Here's a crazy one for ya'!
Posted , 5 users are following.
So...I had Lithotripsy 4 days ago for an 8 mm stone in my left kidney. I'm straining my urine and have still only passed about 5 tiny (grain of sand sized) pieces. I'm drinking plenty of water so don't know why more fragments aren't passing! The only mild pain/discomfort I have is in the right kidney area. Why in the world would I feeling anything on the right side? And why am I not passing all the fragments!?
0 likes, 10 replies
Luna_Sea Scareddcat
Posted
I found out at my last uretorscopy that I have a kidney that is shaped with a higher than normal exit into the ureter, so sediment gets trapped below it in a nook-like space. My urologist advised me to lay on my bed with my head and shoulders hanging off the bed to create a slope where the sediment could hopefully reach the exit (I just ordered an inversion table for a more focused approach.) Anyway, I tell you this because there could be something like this going on. You might need to try different angles and positions to get things moving. I would try some vigorous activity like jumping jacks, lunges, cartwheels (if you can do those things) to try and shake things loose.
And hopefully the next thing I'm going to say is not the case, but it is possible they didn't break it up enough. My urologist didn't want to do a lithotripsy for my last stone because he said it was likely I would need more than one, but with the uretorscopy he could get it done in one procedure. The pros and cons were litho didn't get a stent, but uretorscopy did get a stent. I really didn't want a stent, but I definitely didn't want more than one lithotripsy. When is your recheck? I went back a week after my lithotripsy to determine if it was all gone or needed another round. Once they start breaking it, it gets clouded by the sand debris on the scan, so they hope they break it all up, but can't tell for sure until after the follow up scan or x-ray.
Just keep drinking water and flushing your kidneys until they tell you otherwise. Seems to me that even breaking a little bit off your stone would make it possible to pass what's left since it wasn't terribly big to begin with. Maybe you have a bigger chunk that is slowing things down? It can take a week or two in some cases to pass depending on the size of what is coming through.
But it's all guessing at this point.
Scareddcat Luna_Sea
Posted
My follow up appointment is on the 3rd. I'm scheduled for a KUB xray on Friday, which makes no sense to me because that's what I had in mid November and it showed a 1mm stone. 2 weeks later I had an abdominal xray and it showed a 7mm stone! For that reason, I'm not comfortable that a KUB would pick anything up., since it was so far off last time. Still passing nothing.....
Scareddcat
Posted
So in other words, if the pieces were all tiny (like what I've seen so far) they would have passed already? That's pretty discouraging ...
Luna_Sea Scareddcat
Posted
I think the problem with the x-ray is that it tells you how big it is from that one angle, but it doesn't tell you if it's longer from another. So it could be something like 3mm wide and 7mm long and it won't catch that.
And no, it's not necessarily that you are passing the most you are going to pass, but you might have a 2mm chunk that is slowing the rest from coming out.
I had an x-ray following my lithotripsy and it was more to see what was there when the dust settled, if anything at all. I think they try to avoid the CT unless they clearly need a better picture because it's so expensive. They charge my insurance thousands and thousands for every CT scan I get.
Barb1705 Luna_Sea
Posted
Hi Luna Sea,
Just wondering, if a doctor does a laser lithotripsy, and then does a cystoscopy, would it be possible for him to get all the small pieces out, so that there wouldn't be anything left for an individual to pass?
Barb
Luna_Sea Barb1705
Posted
That's pretty much what he did with my uretorscopy laser lithotripsy. He collected the bigger pieces with a cystoscopic basket. But I still had a follow-up x-ray to make sure he didn't miss anything. I think scareddcat had the traditional lithotripsy where they smash it up and hope they broke it up enough to pass everything. When I had that one done, I had a stent inside, so I didn't pass much of anything but a few sand pieces until the stent came out. Afterwards, everything passed quickly (but the doc CT scanned before removing stent so he was sure it was all broken up). Reading about everyone else's experiences, I realize that every doctor does it differently. I'm surprised there isn't a more unified protocol for treatment because some people truly seem to be getting terrible treatment for the same stone that another person gets taken care of with little to no difficulty. The differences between the two urologists I've seen has been night and day.
Barb1705 Luna_Sea
Posted
It really does seem like every doctor does it differently. I think I mentioned before, that after my doctor took the stent out, he said he wanted to see me in about a month, to have an ultra-sound of both kidneys. I'm not sure what that's all about. Is he looking for something new? Is he looking to see if all the pieces of the stone are out? Is he looking to see if there is any damage to my kidney? He already told me daughter, when she asked, that there wasn't any damage to my kidney, so I hope there isn't.
Barb
Scareddcat Luna_Sea
Posted
Right after the Lithotripsy the Dr. told me he felt confident that he'd shattered it and he felt that the passing of fragments would be easy for me. I sure liked the sound of that, but am discouraged that I'm not passing anything.
Assassin1999 Barb1705
Posted
jennifer61799 Scareddcat
Posted