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How long does it take for kidney stones to pass?

Hello, i am a 20 year old student and recently found that i have two kidney stones. I believe they have both moved from my kidney to my bladder and was wondering how long it takes to pass them through my urine once they are already in my bladder. These stones are 1mm and 2mm and also i was wondering to what extent the pain is going to be when i pass them?
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Avatar universal
I have had 2 of these awful stones. The first one came through in about 2 hours, the second one (3mm) hung out for about 3 days. A trip to the ER resulted in a shot of toredol, which is the most wonderful drug ever. It took the pain from a 10 to about a 2. I was able to get fluids in and flush the darn little thing out. It is hard to flush out when you are dehydrated from throwing up. When it hasn't come out after 48 hours, it was stuck going in to the bladder for at least a day and a half, I was told to drink and walk. That is exactly what I did. I took a huge container of water and walked around the neighborhood. I did that for about an hour and went to bed. The next morning it had come through. Now I use lemon water and hydrangea to try to prevent it from happening again. I also stopped drinking soda.
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4851940 tn?1515694593
Yes, a kidney stone can stop moving by getting stuck or lodged anywhere in the kidney tract.  When this happens, you will not get any bleeding, you may not feel any pain at all, and you may not get any infections.  Infections can happen as the stone scratches the kidney tract as it moves.

The doctor should always check your urine, whether it has blood in it or not, for any signs of bacterial infection and especially if you are feeling unwell too.  A antibiotic would be prescribed for any bacterial infections.

The process of the kidney stone moving can taken many months and even then it does not always come out on its own and medical intervention is required to remove it or break the stone up into small fragments for it to pass through the urinary tract.  Sometimes shattering the stone into small pieces is not possible depending on the size of the stone, the type of the stone and where and how fast it is stuck.

Bleeding and pain usually happen when the stone is moving.  This can stop and you may feel that the stone has gone or dissolved.  You may feel well for a few weeks or months and then symptoms may  flare right up again.

Until you experience no problems for around 3 years, and get no intermittent pains and other symptoms, you cannot assume that your stone has gone or been dissolved.  Only a dye xray or other imaging would confirm whether you have a stone or not.

Once you know that you have a kidney stone and even when this has gone by whatever means, you are still at a very high risk of getting more kidney stones.  If you are under the care of a urologist, they will usually not discharge you, usually before 3 years, if all is well to make sure you have no more kidney stones formed.   This does not mean that you never will get another kidney stone, hopefully you won't, but you need to be mindful about what you eat and ensure that you drink plenty of fluids.

There are 4 different types of kidney stones.  If you are lucky enough to be able to catch a stone (this can be as small as a grain of sand), get it sent off to the laboratory to diagnose the composition of the stone.

Depending on the type of the stone, you may need to avoid certain foods and certain drinks.   Most importantly though, unless advised by your urologist not to, you should drink plenty of fluids - 2-3 litres is usually recommended every day, your urologist and doctor will advise you on this to your specific needs.  

Dehydration (lack of fluids in the body, especially if you do not drink enough or sweat a lot), can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

As you have not noticed anything pass through yet, it is highly unlikely that the stone has passed.

Urinate into a clear clean glass jar so that you can look at the urine. A sandy deposit may indicate that the stone is passing through.  When you urinate as the stone passes (depending on its size), you will feel a lot of pain and discomfort.  

When I was in hospital, I was given a fine sieve with a fine gauze fabric to strain my urine through to catch any stones - none, not even a grain of sand came out.  My urine was clear too, but the stone was stuck fast and lodged in the ureter (the tube that runs from the kidney to the bladder).  In the end to save my life, I had to have urgent surgery to remove the stone.  I had been extremely ill intermittently for a year and parts of the stone had  come out.    It was only by having a dye xray that showed up where the kidney stone was lodged.  The hospital also did ultrasound scans to see if the stone had moved at all.  Unfortunately it hadn't.

I was discharged from the consultant after 3 years, but even after that time I have experienced pain in the kidneys, urinary tract infections and have also found a lot of sandy sediment in the urine.  

I have heard that drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice with water can help to dissolve kidney stones.  I do drink this from time to time (with added honey sometimes with hot water to help with throat issues), but I do not know if this does actually dissolve kidney stones.  Of course, it would also depend on the composition of your stone - what your stone is made of.

