painful urinary stent removal

I have had kidney stones removed surgically on three occasions over the past ten years.  Each time the Dr. has left a stent in my urinary tract.  The first two times the stent had a string attached to it.  When the stent was removed it caused minimal discomfort.  The third time which was perfomed recently, the Dr. said he preferred not to attach a string to the stent.  I agreed, not knowing that I was agreeing to a procedure that was infinitely different from my previous experiences.  A week after surgery, I had the stent removed in the doctor's office.  No pain medication was administered.  The removal of the stent was one of the most painful events I have ever experienced.  Twice during the procedure, my bladder was filled with water.  This was also extremely painful.  
Is there justification for conducting such a procedure without measuires to abate the extres pain that it causes?

[angry147]

I think the removal should be done in a hospital under meds. It is cruel and excruciating and i think each doctor should have it done then taken out in the most barbaric way they do to us.  I feel your pain.
I have a stent in me right now. my doctor had me come in a week after an eswal and a laser surgery 14 hours apart. i had a ct scan that showed that all is fine now and he refused to take the stent out until next week. i have been in more pain than has been when i had a blockage. I believe that this prolonged period is all about money.  You get 1 free appointment after surgery then he can bill for the removal and everything that he does during the extraction of the stent.  I think this is a crime due to the fact he didn't even see me after the ct scan. he sent in a assistant i had never met before and she was not very knowledgeble about my case. I am very dissapointed and pissed off at the mishandling my doctor has done with me. though i value him as the professional I wish he would have been more understanding about my need to remove this from my body.  Further more i cannot stand up for long periods of time. I have too much preassure and need to urinate too freequently. i hve called out from work because i stand up for 7 hours a day and need to keep on leaving my work and employers are understanding but  not thrilled. I am to have the stent removed on friday and i will never allow him to put one in again without a written agreement to have it removed in one week or i will sue.

[lynda446]

I have had two ops now for kidney stones.The first without a stent.The second with.I was told that the stent is to allow for free fow of urine as maybe the area operated on could become swollen.

I had a very miserable time with the stnt in place and I intend to discuss with the hospital the lack of information you come away with .

I am not sure about the money thing as in the UK we do not pay dirct.We pay a national Insurance.This covers all health care.A wonderful system.

Keep drinking water and lot's of it to anyone reading this and suffering from stinging urine,as to all the other nastys I have no answer.

Good luck to you all.

In my own case the removal was uncomfertable but not painful and over and done in a very short time.

[Mdaggs7106]

I have a stent in now. I am a 24'year old male that handles pain really well, but I all but cry every time I pee. I have sit down to pee cause the pain is so bad that my legs give out and I fall. The stent was part one of a two part precedure, but I was informed after stent placement that the lythotripsy was too much money and without insurance wouldn't be done. Now they won't even remove the stent. It's been at least two months and feels like a lifetime of cruel and unusual punishment. I HATE THIS. :-(

[lynda446]

Please drink a lot of water,it does help .

Good luck.

[devitoVR]

Reference "painful urinary stent removal", permit me to add to PRINCPAL56's comments.  Just today I had a stent removed via a Cystoscopy (this is NOT the approach that uses a string to remove the stent; instead it "involves placement of a small flexible tube through the urethra").  I'm a 50 year old male who's had his share of injury and medical procedure.  The procedure I had today was, with no exception, the most unpleasant and painful experience of my life.  To anyone reading this community, if you are going to get a stent, inquire carefully about how it will be removed.  I wish I had.

[lynda446]

It is strange that we all have such different experinces.

When they removed my stent I watched it all on a screen on the wall that the Dr used,It really could not be described as painful.

Happy Happy day when the blasted thing was removed.

[Notinagoodplace]

Second time I have had one removed, 1st time not too much of a problem over pretty quickly although for 2wks prior I was either in contstant tugging pain, or sheer agony, nice!  Had another removed today after stone laser in my kidney 16 days ago........Ouch!!! It hurt like a ******* and took 7 minutes.....why oh why do the medical profession insist on performing this without anesthesia, especially when often there is calcification between the ureter and the stent  so it's like pulling out razor blades as in my case which makes removal extremely painful...they don't tell you about calcification do they......I wanted to scream!

