the dry-heaves kind of thing. Agonizing. Percocet was prescribed, but if you wait until the pain starts, it's too late. The Percocet makes you even more nauseous, not relieved, in that case.

To avoid using too much Percocet (=Exocet, Roxicet), I would take it to cover 6 of the 24 hours, then 600 mg (3x200 mg tablets) to cover the next 6 hours. Then repeat, etc. until the stone passed. This way I never got hooked on Percocet and had a lot left over in case sometime in the future I got another stone. Never touch it for anything else. Ibuprofen if inflammation is involved, otherwise acetaminophen.