Kidney stones are the result of chemicals in the urine that turn into crystals. These crystals can be calcium, oxalate, uric acid, struvite or cystine.
Kidney stones may be painful and can lead to infection, especially if they obstruct the kidney or ureter. Some stones cause blood in the urine (hematuria), sometimes visible and sometimes microscopic.
1. Drinking Too Much Water
Kidney stones are pieces of rock that form in your kidneys. They are usually made of calcium, but they can also be made from other things. Certain factors increase your risk for getting them. These include a family history, dehydration and some medicines.
The best treatment for kidney stones is to drink plenty of water. That makes you make more urine, which helps the stones pass. Your doctor may also prescribe pain relievers like ibuprofen or, if you have severe pain, narcotics.
They can also give you medicine that helps stones dissolve, such as thiazide diuretics or potassium citrate.
2. Eating Too Much Meat
If you have extreme pain in your back, side, or belly (abdomen) that doesn’t go away when you change positions, call your healthcare provider right away. Your health care provider may order a test called intravenous pyelogram.
Kidney stones are made of minerals, such as calcium, oxalate, and uric acid. They form when your urine has too much of these substances and stick together to make a stone.
Eating less meat helps prevent kidney stones. Also, eat more fruits and vegetables, which make your urine less acidic.
3. Eating Too Much Nuts
A diet high in nuts can increase your risk of kidney stones. Some types of nuts are high in purines, which can make your urine acidic and lead to uric acid kidney stones. These types of stones are more common in men, but can affect women as well.
Kidney stones can be made of different substances, and the type you get depends on your family history, diet and health conditions. Your doctor can recommend an eating plan to lower your risk, including limiting sodium (salt), protein and fat.
4. Eating Too Much Sugar
Eating too much added sugar (typically sucrose, or table sugar combined with high fructose corn syrup) correlates with an increased risk of kidney stones. Fructose increases the concentration of calcium in urine, which can then combine with oxalate to form one of the most common types of kidney stones: calcium oxalate.
Drinking enough fluids decreases the concentration of these stone-forming chemicals in your urine. Often, smaller stones pass through your urinary tract on their own. However, you may need to take pain medicine or receive medical treatments to speed up the passage.
5. Eating Too Much Salt
The most common kidney stones contain calcium combined with waste materials like oxalate. The stones also often have urea and uric acid.
Kidney stones rarely cause early symptoms, but pain and pressure build up quickly once they begin to move through your urinary tract. You might feel the pain in your belly area or back. You might also feel a need to go to the bathroom more frequently than usual.
Drinking plenty of water can help the stones pass. You can also take over-the-counter pain medicine like ibuprofen or naproxen, or prescription medication such as nifedipine (Adamant, Procardia) or tamsulosin (Flomax) to relax your ureters and make it easier for the stones to pass.
6. Eating Too Much Fruit
Kidney stones can form when chemicals in urine become highly concentrated. Drinking enough water helps dilute those chemicals.
A doctor will run tests to determine the size, shape and location of the kidney stone. Blood and urine tests will also be performed to assess your overall health and the condition of your kidneys. A dietitian can help you develop a kidney-stone prevention diet. This may include limiting certain fruits and vegetables that have high oxalate levels, like spinach or rhubarb. It may also recommend avoiding salty foods like French fries and canned soups and reducing the amount of animal protein you consume.
7. Eating Too Much Bread
Kidney stones form when substances in urine become highly concentrated. They can be as small as a grain of sand and pass without causing symptoms, or they can block the flow of urine and cause extreme pain. Treatment depends on the type of kidney stone. Some people need nothing more than over-the-counter pain medications and lots of water. Others may need surgery if the kidney stone causes permanent damage.
Calcium oxalate stones are the most common. These develop when calcium mixes with oxalate in the urine. Oxalate is found in foods like spinach, rhubarb and nuts. It also occurs in high doses from dietary supplements and some digestive diseases.
8. Eating Too Much Cheese
Eating too much cheese can increase your risk of kidney stones because it increases the amount of calcium oxalate in your urine. This makes your pee more acidic and raises your chances of developing stones, especially if you’ve had one before or have certain medical conditions like metabolic disorders or intestinal bypass surgery.
Kidney stones can range in size from a grain of sand to the size of a pearl or larger. If you develop symptoms of a stone, your health care provider may do blood tests, urine testing and imaging tests.
9. Eating Too Much Alcohol
Drinking more fluids helps reduce the risk of kidney stones, particularly if you drink a lot of water along with other liquids at meals. Limiting sodium and sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas and juice, also decreases your stone risk.
A family history of kidney stones may increase your risk, as can infection or certain diseases that change your digestive processes, such as chronic diarrhea and inflammatory bowel disease. Certain medications, including antacids, also raise your risk of developing a kidney stone. Your risk is increased by dehydration, which lowers urine volume and increases concentrations of stone-forming substances.
10. Eating Too Much Sugar
Many children start by presenting to primary care or the emergency department with non-specific pain in the back and abdomen. They are often misdiagnosed with a urinary tract infection or constipation and treated, only to see the pain return.
Eating a diet high in animal protein, salt (sodium) and sugar increases your risk of some types of kidney stones. Other causes of kidney stones include metabolic conditions, intestinal bypass surgery and certain medications used to treat migraines. Drinking lots of water is the most important thing you can do to prevent kidney stones.