If you experience a high fever, severe pain, nausea or vomiting - seek urgent medical attention.
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Avatar universal
I was just wondering if I'm in the clear. I had been n pain and peeing a lot of blood for 3 weeks finally went to the dr. On Friday She gave me some pain meds and some flomax. And a strainer for me to p in. She told me if I was still hurting to come back Monday morning to get a ct scan. My pain had stopped before Monday morning and my pee is clearing up but nothing has passed through yet? I'm just wondering I'm I gonna really feel it later, has it just found a little nesting place?  Any advice would b appreciated very much
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Avatar universal
I have had a continual sore left kidney for about three years when I lean back in a chair too long or sleep on my back many hours, I can feel the kidney is sore from that prolonged pressure. Finally for my first kidney stone pain when urinating, I took about three drops of Chanca Piedra, about a tablespoon of cider vinegar in a small amount of water, in five hours about eight vitamin Cs (1,500mg x 8) spread apart, extra Lysine for the immune (about 4), three magnesium pills, low on food and watched my foods (not really because I had sweet popcorn actually), low-moderate on water since I hoped to dissolve the stone before being forced to flush it. All pain was gone in about five hours and I completely recovered from even the sensitive left side that same day. Certain the stone dissolved in the same place it was lodged which was midway between the left kidney and the bladder....it never seemed to move lower. If it did flush out it must have dissolved tremendously for me not to feel it move lower. I think it completely dissolved though in that one place it had been lodged.
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Avatar universal
For my first kidney stone pain, I took about three drops of Chanca Piedra, about a tablespoon of cider vinegar in a small amount of water, in five hours about eight vitamin Cs (1,500mg x 8) spread apart, extra Lysine for the immune (about 4), three magnesium pills, low on food and watched my foods (not really because I had sweet popcorn actually), low-moderate on water since I hoped to dissolve the stone before being forced to flush it. All pain was gone in about five hours and I completely recovered from even the sensitive left side that same day. Certain the stone dissolved in the same place it was lodged which was midway between the left kidney and the bladder....it never seemed to move lower. If it did flush out it must have dissolved tremendously for me not to feel it move lower. I think it completely dissolved though in that one place it had been lodged.
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Avatar universal
Have you lost your mind.   OR Just been very Lucky I'V just spent the past week trying to pass a couple of kidney stones I spent the day in the ER they prescribed flomax got some dilaudid which I haven't been taking everyday(Dilaudid) but when I need it. Flomax everyday dialates your urethra (pass easyer). 0H my GOD and I'm a woman and been in Crippling pain from my back right kidney coming around my side just like back labor but worse!!!  and Pain right down to my urethra.Not everyone is the Same. Yesterday my Left and Right back were in pain . So Off for more tests Now they want to break it up to help it pass. Oh joy. l pray this helps.  A had 3Boys 8, 9, 10 LBS baby No pain medication . lam 60yrs old l would rather do that today again then this anytime!  Peace & Health to ALL, Get well soon
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Avatar universal
Hi, I have kidney stone 4mm in my left kidney, 2mm in right kidney
which was detected a week ago, i am not sure that i have passed it or not, cause since two days i have no clue of pain, but last week sat early morning i had severe pain for two hours and then the same day i had a pricking sensation in the place where i urinate. so since that day the pain stopped coming.
Can any one tell me weather i have passed or not, my urine color is also changed to water color. any signs that i have passed or not?

