PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, April 12: Often termed as ‘silent diseases’ with very few early symptoms, kidney problems bring with them other associated health issues and in some cases even turn out to be life-threatening; however, with preventive measures and regular check-ups, most kidney diseases can be managed including kidney stones.
Made from chemicals like calcium, oxalate, urate, cystine, xanthine and phosphate in the urine, kidney stones are hard objects that usually may not exhibit symptoms unless it moves around within one’s kidney or passes through their ureters.
In an interview with lagatar24.com, MEDICA Urologist Dr Kumar Mrigank Singh said that kidney stones form when the urine becomes concentrated, allowing minerals to crystallize and stick together.
Describing the relation of kidney stones with the summer season Dr Mrigank said, “As summers approach, we need to be all the more cautious of kidney stones as the cases usually tend to go up in the hot weather due to people losing a lot of sweat and not compensating it enough with sufficient liquids. If this fluid loss is not supported by adequate hydration, the kidneys tend to make concentrated urine to conserve body water due to which kidney stones are formed.”
“The incidence of kidney stones is increasing worldwide and kidney stones are known to damage the kidney. The commonest cause of stone formation is drinking less water. Drinking less water allows precipitation of minerals and substances in kidney tubules and due to less flow of urine stones are formed. Some other contributing factors are obesity, laxative abuse, certain supplements and medications, and intestinal disorders.” he added.
Describing the symptoms of kidney stones he said that not all kidney stones tend to show symptoms. Once they move around within the kidney or pass into ureters and get stuck there, it may block the flow of urine and can cause the kidney to swell and the ureter to spasm.
“One with kidney stones will exhibit symptoms such as pain and burning sensation while urinating, blood in urine, nausea, vomiting, abdominal and back pain, frequent urination, and fever. Some stones tend to pass on their own without any treatment while others need to be addressed promptly,” says the urologist.
“Shock wave lithotripsy can be done wherein shock waves break up the kidney stones into small pieces that later pass through your urinary tract and out of the body through the urine. A ureteroscopy can be opted for as well. Here a long tube-like tool is inserted into the ureter to take out the small stone, break it into small pieces (using a laser in case the stone is big in size) to allow it to pass via urine,” suggests Dr Mrigank.
“Now with the advancement of surgical techniques such as RIRS (Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery) and Mini-PCNL, scarless laser stone surgeries are possible,” Dr Mrigank added.
Dr Mrigank suggests important tips for the advancing summer to prevent stone formation:
- Drink more liquids in a quantity enough to keep the urine dilute and coloured like water (one averagely requires 2-3 litres. The requirement may change based on the fluid losses from sweat etc). Avoid fizzy drinks.
- Eating less salt prevents stone-forming minerals to precipitate in the kidney tubes and hence prevents stone formation. Avoid processed and salty foods.
- If you have recurrent stones, meet a kidney doctor who will evaluate you for recurrent stone formation with special tests which will identify the cause of recurrent stone formation.
- If the stone is proven to be of oxalate kind, prevent and avoid eating vegetable and fruit seeds. Deseed tomatoes, guava, Okra, etc before eating.
“Low sodium intake is essential. Hidden sources of sodium such as canned or commercially processed foods and fast foods should be identified and avoided. Low animal protein intake is advisable. Calcium oxalate stone formers should abstain from supplemental but not dietary vitamin C. High oxalate foods though delicious and nutritious need not be avoided completely and one can pair calcium-rich foods with oxalate-rich foods,” Dr Mrigank added.