[shadowfox509]

     I just had a stent removed yesterday and I was quite nervous about going in and having it done as I had not asked my Dr what it entailed because I did not want to get myself to worked up but I must say it was more uncomfortable then painful, the Dr. timed it and it took 46 seconds to take it out. I had no anesthetics or anything to numb it but it was not half as bad as the pain I endured when that darn thing was in. I am still in some pain in my lower abdomen but not as bad as when I had the stent actually in, I have had some minor bleeding but I notice that drinking a lot of apple juice seems to help as the pectin in the juice helps lubricate the everything a bit so makes it more bearable, I have a flight to catch in 3 days which is like a 22 hr flight, I am hoping the pain does subside by then or else it will be one very uncomfortable flight. Best of luck to everyone and it does get better in time, drink plenty of fluids and take some Motrin.

[Stonemaker77]

I'm a 32 year old female who has had stones since I was 18. Just a few weeks ago I had my stones removed through a cystoscopy and a stent put in.  The stent was very uncomfortable but I get the necessity in having it as it keeps the kidney and ureter from swelling shut after the procedure and helps keep pain to a minumum as fragments of stone are passed.. I had it removed a week early though (had it for 3 weeks should have been 4) cause it made my bladder feel horrible.. The removal didn't hurt and I felt good for two days, but then I started to run fever and have excuitiating kidney pain,  now I'm on morphine and antibiotics awaiting to see my specialist again as nothing seems to be getting better. I'm upset cause I wasn't aware that any of this could happen and no one really is sure what's going on.. My bladder feels great but my kidney hurts constantly even with being heavily medicated.. Has this happened to anyone else???

[Notinagoodplace]

Hi there I've had exactly the same experience as you...I'm considered to be a frequent stonemaker I've had about 4 in last 3yrs.....in fact about a week after my last stent was removed (see post) I noticed my BP shot up quite suddenly and I just didn't feel well, I took myself to out of hrs doctor and was admitted by then the pain had begun to cut a long story short I was in agony in hospital for 2 days resulting in an overdose of oromorph....also on antibiotics, docs just wanted to wait and see what was going to happen they suggested it could've been residual blasted stone, even though the pain was totally different to Renal Colic due to stones, they really couldn't tell me what it was. I'm pain free and hopefully stone free. I only started these stones after I had weight loss surgery first stone 6 months after.

[Dani13155]

I am three days out of a procedure using sound waves to break up a large stone, 3wks prior to surgery I was hospitalized for 14 days after the stone had caused a blockage, I ended up with blood poisoning "septic". This was 5 days in ICU an another 9 days in hospital. I am amazed at the lack of info given. Now I have this horrible stint, constant pain, bleeding, and blood clots. Doctors nurse says I will just be "uncomfortable" until removal in 2wks. The appt. for removal is at the doctors office so I guess once again they don't have any concern as to my pain.

[el_em_en_oh]

First of all, I'm feeling your pain right now. I've gone through what you went through enough times to know that it's not pleasant.

I've had numerous stents both with & without the string (100+ in my lifetime). I've been battling kidney-stones since the age of 19, and I get them stuck (in the L2-L3 region), requiring laser-cystoscopy, at least once every month or 2.

Having a stent removed WITH the string involves extremely minimal discomfort, in my experience.

Having a stent removed WITHOUT the string, requiring an in-office scoping, is moderately uncomfortable, but still very tolerable... again, in my experience.

There have been removals that have hurt more than others (the one's removed without a string), and it boils down to the wrong size stent being used (my doctor has confirmed this). If the stent used is too short, there will be pain involved in the removal, whether with a string or without a string.

My question to you is, did the actual 'pulling the stent out' part hurt, or was the insertion & removal of the cystoscope the painful part?

If it's the former, then I'd imagine the stent was too short. Ask your doctor to make a note that you require a longer stent inserted next time you have a procedure.

If it's the later, then ask them to administer Lidocaine jelly prior to scope insertion. They'll take a long Q-tip, slather it with Lidocaine, and slowly insert it into your urethra. After that, you'll be so numb, you won't feel a thing.

[sevenoctober]

hi..
i have been through the procedure for the stent removal..
i can be categorized as petite girl.
during the procedure, they put a jelly that to be believe to numb the urethra..
but it wont help at all..
when they insert the scope, the pain sensation was really bad.
for my case, everytime when there is a movement of 'things' at my urethra, the pain was verry bad.
can conclude that the scope and also the stent really hurt me at all..
but after all the thing is put out from my body, the pain are completely gone.

the procedure only take less then 5 mins..