PS. I am in medication.  
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Avatar universal
Thank u for your post! I went to urgent care today, 6mm stone! Told me 50/50 chance i could pass on my own. Scared the crap outta me! I get stones off and on but never that large! Pain meds, drink water etc. im going to try what u posted about the lemon juice!
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Avatar universal
Hi, my gp has given me tamsulosin and told me it relaxes tubes so it will pass through easier. I had gall stones removed years ago and the pain was very similar to this. I think my pain threshold has got lower though because I feel dreadful at the moment. I can't wait to be rid of it so I will keep drinking water as advised .
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Avatar universal
Thanks for all your posts guys and gals. I was rushed to hospital after collapsing with pain yesterday.  It felt like someone was stabbing me over and over again in the left kidney.  The same morning I had been to the doctors for an assumed water infection, which I was given meds for, I had a full bladder feeling although it was empty (this feeling started 12am and lasted until 11:45am point of collapse).  I was rushed to hospital and given morphine, which did nothing for the pain, it took the hospital 6 hours to finally do a ct scan which showed the stones in my kidney and the swelling to the top of it which had been caused by them. I was then given a suppository (diclofenac) which finally brought the pain down to a manageable 5! I am still vomiting but topping up with water. I am going to try the lemon juice thing, however I was told categorically not to drink cranberry or grapefruit juice as they can cause problems for the kidney. This is only day 2 for me and keeping the pain under control has taken up my whole day, I feel that this will continue into the night. On a final note, the hospital gave me Tamsulosin which is usually given to men, they said it would widen the passage from the kidney for the stones to pass! No one, including the chemist, had heard of this
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Avatar universal
First stone past on its own, second stone was huge 14mm.Went nine days before I went to Er.I was septic. Was out in ICU for 4 days. Was told if I waited 6 more hours I'd be dead. 4 years later I'm on my 4 th some 6mm. Looking for a doctor now. Not going to wait.
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Avatar universal
My Dr. said kidney to ureter, because that is the smallest diameter (about the diameter of 3 hairs) is where it is most painful. A little bit before the bladder is where it is the narrowest. When I felt at my worst, the CT scan showed it there.The diameter of your urethra is about 6 mm I read, so that should not be as bad.
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Avatar universal
I am a 68 year old male and approx 7 years ago I stopped counting how many kidney stones I had after I hit #30. Since then I've had at least 5 more anyway. My first stone was back in 87 and I had to have it surgically removed because of its size. That was not fun and neither was the plastic tube they left in me for a week or more so my ueretha could heal from being cut open during the surgery. Since then, all my other stones have passed on their own, although all of them required a visit to the ER for a shot of demoral to kill the pain. The stones all then passed within a day of going to the ER and upon leaving the ER, I had no more pain.

About 4 weeks ago today, I started getting that pain twinge at 4 AM that I know to be the beginning of a kidney stone. The pain quickly got much worse, but I tried to tough it out at home using prescription pain meds. It lessened the pain somewhat so that it was tolerable. The pain then went away completely within 7.5 hours.

The next day when I woke up, I had no pain but was urinating almost pure dark brown/reddish blood. That continued for most of the morning, but not with a great deal of pain.

Two days later, I was awakened at 3AM with the same old "stone pain", and it again progressively got much worse. Again, I took prescription pain killers and toughed it out..BARELY. That pain lasted again for 7.5 hours and then went away completely.

Two days later I was urinating what looked like almost pure blood again and I did so in the doctor's office. I am a VA patient so my primary care physician scheduled me for a Cat Scan the following day at the VA facility that does Cat Scans, about 50 miles away.

The next morning I was driving to have the Cat Scan done but I had to stop due to the severe pain I was having and I couldn't drive. I got to a nearby hospital emergency room and was seen immediately. They gave me a shot of demoral to ease the pain and did a Cat Scan there. It showed I had a 4.5 stone, that was half way through my kidney at that point.  A second shot of demoral and then they sent me home after my wife picked me up with a prescription for Flomax, an antinausea pill, and hydrocodone pills.. The ER Doctor told me that 85% of stones under 5mm will pass on their own, but to strain my urine when I urinated and to drink plenty of water.

That was two weeks ago yesterday and since then, I have had three more different days where my urine looked almost like pure brownish/red blood and that lasted several hours after waking each time. Of course, I have not yet passed the stone and I'm drinking water,at least 8-12 oz bottles a day.and peeing my little brains out. I can't go out because of all the intake of water and having to strain the urine and basically I'm home bound until this one passes.

With all the kidney stones I've had in the past, with the exception of the first one,I have never had the blood colored urine with any of them and I have never had one not pass within a day of going to the ER and getting a pain shot of demoral. My big concern is the blood colored urine and the number of times I have now had that. Does that mean I have major infection going on at times? In between those times, my urine is not bloody but just clear.

If I don't pass this little baby on my own by next week this time, I am going to ask to see a VA Urologist at the main VA hospital and ask them to do whatever to get it out.


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4851940 tn?1515694593
Sorry DestinedToBeAnRN76, but I cannot agree with your post with regard to the pain and suffering of having a kidney stone.

I am a female and at the age of 38/39 experienced pins and needles in my feet.  Doctors didn't know what the matter was.  I had alternative treatment with a reflexologist and aromatherapist who straight away said that I had a waterworks problem.

