What are Kidney Stones and How To Treat Them
Dr. Edwin Youngstrom explains kidney stones and how to treat them.
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Learn more about Edwin Youngstrom, DO
Edwin Youngstrom, DO
Dr. Edwin Youngstrom, DO is an urology specialist and has been practicing for 3 years.Learn more about Edwin Youngstrom, DO
Transcription:
What are Kidney Stones and How To Treat Them
Bill Klaproth (Host): Kidney stones can be a real pain in the side. What are they? What are the symptoms? How are they treated? Let's find out with Dr. Edwin Youngstrom, a Urologist at Dignity Health. Dr. Youngstrom, what are kidney stones? How do they form?
Dr. Edwin Youngstrom (Guest): Kidney stones are simply an accumulation of minerals from the urine that forms a crystal. It's similar to making a sugar stick where you get a little crystal, and more and more of those crystals come together to form a big stone for various different reasons. They start off in the kidney, and they work their way down.
Host: Now, that's a great analogy. I mean, it really draws a picture in the mind of what a kidney stone is. What are the typical symptoms?
Dr. Youngstrom: Typical symptoms of kidney stones when they're living in the kidney are usually none until they get really big or unless they fall down below the kidney into the ureter, which is the tube that drains the kidney. Once that happens, it causes some blockage of the urine. It can cause flank pain, belly pain, and sometimes, blood in the urine.
Host: Why are these so painful?
Dr. Youngstrom: Sometimes, the smallest ones can cause the most amount of pain. It's simply because the urine that the kidney is producing pushes a lot of pressure on that stone, kind of like kinking off a hose on the garden. It causes a lot of swelling in the kidney as a result, and that causes a lot of discomfort.
Host: Who is at risk for this?
Dr. Youngstrom: These tend to run in families, so if your mom and dad have kidney stones, you're at increased risk. Other factors are dehydration is probably the most important factor. If you don't drink enough fluid, you can form these stones.
Host: Wow. If you don't drink enough water, that helps the formation of kidney stones?
Dr. Youngstrom: Yeah. Usually, it's a couple of factors in play, including your genetics. Certainly, dehydration, especially when the weather gets hot, that's one of the biggest factors when we find people with kidney stones.
Host: Okay, so you said flank pain, belly pain, blood in the urine. When is it time to see the doctor?
Dr. Youngstrom: Well, any time you see blood in the urine that can't be explained that's always a good time to see your doctor. If you get the symptoms of flank pain or belly pain and it seems not to be treated well with medicines at home, that seems to be a great time to see the doctor, make sure there's nothing else going on like a kidney stone.
Host: And what about the ER? The stories I've heard are people all of a sudden have this pain, and it gets worse and worse, and it's like I don't have time for the doctor. I need to go now. Is that usually the case?
Dr. Youngstrom: For a lot of people, especially the first time they've had a kidney stone, they don't know the type of pain they get with it. Yeah, going to the Emergency Room can always give you the best pain relief because they can give you the medicines that you need the fastest to make sure that that pain goes away. Certainly, when you have these symptoms with a fever, that's a much greater concern, and that's always a good time to go to the Emergency Room.
Host: Since flank pain and belly pain can be so many other things, how do you diagnose this to determine that it is kidney stones?
Dr. Youngstrom: Well, the best way to diagnose a kidney stone is with a CT Scan without any contrast. It's very low radiation in terms of CT imaging, and it can identify over 95% of all kidney stones.
Host: Wow, all right. So, I have the pain, and the CT Scan comes back positive — uh-oh, it's a kidney stone. What are the treatment options then?
Dr. Youngstrom: Well, for kidney stones, the first option is that if your pain is well controlled, you don't have any fevers, you can certainly try to pass it at home. For that, we sometimes give medicine to help open up that kidney tube that allows you to pass the stone. We ask that you drink a lot of water. If your pain is poorly controlled or if you do have a fever, the next treatment option would be surgery. A lot of times that requires going inside the bladder and up into the kidney tube to try to break up the stone with a small laser. We can place a small, plastic, temporary stent, which allows that tube to heal after surgery.
Host: So, some cases do require surgery then?
Dr. Youngstrom: Yeah, yeah. There definitely are — I would say the majority of stones can be passed on their own, but especially people that have never had a kidney stone before and they're not used to the sensation, sometimes that pain can be very severe, and that's an indication for surgery.
Host: I guess the first rule of thumb is to make sure you drink your water.
Dr. Youngstrom: Absolutely.