[share44]

I left a comment about my stent removal but it's in the Support Communities section incase anyone is interested to read...keep healthy

[otherhalf52]

I hear nothing but pain from every one, kidney stones are no laughing matter. My husband had a stent put in nov. 15th and I can truly say it was a horrifing experience. The doctor warned him, she said without a doubt this is going to be the most painful experience of your life. With that in mind I took him to Harbor Memorial Hospital in Torrance California, I was sitting outside waiting, knowing what was about to happened, the anxiety won't the battle and I started having a panic attack.
The precedure took 45min to an hour.  when I saw him he had no expresion on his face, it was total shock. No PAIN MEDICATION, NO ANESTHESIA, this was cruelty at its best. The doctor had a hard time finding her way to the kidney because the prostate was swallen, so was everthing else, so she was pocking around causing tremendous amount of pain, my husband tells me he was about to pass out. My husband is a big guy, the construction type, but this was inhumane.
We went to the doctor today and the 8mm stone still lodge in the kidney, but he has an appointment to take the stent out 1/11/2011
The precedure will be the same NO PAIN MEDICATION so I am searching for an answer, I know in my heart that this is not the only way to do this, what can I do, should I demand that he will be put under?   Please help!    

[kstone5]

i jsut had a stone lasored yesterday. i have a stint that will be removed in 4 days. It has a string and my Dr said that i can pull it out myself. i have had well over a hundred kidney stones but only needed 3 of them removed. When i urinate it burns like crazy. It feels like i am peeing needles. the pain has gotten been 24 hours later but still very uncomfortable. this is the first stint i have had and am very nervous about removing it. I look at it this way. If i pull it out myself i can hopefully control the pain and pull at my own pace. i am ready to get it out no doubt. I don't think i can go through this again, but it seems that my stones are just getting bigger and bigger each time. this one was 6mm.

[Kstone_50]

4 days out of kidney stone removal by scope.  dr. Removed 2 out of the left, 2 from the right, and 3 from the bladder.  this is the third time in 9 years. Have produced over 50 stones since I was 24, Now 54.  This episode has produced the worse pain!!!  I have 2 stents and still bleeding at times.  will have these removed in 5 days.  have found that if I take hydrocodine every 4 hours, the pain is manageable.  

[SpongeFrog]

I had my stent removed yesterday. It didn't have the string so it was the other type of removal. Yes, it hurt~ A LOT. I have had stones about three dozen times since my early 20's.  Yes, it's a painful thing, however, it is your responsibility to ask questions if there is something that you don't understand about the procedures.  Not every doctor has a great bedside manner and they assume that if you don't ask you know the answers already.  Stones are painful, infections are painful, surgery is painful.  Life can be, too.  I try to not dwell on it and deal with the pain as best as I can.  It doesn't help to be angry about it, but it does help to be well informed so you know what to expect. THey don't anesthetize you for this procedure. It's much more dangerous to do that than to bite the bullet for a couple of minutes that it takes.  They can offer a little blue pill to take that minimizes the acidity of the urine and helps with the burning.  It started with a "Pro" and was like Urimar that I've had before.  Sorry, I know everyone deals with pain differrently, but agitation doesn't help your blood pressure to be upset.  

[Gra8tttitude11]

I am so frightented to have my stent removed. I have a stent that was placed following a kidney transplant. It was supposed to come out at 6 weeks.  It's been over 5 months and I have an appointment to have it removed on Tuesday.  The center I go to is 6 hours from my home and I had a very difficult time getting someone to get me an appointment.  It was a series of crazy circumstances that led me to still have this thing in.  NOW, they are panicked about it.  I'm scared. They told me it could have migrated or be encrusted.  I have a lot of questions. I know that it's removed with a cystoscope. I'm a female by the way. If the stent has migrated into the ureter, will they do a ureteroscopy right then? Or what happens if it's encrusted? I do not want to be sedated as I have to drive home the next day. I have a high pain tolerance, but I am a little nervous. Anyone ever have this happen?  Will they use a rigid scope? Does that hurt more than a flexible? I've read that they use rigid in female more often than men.  Any help would be great!

[MFK22]

First I would find me another urologist to take out the stint..

