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What is kidney stone, symptoms, attack, treatment

Kidney stones are a concentration of salts in the body that are formed into crystals and eventually into small stones - kidney stones. These kidney stones can get stuck in the ureter and prevent your urine from coming out.

The increased pressure of urine that does not come out causes a pain in the back or on the side. This pain can radiate down to the abdomen or groin.Most stones eventually come out on their own but if the stone is too large you need care.


Symptoms of kidney stones

The symptoms of kidney stones are stab wound-like pain in the back or side. Blood in the urine can also be a sign. The kidney stone can also scrape up wounds in the mucous membrane, renal pelvis or ureter.

Other consequences of kidney stones can be that you get a fever from the infection and that you feel bloated.

Kidney stones affect more and more people

Kidney stones are a common disease where the number of people affected in Europe has doubled in thirty years. The risk of relapse is also very high



Men are affected more often

The risk of getting kidney stones is greatest between the ages of 20-50 and in the past it has been more common for men to be affected. But in recent years, the gap between men and women has narrowed.

There are several reasons why you can get kidney stones. The most common cause is too high levels of salt, mainly calcium salt. This occurs if you do not drink enough water or become dehydrated for any other reason.

Other causes of kidney stones may be that the parathyroid glands produce too much of the hormone that controls calcium regulation. It can also depend on what you eat for food, if you have hereditary metabolic disorders, how the gut works or that the urine flows poorly from the ureter down to the bladder.


Kidney stone attack

Sometimes the kidney stones can be several centimeters, which can lead to them clogging the ureter. The flow is then stopped and you get a so-called kidney stone attack. Getting a kidney stone attack is very painful and you almost always have to seek emergency care. You may feel sick and vomit. The pain usually comes from the back / side and radiates to the abdomen, groin, bladder or abdomen.

Because the ureter is blocked, all urine collects in the renal pelvis. As the pressure increases, the pain increases. The pressure can eventually also damage the kidney. Therefore, it is important that you seek help urgently in a kidney stone attack.



Treatment

The treatment looks different depending on how big the stone is and where it sits. Sometimes it is possible to urinate the stone, but in 30 percent of cases it is required to take out the stone in another way. A type of treatment that is used for large kidney stones is called shock wave treatment and involves crushing the stones with pressure waves.

Getting kidney stones can be very painful. Therefore, it is not uncommon for patients to need painkillers and sometimes morphine.

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