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Schwarzerhund
Schwarzerhund

Hi Everyone: Earlier this month I started feeling a nagging pain in my right flank. It's stayed fairly consistent over the past few weeks, sometimes worse, sometimes not there at all. I finally went to my primary care physician last Monday for an exam and urinalysis. The urinalysis came back fine except for a trace amount of blood. The doctor feels this is consistent with his presumptive diagnosis of kidney stones. He's out through Monday, but I assume he's going to refer me to a urologist for further testing. In the meantime, I;m peeing in the funnel and drinking lots of water. 

I guess my question is this. In all my reading about kidney stones, I always am struck by the pain people experience. Mine is annoying, but not excruciating. I really have no other symptoms (except for some abdominal discomfort and just feeling blah). Does anyone or has anyone had symptoms like these? Just weeks of flank pain and some malaise? Like I said, my doc was pretty confident that it's kidney stones and not cancer or something else (but I guess only further testing will tell for sure). Let me know your thoughts and thanks.

1 like, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • Schwarzerhund
    Schwarzerhund

    Posted

    Excuse the subject line. It should be "Not yet diagnosed."
  • sheffnet
    sheffnet Schwarzerhund

    Posted

    A kidney stone can be anywhere along your urinary tract. Some locations are narrow and others are wider. What may be happening is that your stone is in a wider location e.g. close to the kidney, and every time it tries to work its way down the tube, it gives you pain. It can float back up again to the wider spaces within the kidney and the pain will go away for a while. Many people have stones in the kidney that they don't know about because the stones stick around there and never give them pain.

    The small amount of blood in your urine does seem consistent with a stone because the stone will be irritatating your tubes and making them bleed.

    Keep up with the water-drinking and hope that it passes naturally. But, be ready for a higher level of pain when that happens and have some pain killers handy.

    Good luck.

  • heather27354
    heather27354 Schwarzerhund

    Posted

    I have confirmed multiple kidney stones. Sometimes I have had a poking pain in my back/ side area. sometimes malaise. Sometimes slight cramping in that kidney area of my back. I would say you are right on track for kidney symptoms. Also, i have passed maybe 15 in the last year. And there were several different ways they manifested. once , i was convinced it was IBS. Then i peed later and a stone appeared in the toliet. 
  • Schwarzerhund
    Schwarzerhund

    Posted

    Thanks, all.  I wush I could stop convincing myself that it's cancer.  When your primary care doctor mentions it -- albeit as a very unlikely diagnosis -- it stays with you.  When he did an in-house urinalysis last Monday (before sending it out for conforomation) he mentioned that, in addition to a symprom of kidney stones, blood in urine is a symtiom of kidney cancer, as well.  I guess this is why I wish if it IS a stone, that I would just pass it already so i know that's what it was. The fact that it may be weeks before a definitive diagnosis -- getting a referral, getting scanned, etc. -- is torture.  Believe me, I'm not a hypochondriac normally, I just feel spooked about this. Any advice?
  • heather27354
    heather27354 Schwarzerhund

    Posted

    I dont really have any good advice. I would just lamely say try not to think the worst?

    Ps i just passed a stone like an hour ago. I have been " rocking slightly" from time to time the last two days. This is not normal behavior for me. So, in the back of my mind I was thinking maybe a smaller stone was passing. It was! They are all different. Except for me, it reminds me of endometriosis pain quite often. 

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