I have had a stint in for three painful days and plan to have it removed on the 6th day. I have a hard time with pain meds since most have codine I am trying to cope with tylenol for pain.. not working!!! . I will say this has been a bad experience for me too. When I stand up my kidney spams causing me to pee. Basically I am homebound until all this is repaired. I also have two tumors and stones in the right kidney so when this is repaired I will have my right kidney removed. I am scared now to have it removed in case I have a recurrance of the stones and they damage the good kidney.. My doctor said he was ging to sedate me to remove the stint..I sure hope so after reading these comments..  
Good Luck to everyne with this problem.

[Lil_Bags]

I just had my first kidney stone taken out and have a stent with a string attached.  I was given anesthetic for the procedure but the pain now without the pain meds is unbearable. I can barely walk, breath, sit, etc if I don't have the oxycodone in me.  I will have my stent removed tomorrow. I have heard also that having the stent removed is the turning point and it's all uphill from there.  Good luck to everyone!

[kevin_r]

Lynda,
We are not all anatomically the same, and it is more difficult to remove a stent for a man, than a woman.  If you can't understand the basic difference then there's no use in discussing it further.  Moreover, one procedure might be comfortable for one person, but is excruciating for another person.  I have never, ever, heard a person describe stent removal as you have here.  I am simply shocked.  

[SeaSpraysWonderfulLife]

To anyone wondering if they should take something for pain for ureteral stent removal: prior to having my 1st stent removed, I asked the first urologist if I needed anything for pain.  he said "No big deal."

Thankfully, I decided to look it up on the web and read where some people said it wasn't a big deal, but one said, "For the love of God ...take a pain medication!"

That was all I had to read.

I took a percocet.  It was the most exquisitely excruciating experience I ever had!  Tears instantly came to my eyes and streamed down and I cried out "JESUS!"  Not as a swear word but it was a reflexive "HELP!" and it was over.  It was fast.

But that set the tome for my concern about everything urological.  Unfortunately, that night ..I ended up back in ER with 3 more stones, admitted and back in the OR stented  and had it removed in office again and I was so afraid.  It was awful.

I have had more stents since then, but thankfully a different urologist and I take 2 or 3 percocet and can still feel it. But ..I would n-e-v-e-r e-v-e-r allow anyone to remove a stent without paon med or in the OR.  Fortunately for me, the other removals were in the OR.

I felt like my first two experiences were inhumane compared to second urodoc.

I have experience with this and so I would say ..if you are a person who is stoic or high pain tolerance then go without if you want but if you aren't tell your physician you want to have medication to cover the pain.  It is a humane and reasonable patient expectation.

Also there are varying sizes of stents and so that should be a consideration.  I had a really small stent removed in office with percocet in me and I was shocked it was out.  The first two with other doc were horrendous experiences. then the only other one was a bit larger, but he removed it slowly and that helped ..kind of stop-go stop go and it hurt but I could deal with it.  Also, I have found since then if he removes stents slowly I don't get bad kidney spasms afterward.  Not as strong anyway.

When I had a long, difficult and painful labor, I only whimpered ..never cried or hollered out.  I can take pain.  This was beyond what I could handle.

[Helen59]

Hi Folks,
  If anyone knows what you’re going through – I do!!
I had my first kidney stone at age 15 – I am now 52.
My stones are made of Cystine.  The hardest to break up.
I lost track on how many surgeries I have had.
In the past - I always had stents put in with the strings that hung out.
These are no problem – I have pulled them out myself- no doctor’s help.
**BUT- in May of 2011. I had a Nephrostomy tube inserted again.  Surgery was done.
I was sent home with the stent in. It was the kind with no string.
It was green with curled on each end.  OH MY GOD! This was terrible!
He pulled it out of my kidney- I screamed- He stopped. Then I yelled “PULL IT OUT”!!!
He pulled it all the way out. There were stones formed on the end that was in my kidney.
He was shocked. Then he told me the pain was spasms. He sent me home.
I ended up in the hospital hours later, with pain and passing gravel.
*** Has anyone experienced this?
I also had a problem with swelling? I think this is from the stent?
First my throat swelled. Then my feet, hands, eyes, jaw….
All one body part at a time. As soon as one swelling went down, another body part would swell.
I went to the hospital. I was put on steroids, Benadryl.
Now I keep looking at myself to see what’s going to blow up next.
I have had this surgery so many times over the years with no problem.
But this time was bad. I know I will need it done again. But this time I know what I need to
tell my doctor.  I want the orange stent with the string or none at all.
Hope this helps-Helen

