Should Kidney Stone Pain Last this Long?

[Regalhank]

Kidney stone over a year ago and went to the ER but wished I would die all along the way.  After many, many drugs and some time, I was as good as new though I did have a cystoscopy which didn't reveal anything obvious (I never actually saw passed stone so don't know where it went).  After some months  another x-ray revealed just tiny, tiny fragments which they said they would check up on in 6 months which would have been this week.  Over a week ago, however, pain became bad in left quadrant.  Thought it might be those fragments and went to urologist--x-ray and cat scan and urinalysis showed nothing but I am still in pain.  Now, I do have diverticulosis and thought it might be that but the cat scan  did not show anything.  It did show a slightly enlarged uterus.  Now the pain is over a week.  Not much seems to help.  Primary physician still thinks it might be kidney stone "dust" so I am having another scan with dye this week.  Could this be?  Why won't it get any better?

[jemma116]

It depends on the size and type of the kidney stone.  Not all stones show up on some of the imaging.  There are 4 main different types of stones.

It is a good thing that you are going to have the cat scan with the dye because that will be able to show how your urinary tract is working and where the problem is.

A stone can be as small as a grain of sand, but it still can cause a lot of pain and discomfort and other horrible symptoms (sorry) as it moves along the urinary tract.

Take your pain relief medication as directed and make sure that you drink plenty of water.  Get a clean glass jar and urinate into that so that you can observe your urine.  A cloudy, very strong smelling urine may indicate an infection.  You may notice visible blood in the urine.  Sometimes the urine may be very dark, which could indicate blood or that you are dehydrated.
If you notice any of these symptoms it would be wise to see a doctor to check the urine as any infection would have to be treated.

If you do happen to catch a stone when you urinate, get the doctor to send it to the laboratory to find out its composition so that you will be able to avoid certain foods that can cause some types of stones.

Unfortunately kidney stones are very unpredictable and there is no specific time scale when they will come out.  Drinking lots of water will help to get them moving if they are not stuck.  I have read that drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice in a glassful of water is a good way to get them dissolved.  I have drunk this, but cannot really say if it works or not.  
May be it does, because I have noticed a few times having lots of sediment in the urine.  

Best of luck.

[Unclebuck257]

Ironically, earlier this year I had three stones of various sizes. I had a Cat Scan at a local  ER that showed the stones, all 3 under 5 mm in size. I then had another Cat Scan done at the VA within a month or so and supposedly it showed no stones at all. Keep in mind that off and on during this time period I was having severe kidney stone pain too and very bloody urine. A few weeks later I was back in the local ER due to severe pain and had another Cat Scan done that showed I had three stones again, the same three stones I had more than a month previously and in the very first Cat Scan. I demanded a re-read of my Cat Scan at the local VA hospital and finally got one and the re-read showed the three stones were definitely there. Someone has misread that second Cat Scan and when I asked my civilian Urologist about it he told me that a misread is not that infrequent and that is why he reads and interpretes all his own Cat Scans and doesn't rely on someone else. My point to you is that apparently any Cat Scan can be misread regarding kidney stones and yes, you having another Cat Scan with dye this week would be a good thing. Yes your pain could be from kidney stones and your pain probably won't be gone completely ,IF IT IS KIDNEY STONE (S), until they are dealt with and gone, by whatever method.