I had a bad one about ten years ago at the age of 42 (I understand it could have been MUCH worse), emergency room, morphine IV, the whole bit. Passed into the bladder on the way or way back to CT scan (whew). Had another one or two, much less severe and short lived in the next few years. Then, nothing (until Friday evening at about 3:30 am). I thought perhaps I had grown out of them. WRONG!! Two excruciating hours screaming, yelling, running around the house, taking Percocet(s), old Dilaudid (synthetic morphine) and anything else I could lay my hands on! At about 5:30 am I woke up my wife and told her I had to go to the hospital (how she slept through the “wailing and knashing of teeth”, I’ll never understand!). We were just about to leave the house for the hospital (I had the car running outside) when it passed (whew).
Retreived the stone when it passed (the rest of the way out), about 3.2 mm in its largest dimension.
Still kind of sore but grateful for every moment I am not feeling THAT pain.
Haven’t ever had them myself, but have heard them described as “the closest thing to child-birth a man will ever experience…” by the M.D. types…:shudder:
I’ve done that a couple of times now.
You make it sound so easy! My last time had 2 stones, a 3mm and 2mm, according to the hospital. It was 3 weeks of the pain you described. Finally passed, but never did see them.
Guess (although it doesn’t feel that way) I have been VERY lucky! After just 2 hours of the “fun” I get somewhat hoarse from the fierce grunting that I cannot help but do during the “fun”! Three weeks? That must have been quite a “fuzzy” period in your memory/life!.
Ouch… havent had em yet and actually dont want to share in that experiance with you guys. Busted knuckles, torch burns, missing eyebrows, adding a significant amount of my DNA ( skin and blood) on various bolts and such across my car - sure sign me up. Kidney stones - Ill pass thank you. ( pun intended)
I have never had one but I have an I inside track to dealing with them if the need ever rises. My wife does lithotripsy, “blasts” kidney stones. I have heard of some big stones…they all sound painful. Kidney stones seem plentiful here in the south. I have to hand it to you Bob a 3.2 mm stone is about half the size of a pinkie fingernail. Yikes!!! Hope you get back on the mend quick.
Steven
I’ve had one twice over a ten year period…the last one about 4 years ago…words of wisdom if you get one. “Morphine is your friend!” The second one I had I knew what was happening (the first time will scare the hell out of you!). It feels like someone kicked you in the kidney. I told my son I was going to try to ride it out, but be prepared to take me to the hospital. Sure enough, an hour into it I couldn’t take it any more! MORPHINE ME PLEASE!
I had that on my feet for Plantar Fasciitis, not a real pleasant experience. Can’t imagine doing it for Kidney stones since so far knock on wood I’ve not experienced that one.
Plantar Fasciitis sounds painful. I asked my wife if she had heard of it and she said no. Looked it up on Google, I hope you are doing better. Was lithotripsy a last resort to relieve your pain?
Steven
The possibility of having this affliction begins around 40, you don’t have to be “old” unfortunately. Further, I thought I had grown out of them and left that (painful) memory behind, but this unfortunately was not the case.
I had a stone in my early 30s. Woke one early morning feeling like I had the flu…sore all over, shivers and felt like I was going to puke at any minute (ended up puking in the doctor’s office). They gave me a shot that put me out and did a scan and by luck it moved so the pain ended and I was able to go home (with drugs). I received lithotripsy (schock wave treatment) a few days later to break it up. I was asleep for the whole thing and it did not hurt when I woke up. The worst part was they wouldn’t let me go home until I pee’d. What they didn’t tell me was…it was bright red and scared the $#!^ out of me. Had to pee into a screen for the next week.
Haven’t had the trouble myseif - YET! But, I remember when my Dad “passed” a stone… I was maybe 6 or 7, and my… uhhhhh… capacity for “creative speech” probably QUADRUPLED in the 4 hour time span before Pop ‘deposited’ the big lump of calcium onto the gauze “6x6” bandage that was stretched over the mouth of a 1-quart “Miracle Whip” salad dressing jar.
Yes, I was deprived early in life… Mom and Dad were “Green” before “Green” was a term! Therefore, I had no clue that the “People Eating Tasty Animals” gang were already going after egg-eaters, trying to prove the “Healthy Choice” was the best choice. No mayo for me… make my topping a “Miracle Whip”.
Back to the original thought… Yeah, Dad had PLENTY to say before finalluy passing the stone. So much so that he began conjugating sentences in such a manner as to cause our neighbor (a retired Navy Chief) to run home, blushing. Apparently, the Chief had never even dreamed of the permutations that Dad had invented. There was no “lithotrypsie” at the time (early 60’s); so Dad was breaking new ground in his commentary. I think it had to do with the fact that ny Dad, a PROUD member of a family that traced its roots to the area that are now known as Belfast, had become also accustomed to the “tent’s alongside the planes” mindset known in the area now known as RAF Mildenhall. Pop also had a working knowledge of the “Local English”, so the combinations took on a mixed-bag type of mindset. This may be what scared the Chief off…
EDIT: As earlier alluded; lab testing proved that Dad’s stone was mostly cacium; due no doubt to the massive amounts of calcium in our local water supply. As a result, (and in an effort to NOT repeat his experiences); I prefer to drink beer instead of water every chance I get!