[Figaden]

I had a stent put in after a failed laser lithotripsy 2 weeks ago. Went back for round 2 to blast out my stones. They put in another stent, this time with the string. I am a 30yr old F. The stent was to be left in for a week but within hours it got dislodged and migrated down into my urethra causing instant incontinence. Lucky for me I was already in hospital. The urologist came in and had to remove the stent, he did so surrounded by his entourage of interns and nurses, oh the things we put up with when in pain! The removal was uncomfortable but not at all painful, took all of 10 seconds andcured the incontinence right away.
Had really bad bladder spasms that started about 45 minutes after the stent was removed, and pretty bad pain since then (that was yesterday morning). Am home now and oh so happy to not have to put up with that stent anymore! The first one was pretty bad too, constant pain, horrible when urinating, especially near the end, but i guess that pain was better then what could have happened without the stent....

[ajayint]

Hi,

I am 31Yr OLD Male, I had 8MM stone stuck at the end of uretor . Doctor did the ureteroscopy to remove it yesterday .he broke it with laster . procedure took around an hour as doctor told me it too long time to break the stone.

Now he told me that he has left a stent and will be removed after 4 weeks,

I had bearable pail after the ureteroscopy . i felt of passing urine immediately i became concisous after the procedure , it paind a lot first time and for whole first day while passing urine but manageable.

today is my second day and feeing better , but i am scared about stent removal after reading above as i dont see and string out ...
so far it was okay for me ...

[violet60]

Wow. Interesting comments. Finally found "the truth". I have to have a stent removed next week. It is so uncomfortable that I can't wait, but scared of the pain of removal. It does have a string. Why don't they inform us of the pain and spasms? It would be somewhat easier to bear if we knew what was causing the pain and if it is normal. Its been 6 days and I still have bleeding. I'm drinking lots of water. That's all they told me to do. All I have read about ureteral stents is nothing like what I feel. My legs are weak and I can't stand for very long, it hurts to urinate, my back hurts and my ureteral area hurts where the stone was, which feels like spasms. I am a 51 y/o female. I was supposed to have a stone on the right blasted (ESWL), but instead he basket extracted a stone from my right ureter and put in a stent. I had no idea he was going to do that until I woke up from anesthesia. They told me I could go back to work the next day. Ha. Very frustrated. I was supposed to have the stent removed tomorrow (Fri), but doc is out of town until Tues so I have to wait. I will definitely take a pain pill before!!

[Drmmkr]

  I had my first stent put in 7 years ago. I had lithotripsy and the stent was put in immediately following. The stent was in for 8 weeks, the most unbareable thing I had ever experienced. However when the stent was removed. I had to meds and it came out very smoothly. Last year I had tremendous pain and had a stone lasered and a stent put in the same day. The stent was removed in the Drs office and it was the worst pain I had ever experienced. This year I got stones again and the Dr insisted that I have a stent put in 2 weeks before laser surgery. Again it was so uncomforable that it brough tmy life to a halt. I lived on anti spasmatics and vicodin. The laser surgey was done and now 2 weeks later, today the stent is comimg out in the hospital. BUT i fear the worse because my urethra and prostrate are swollen. I asked my uroligist many questions because I wanted to be informed AND now neither of us trust each other! I am looking for a new uroligist, but no one wants to step on anybody elses toes.I live close to 4 major hospitals, which includes over 50 uroligists, but I may have to travel out of the area to find a new one.
  Finally stents are terrible!! And I agree every uroligist should have to have one put in for 2 weeks, so they dont lie to you and tell you it wont bother you a bit. BULL ****!!

[violet60]

I had my stent removed on Tuesday. Today is Thursday. Just took a Tylox because the severe ureteral spasms started up again. A few times before stent it was removed and since I have had it I have had to take 2 Tylox to get a grip on the pain. As far as the removal, that was a piece of cake. Lasted about three seconds. The nurse pulled it out and it was an awesome feeling seeing it OUT of me. Short-lived celebration when about 2-3 hours later the spasms started. Three days before it was removed I had the worse pain ever...worse than when I had the stone! Took 2 Tylox and almost went to the ER...it was a Sunday, of course. Finally it calmed down. I have been unable to work or do much of anything since I had the basket extraction and stent put in on July 15. They told me I could go back to work the next day. It may be unavoidable to get a stent, but ask as many questions as you can because it seems like they don't prepare you at all. I only have 4 pain pills left and hope the spasms stop before I have to call and ask for pain meds. Heat and rest help as well.