Host: Dr. Youngstrom, thank you so much. To learn more, go to DignityHealth.org/Bakersfield. If you like what you've heard, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out our full Podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Hello Healthy, a Dignity Health Podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.
What are Kidney Stones and How To Treat Them
Bill Klaproth (Host): Kidney stones can be a real pain in the side. What are they? What are the symptoms? How are they treated? Let's find out with Dr. Edwin Youngstrom, a Urologist at Dignity Health. Dr. Youngstrom, what are kidney stones? How do they form?
Dr. Edwin Youngstrom (Guest): Kidney stones are simply an accumulation of minerals from the urine that forms a crystal. It's similar to making a sugar stick where you get a little crystal, and more and more of those crystals come together to form a big stone for various different reasons. They start off in the kidney, and they work their way down.
Host: Now, that's a great analogy. I mean, it really draws a picture in the mind of what a kidney stone is. What are the typical symptoms?
Dr. Youngstrom: Typical symptoms of kidney stones when they're living in the kidney are usually none until they get really big or unless they fall down below the kidney into the ureter, which is the tube that drains the kidney. Once that happens, it causes some blockage of the urine. It can cause flank pain, belly pain, and sometimes, blood in the urine.
Host: Why are these so painful?
Dr. Youngstrom: Sometimes, the smallest ones can cause the most amount of pain. It's simply because the urine that the kidney is producing pushes a lot of pressure on that stone, kind of like kinking off a hose on the garden. It causes a lot of swelling in the kidney as a result, and that causes a lot of discomfort.
Host: Who is at risk for this?
Dr. Youngstrom: These tend to run in families, so if your mom and dad have kidney stones, you're at increased risk. Other factors are dehydration is probably the most important factor. If you don't drink enough fluid, you can form these stones.
Host: Wow. If you don't drink enough water, that helps the formation of kidney stones?
Dr. Youngstrom: Yeah. Usually, it's a couple of factors in play, including your genetics. Certainly, dehydration, especially when the weather gets hot, that's one of the biggest factors when we find people with kidney stones.
Host: Okay, so you said flank pain, belly pain, blood in the urine. When is it time to see the doctor?
Dr. Youngstrom: Well, any time you see blood in the urine that can't be explained that's always a good time to see your doctor. If you get the symptoms of flank pain or belly pain and it seems not to be treated well with medicines at home, that seems to be a great time to see the doctor, make sure there's nothing else going on like a kidney stone.
Host: And what about the ER? The stories I've heard are people all of a sudden have this pain, and it gets worse and worse, and it's like I don't have time for the doctor. I need to go now. Is that usually the case?
Dr. Youngstrom: For a lot of people, especially the first time they've had a kidney stone, they don't know the type of pain they get with it. Yeah, going to the Emergency Room can always give you the best pain relief because they can give you the medicines that you need the fastest to make sure that that pain goes away. Certainly, when you have these symptoms with a fever, that's a much greater concern, and that's always a good time to go to the Emergency Room.
Host: Since flank pain and belly pain can be so many other things, how do you diagnose this to determine that it is kidney stones?
Dr. Youngstrom: Well, the best way to diagnose a kidney stone is with a CT Scan without any contrast. It's very low radiation in terms of CT imaging, and it can identify over 95% of all kidney stones.
Host: Wow, all right. So, I have the pain, and the CT Scan comes back positive — uh-oh, it's a kidney stone. What are the treatment options then?
Dr. Youngstrom: Well, for kidney stones, the first option is that if your pain is well controlled, you don't have any fevers, you can certainly try to pass it at home. For that, we sometimes give medicine to help open up that kidney tube that allows you to pass the stone. We ask that you drink a lot of water. If your pain is poorly controlled or if you do have a fever, the next treatment option would be surgery. A lot of times that requires going inside the bladder and up into the kidney tube to try to break up the stone with a small laser. We can place a small, plastic, temporary stent, which allows that tube to heal after surgery.
Host: So, some cases do require surgery then?
Dr. Youngstrom: Yeah, yeah. There definitely are — I would say the majority of stones can be passed on their own, but especially people that have never had a kidney stone before and they're not used to the sensation, sometimes that pain can be very severe, and that's an indication for surgery.
Host: I guess the first rule of thumb is to make sure you drink your water.
Dr. Youngstrom: Absolutely.
Host: Dr. Youngstrom, thank you so much. To learn more, go to DignityHealth.org/Bakersfield. If you like what you've heard, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out our full Podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Hello Healthy, a Dignity Health Podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.