I used to suffer from kidney stones. At it’s peak I was having one a year. At first I was put on a calcium restricted diet. This didn’t achieve much, save for making my bones brittle.
I was then told that I didn’t need to restrict my calcium as it turns out very few people have calcium only kidney stones and it’s actually ureic acid that’s at fault. No, I should cut down on the protein I eat.
Admittedly that did appear to work. But, I also pretty much quit drinking and, probably more importantly, quit smoking a little later.
I’m now reading a book that seems to indicate that the state of nutritional science is stuck in the 1970s, is riddled with misconceptions and that we were, in fact, more clued up in these areas in the 1940′s than we are now.
I started reading the book out of interest and a desire to lose weight. If what it says is true (and it looks like I’m going to be reading some very dry medical papers on the matter) my current diet is also all wrong and turning it on it’s head will help me shift some weight, prevent kidney stones and stop the gout.
The reason I’m going to be doing more in depth research is that simply sucking it and seeing could be incredibly bloody painful if I’m wrong.
However many years ago it was I last saw my urologist he told me I had a small kidney stone on the right hand side. It wasn’t doing much so he suggested we leave it and see what happened. There are two ways this stone can leave my body: naturally and artificially. Passing a stone smarts a little and it’s the kind of thing you notice. I’ve not passed the stone. lithotripsy, ureteroscopy and other artificial methods of getting rid of stones are also not the kind of thing that would go unnoticed so I think we can safely say I still have a stone.
These days I no longer have the fancy health insurance with the Harley Street urologists and am dependent on the NHS who, while great at scooping you up off the floor and getting you going again, can be a bit slow for non urgent things. If we remember I rocked up to A&E on valentines day complaining of a kidney stone. They x-rayed me, gave me some nice painkillers (although not the really nice ones) and sent me home with the message that they’d be in touch.
A few months later I got a letter saying I’d been referred to a consultant and that they wanted to give me a CT scan. CT scans are much more fun than X-Rays (and infinitely more fun than IVUs which are basically a legal form of diagnostic torture) so that was cool. Then I had to go speak to the consultant (pitch up to outpatients, wait for over an hour) to be told the CT was inconclusive and they wanted to do another CT. Could have been done by letter, but at least I was being processed. CT the second was a few weeks ago.
Today I got a letter from my consultant. Turns out I have a kidney stone. It’s not moved since the first CT and they’d like to remove it. Apparently they are now able to see the kidney stone on my original X-Ray “now that they know what they’re looking for”. Clue was in the “I have a kidney stone in my right hand side”, but there you go, at least they found this one (they’re now 2 for 5).
I’m now on a waiting list for a rather fun little procedure where they shove a laser up your… well, lets just say they put you to sleep and when you wake up there’s no stone and it hurts like hell to pee. This is an overnight job which will then involve a couple of days recovery. Why am I telling you all this? Well basically I will require VAST amounts of sympathy during the recovery time and I want you all to be prepared.