[megan1974]

I am in horrible pain. They put a kidney stent n in march n took it out a week later n i hav been n horible excrutiating pain since. Has anyone gotten resolution hear. I went to the mayo clinic in Minnesota praying to get answers. And left discouraged. My gallblader (gallbladder). Thyroid hav went out. Im on numerous medications. Please help

[Deke78]

I had laser kidney stone removal 2 weeks ago. During the process I was cometely out. If any dr wants to perform this procedure while you are awake I would advise you to seek another opinion. When i woke up only pain I felt was in my penis it was swollen 4 times its normal size. The nurse kept me comfortable with morphine. I was required to pee before I was released and let me tell you! This was so painful it burned
soooo bad. I had to sit down to pee for the next 3 days. I do have a stent that is to be removed without the string. I'm very nervous and scared. I can tell you i have not had much pain with the stent. I feel little pinch feelings every once in awhile and it is annoying and bothering. If I do to much it seems to get worse. Now, when I pee I feel pain in my kidney and it's about 6 on the pain scale. I also feel discomfort when i try to sleep because I feel the urge to pee all the time. I usually take my pain meds at night to allow a better night sleep..... I'll post again about the stent removal process tomorrow .... This is my fourth stone in 2 years and i hope I
Never go thru this surgery again!!  

[nick73]

I will be getting my last stent removed tomorrow!! After ending up in the hospital back in May because of extreme pain in BOTH of my kidneys I found out that I was in renal failure. I have had many stones over the last 4 years but had never had both of my kidneys blocked at the same time. After the CT scans it was revealed that I had a 2 cm (yes centimeter) stone in my left kidney among other smaller ones and a 1.2 cm stone in my right. I have had a total of 5 cystoscopy surgeries in the last few months to remove the stones. In the beggining I had a stent in both sides. Painful as I urinated and very bloody. After the first stone was completely gone the right stent was removed as the left kidney work was started. Now, both kidneys are good and the final stent is to be pulled out tomorrow via the string attached. I have had this done before about 4 years ago and have to say it was painful, but the good news is that the pain only lasted a little while. Now that I am getting this one removed tomorrow I am a little anxious because I know what to expect. To all the people talking about the pain involved in having the stent removed without a string attached I really feel for you. I had the option of having it removed in my drs. office or going to the surgery center and being knocked out for the procedure. I guess thats one of the benefits of having pretty good insurance. I opted to have the string attached and having it removed in the office only because I know that the pain will not be very long.

To all of you you are having any procedures done I stress to you to ask your doctor as many questions as you need to and choose the best option for you. If you have the option, have the string attached. Its a much simpler way of removal and will be much faster.

[mich1985]

I have kidney stone removed last friday octorber 14, 2011. Go home the same day on that friday and the doctor told me to take the stenk out on tuesday 18th but i did take it out monday i cant wait...after one hour of stenk removed i felt that worse pain ever, hydrocodone didnt work at all. Because of that pain I was thinking to kill myself that day but i did fall asleep of the pain, so didnt have time to kill myself :)

[westieandcollielover]

A bit shocked to read your comments.

I have re read my posts and can not understand what I have said to annoy you so much.

Of course we all have our own experiences ,I told you mine and found that drinking a lot of water can help.

Hope you are well now anyway.

[shorty818]

I feel ya.My stent has been left in so long over 6 months now and has calcafied.The doctor also refused to remove my stent.I have been in sever pain all this time .And he never answers me about the pain.I finaly demanded it be removed thats how we found out it went bad.He never examined the stent the whole 6 months.And he told me if he removed the stent he would no longer be my doctor.I didnt care!! I just want this out.I cant sit ,stand, sleep and ian now on depprsion meds becuse of it.and i will be going to uam to see if they can remove it on the 2 of november.And he also didnt tell me about these side affects.

