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Blood in urine, backache, nausea = stones?

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tara13906
tara13906

6 weeks ago, my husband (38 years old) experienced dull lower back pain which lasted a few days and went away. Last week, he was feeling a little nausea one night. He woke up with the back pain again and some chills and aches as if a virus was coming on. The next few days the slight nausea and back pain continued intermittently and his urine had blood in it.

In the past week they’ve ruled out infection and he’s seen a urologist and had a ct scan done. He will go for a follow up Wednesday to see what’s next. The back pain and nausea have been gone since last Sunday. 

I am a huge nervous nelly when it comes to health issues. His brother and Dad get stones all the time but he’s never had one. Funny thing is 3 yers ago I had basically the exact same thing happen— blood in urine before a few stones were confirmed (ct and cysto done)  and I finally passed one months after the blood first started. And I have a few sitting in my kidneys that cause me random aches and blood so I know it’s very very possible these are just stones, and nothing very serious. But my mind just wanders and google does not help.

I guess I’m just looking for some similar experiences or words of common sense to ease my mind a bit lol! Thank you!!

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • barbara57102
    barbara57102 tara13906

    Posted

    My answer to myself and anyone I know is go to the doctor and get a catscan. I have been living with stones my whole life, some pass others I have had to have surgery. I just had a pcnl thru my back the stone was too large to pass. I had a catscan that’s where they found it. Don’t overthink go to your urologist. Good Luck
    • tara13906
      tara13906 barbara57102

      Posted

      Thank you! He did go last Tuesday to the urologist and had a ct scan Friday. He will go Wednesday for the results and whatever other steps the doctor wants to take. I just freak myself out about the bad possibilities, even though all signs point to a stone.

      He gets nervous sometimes because he hasn’t had that excruciating pain we all experience with stones .... so his mind starts to wander to the worst. but I know not all stones cause that pain especially if they haven’t started to really pass yet. 

    • Luna_Sea
      Luna_Sea tara13906

      Posted

      Try not to get too worried. All the symptoms point to a kidney stone. I've never had nausea from them, but a few fellow kidney stoners on here have experienced terrible nausea. I'm not a bleeder, but many people are with stones. And pain varies from person to person. I had always heard that passing a stone was worse than childbirth, but when I ended up in the ER, while extremely painful, it didn't hold a candle to my induced labor. The staff at the ER weren't convinced I was passing a stone (muchless the four that I was passing at the time) because I was stoic and not screaming in agony (I was screaming during labor).

      Stones can also be small enough to pass, but still cause terrible back pain and nausea before doing so. He may have passed it without it being an agonizing event. The worst of the pain is usually at the junction where the ureter meets the bladder, but once it's in the bladder the worst is generally over.

      Also, he is the age where this commonly starts. I was 37 when I found out about my first one. I just found out I have a brand new 5mm in my left kidney. Only took it three months to grow from nothing.

      One more thing. The stone could be large and in his kidney. The bouts of pain and nausea could be the stone moving into an obstructing position (blocking the opening to the ureter) and it goes away when it is jarred out of that position. If he has another bout of pain, locate which side it's coming from. If it's on the left side, laying on his left side could help pull it back into the kidney if it's obstructing (and vice versa for the right side). When it's small enough to pass, they recommend laying on your right side if you are trying to pass a stone from the left kidney (and vice versa). It's about gravity. I have a funny shape with one of my kidneys which has my doctor telling me to lay with my head and shoulders down over the side of the bed to help gravity move sediment to the higher than usual exit. But you will know more on Wednesday...so maybe waiting to find out if it's passable or obstructive will be your best bet lol.

    • tara13906
      tara13906 Luna_Sea

      Posted

      Thank you for all that reassurance Luna! I keep reminding myself that his episode of pain, nausea and chills etc did seem like a mild “attack” so I need to just relax and wait until we learn more!! He hasn’t had any urinary symptoms (urgency, burning, etc) so it makes me think maybe it hasn’t actually passed yet if it is a stone. And when he does complain of the back pain, it doesn’t seem to be completely one sided. It’s more spread across his lower back, he claims. But honestly he is NO good at interpreting things going on with his body. I’ve learned that recently with him, haha! In his 38 years he’s literally never had to have even an X-ray so this is a pretty big deal. 

      I just had a baby 6 weeks ago so I just feel very overwhelmed and this isn’t helping at all lol!!

  • Assassin1999
    Assassin1999 tara13906

    Posted

    I've been getting on here and reading stories since October 2017 when I had my first stone. Your husband's symptoms sound like a stone to me. It could be slowly working it's way down to the bladder. My pain first started as the stone was exiting my kidney. There's a hump there where the ureter connects to the kidney and so it causes a lot of pain as it tries to squeeze through there. I went from a dull ache one minute, to doubled over and writhing 20 minutes later. While waiting in the ER and trying not to vomit(yes the nausea hit me hard), I was sipping water and I suddenly felt it move.over that hump. It was like unclogging a drain. my pain dissipated entirely. Little did I know that it was just the beginning of 5 weeks of hell. Although, I did go days at a time without any pain. Week 3-4 things started to get really bad. Turns out, my stone was stuck for who knows how long. It was only 4-5 mm, but it wrecked me. At my worst I was laying on my bathroom floor in such awful pain, dry heaving, and wishing it would just end, for 16 hours. Went back to the ER the next morning where they dosed me with all sorts of great stuff. It was the best I'd felt in weeks! 2 days after that, I had a ureteroscopy and cystoscopy. It was stuck where the ureter meets the bladder. The opening is more narrow there naturally. For the most part, the blood I was passing was microscopic except for right after that first bout of pain. When I got to the ER that first time they gave me a UA and it looked like sun tea or coffee. Other than that, the blood I passed that was visible happened mostly after the surgery. In my case, there was some scar tissue in the ureter that the stone couldn't get past. As a little boy, I had some kidney infections and the last one was kind of bad, so the scar tissue may have developed then. My kidney function dropped quite a bit thanks to all of this chaos. I go back in April to see if it bounced back. I feel great overall, although I do still get pain in the exact spot where I first felt it, in my upper back/kidney area. I have an uncle that deals with stones, but that's it. My parents don't. My 3 brothers don't. No cousins. Just me. He gets aftershocks too even after his stones are gone. He calls them phantom pains. Supposedly they are rare, but I've met a few people on here that get them too. I hope you and your husband get relief! If my stone hadn't gotten stuck, I think I would've passed it on my own as I was drinking lots and lots of water. So, your hubby needs to learn to listen to his body. Don't ignore the pain if it gets worse. I just kept thinking that my horrible pain was status quo for a kidney stone, since I had heard how bad the pain was. Doctors kept telling me I would pass it if I drank water because I was only 32 and had no history of stones. Whatever! I may have damaged my kidney thanks to their apathy. Be well! Hope I didn't add to your nervousnessredface

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