[shorty818]

I feel ya.My stent has been left in so long over 6 months now and has calcafied.The doctor also refused to remove my stent.I have been in sever pain all this time .And he never answers me about the pain.I finaly demanded it be removed thats how we found out it went bad.He never examined the stent the whole 6 months.And he told me if he removed the stent he would no longer be my doctor.I didnt care!! I just want this out.I cant sit ,stand, sleep and ian now on depprsion meds becuse of it.and i will be going to uam to see if they can remove it on the 2 of november.And he also didnt tell me about these side affects.

[shorty818]

I agree its worst thing i ever had done.I still have my kidney stones.He put the stent in before,Iam 48 this week and never had a uti till this.and the uti has never left the whole time the stents been in.Ive been on antibiotics this whole time.Now i face the scarryest point in my life.Iam afraid this is just getting worse.Iam 4foot 10 with a 22inch doubble j and its change my life.

[Olwen1951]

I had a stent for 18 weeks and I must admit it was the most miserable experience I have ever endured!! Had the stent removed yesterday and having  read all the comments here I was really scared to say the least. So much so that when the doctor told me I really panicked. It was a bit uncomfortable and only took a few minutes.So far so good,no problems other than a bit of bleeding and slight discomfort for a short while. Everyone is different please anyone who reads these comment remember this. I have got my life back and it's wonderful

[airrunwesker]

I feel pain to. It has been three weeks since my string came out.

[airrunwesker]

I feel pain to. It has been three weeks since my string came out.

[airrunwesker]

When it comes time to have the string pulled, go to a public hospital and not a military one. Make sure you are medicated when they pull it.. if not knocked out. This was the most painful part of the operation for me. Words can not describe the pain. It was like being stabbed multiple times in both front and back and I am at a complete loss for words for the sensation of the string pull.

[southernmissy75]

I feel ya,lls pain they dont do people right that dont have money and its a sick world we living in today.. I was raised very poor and could not afford insurance when i was about 20 or so.. I had work done on my females because i had cancer cells on my ut. I was sent to a doctor and told i had to pay 200.00 for them to burn them off.. They gave me one pill to com me down and it was not a pain pill... So i think it was the worst 10 mins of my life.. while they burnt them off... Now i have had these kidney stones removed and stent put in.. I am having a lot of pain when i go to the bathroom and sometimes not even but a small amount coming out with just pain period... They wanted me to come get it took out this morning without being any pain medication... She told me it would only take about 5 mins but idk because they told me that they would be little pain with the stint and after a few days i can say that was bs!! Cause i am in more pain now than i was with the stones... Its a cold world we live in i feel no one really cares anymore long as they make a buck that is what it is all about!!!

[Csojoe]

Coming out of my second lith and not looking forward to my second stent removal, I made plans for the second one to be pulled out under general.  

I think the quality of stents and amount of wound response around the stent also play a big role, but at a minimum, just the damage that happens from the cysto going through the urethra each time to get the stent from the ureter is going to cause stinging and irritation afterwards, and there not much you can do about that.  ''Most' humans urethras did not evolve to be a two way street (in fact to minimize infections selection is very much the other way), so no matter what, the burning urination will be there when things go the wong direction in there and rough things up. But that usually goes away after a few days. Fortunately your ability to urinate full stream comes back pretty quickly though.

Personally, when  I went for the office cysto stent removal the first time from litho for a 10mm stone in the UVJ with the 'evil claw' I nearly cleared out the entire office floor with how loud I screamed. My expectation was that it would be a non issue, driving in in the middle of the day from work figuring it would be like pulling out a few sutures or something.

Maybe it was the stent, maybe the wound response to the stent, or just call me a sissy, but when that evil claw got hold of the stent and they start pulling it, I could only think of a particular torture method used during the inquisition.  

Yes, the Intestinal Crank! This method of torture - or rather capital punishment - involved making an incision in the abdominal area, separating the duodenum from the pylorus, and attaching of the upper part of the intestine to a crank. The crank would then be rotated to extract the intestines from the gastrointestinal cavity of the still conscious person. The outcome was always death, but not immediately.

OK, I know that sounds horrible, and a bit overdone, but its just a gentle reminder to those that find cystoscopy and stents painful to start with and the claw a fearful device for stent removal that you should request either

A- quick general for removal if you are in good health and low risk (uro does not like to share money with the anesthesiologist so he'll push back if he can)
B-Or a large gag to bite down on and some PO narcotic if your insurance does not cover.

Unfortunately, if people dont speak up on this enough we wont ever get any improvements in the procedures and devices (if a better stent means no general for removal, the device companies of the world will do more and docs will buy them, and insurance companies will cover them).  

[Csojoe]

Coming out of my second lith and not looking forward to my second stent removal, I made plans for the second one to be pulled out under general.  

I think the quality of stents and amount of wound response around the stent also play a big role, but at a minimum, just the damage that happens from the cysto going through the urethra each time to get the stent from the ureter is going to cause stinging and irritation afterwards, and there not much you can do about that.  ''Most' humans urethras did not evolve to be a two way street (in fact to minimize infections selection is very much the other way), so no matter what, the burning urination will be there when things go the wong direction in there and rough things up. But that usually goes away after a few days. Fortunately your ability to urinate full stream comes back pretty quickly though.

Personally, when  I went for the office cysto stent removal the first time from litho for a 10mm stone in the UVJ with the 'evil claw' I nearly cleared out the entire office floor with how loud I screamed. My expectation was that it would be a non issue, driving in in the middle of the day from work figuring it would be like pulling out a few sutures or something.

Maybe it was the stent, maybe the wound response to the stent, or just call me a sissy, but when that evil claw got hold of the stent and they start pulling it, I could only think of a particular torture method used during the inquisition.  

Yes, the Intestinal Crank! This method of torture - or rather capital punishment - involved making an incision in the abdominal area, separating the duodenum from the pylorus, and attaching of the upper part of the intestine to a crank. The crank would then be rotated to extract the intestines from the gastrointestinal cavity of the still conscious person. The outcome was always death, but not immediately.

OK, I know that sounds horrible, and a bit overdone, but its just a gentle reminder to those that find cystoscopy and stents painful to start with and the claw a fearful device for stent removal that you should request either

A- quick general for removal if you are in good health and low risk (uro does not like to share money with the anesthesiologist so he'll push back if he can)
B-Or a large gag to bite down on and some PO narcotic if your insurance does not cover.

Unfortunately, if people dont speak up on this enough we wont ever get any improvements in the procedures and devices (if a better stent means no general for removal, the device companies of the world will do more and docs will buy them, and insurance companies will cover them).  

[Randall65]

I had my stent removed this morning. It took about a minute but the worst part of it all was worrying about it. I am a 48 year old male and it was litterally pain free, as long as I stayed relaxed and didn't tense up. Reading some of the horror stories here really scared me. I did hurt really bad about an hour after the procedure was done and the pain lasted a good 3 hours. The pain was located in my kidney. I called the doctors office and they told me it was spasms associated with the procedure. So to the guys out there who are worrying themselves to death about this, don't be. Just relax, don't tense up and it will be over with very quickly. This was my experience and I hope it helps someone.

[lisat3380]

I was one of the many frightened to have my stint removed in the doctor's office.  I had read a number of accounts from those who experienced pain.  Yesterday, I had my left stint (right stint to be removed in 4 weeks) in the doctor's office.  The preparation time took longer than the stint removal.  I was given a Cipro to counteract any possible infection and a small pill (turns your urine orange) to counteract the possible burning when urinating following the procedure.  I was asked to undress from the waist down, sit on the table and placed with a large cover over my lower half.  The doctor came in and gave me a shot to ease the pain and calm my nerves.  Then I was asked to lean back with my ankles together.  In less than 2 minutes the stint was out.  There was no pain and only a few seconds of slight pressure.  I'm back at work today.  Except for some continuing pain from the right stint, and a bit of blood in the urine....I am GREAT!  Please don't worry about having this procedure done in the doctor's office.  It's really not bad at all.  The worry was worse than anything.  I too was use to having the procedure done under general anesthesia so I was worried.  Don't worry.  It'll be okay.

[jabez1972]

I had my transplant in 2009 but spoke to patients who had previously had the the stent removal. They said it was painful so i opted for a GA. No problem whatsoever the op went well and no post operation pain. well done NHS.

[warney26]

I had different type of surgery but did have a stent in each kidney itself.  I had my bladder removed and a stoma formed so urine would permanently drain into an external bag. I had a stent in each kidney for the first 10 days (was in hospital just over two weeks.  they told me it may be a slightly uncomfortable sensation but to be honest I felt  little if anything. Maybe by then the extreme post surgery agony of the bladder removal etc had upped my tolerance lol