Some months later I started to have pains in my back just below the ribs.  I also experienced renal colic (this is felt like uncomfortable wind in the belly depending on which side is ill).  I experienced extremely severe painful back.  

I had lots of infections when the stone started to move.  I would pass pure blood, sometimes green pus, I also had vomiting and diarrhea all at the same time and extremely ill.  I was prescribed with pethedine as normal pain killers had no effect.  This went on for months before I eventually saw a urologist who was under the impression that my stone was in the bladder (which it wasn't).  At one point the pain was so severe that when lay in bed ill, I was thrust into a sitting position.

Parts of my stone must have come out when I was extremely ill and in pain.  But the rest of the stone got stuck in the ureter.  I was sent to the hospital urgently by my doctor who came to visit me at home when I phoned the surgery and said I was too ill to come to my appointment (I did not ask for a home visit).

At hospital I was given pain killing injections on a regular basis and because of that I did not feel any pain.  I had to catch my urine and put it though a sieve to catch the stone in the event it passed out.  But nothing happened.  I was wheeled in a wheelchair to get scanned and it showed that the stone was solidly stuck in the ureter.  The urologist decided that I had to have an urgent operation to remove the stone and was told after the operation that it couldn't have waited any longer because the kidney had built up too much pressure from the blockage in the ureter.  Any more delay would have resulted in the loss of my kidney.

My good kidney also gave me a lot of pain which was felt just below the rib cage at the front and at the back.  

Since that time, I have had some problems when I have passed a lot of sediment with the urine.  

You may already be aware that there are 4 main different types of kidney stones which are caused by different things and the Cystine stone is hereditary.

Someone did tell me to drink lemon juice and also have parsley to help stop the formation or to help dissolve a stone.  I do not know if this works or not, but I have been drinking water with lemon juice and did pass sediment - so who knows!  

As you all will be aware a kidney stone can be any size, some as small as a grain of sand.  Even though a stone can be so small it can still cause a lot of problems as it passes down the urinary tract.  If a kidney stone does not move, you would not know that you have one.

A doctor told me that I did not have textbook symptoms of a kidney stone, and to begin with I had been treated for depression.

And I agree with what people say - that having a kidney stone is worse than being in labour!
Helpful - 0
7681978 tn?1393324047
Flomax, does NOT break up the stone. Flomax helps relieve the pressure you feel in the bladder, as well as dilates your ureters to help your body pass the stone with less discomfort, and ease of getting it out of the urethra.

Oxycodone is just generic Percocet narcotic. An ER doctor told me it's comparable to the pain relief strength of Dilaudid. I am always given the Dilaudid for my kidney stone attacks in the Emergency Room via intravenous injection. I never had to start the Percocet, until after 14 hours of uninterrupted pain relief with the Dilaudid. It's so much better than Morphine. It never causes a headache like Morphine does.
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7681978 tn?1393324047
The only time there would be a restriction placed on a narcotic fill, is if a different fill was done not too long before the next script was written. Doctor's now have to follow a very tight protocol, meaning the diagnosis has to fall under a specific diagnosis for the narcotic prescription to be written. The reason for the prescription cannot be the same, even if it's the same diagnosis as before. The dosing instructions have to be written differently. Sometimes the prescription cannot be for the same drug, or if the dose is different, the doctor must clearly write for a stronger medicine, or a lower strength medicine. Federal Drug Administration keeps record of each patient, and the narcotic prescriptions that the patient has received, and filled on each script written. Restrictions for any patient can be tightly restricted, if the patient has had several within a short window of time. The reason for such stringent rules for narcotic prescription prescribing, is because of people who abuse the use of narcotics, by either recreational use, illegal selling and distribution, and accidental or intentional overdose, which can lead to death. Doctor's are audited each time a narcotic script writing creates a pattern with one, or many patients. A need for pain narcotics diagnosis must be clearly stated in the patients Federal Doppler record for narcotic prescriptions.
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7681978 tn?1393324047
The only places you should feel any pain at all from the kidney stones, is in the ureters, if you're female. (the ureters are the tubes that carry your urine from the kidneys to the bladder). In Females, once the stone(s) reach the bladder, it should be no pain at all, and it doesn't take long at all for the stones to pass when you urinate, the stones will be carried out of the bladder, through the urethra. Females have a short, short urethra, which is why little to no pain is felt once the stones reach the bladder to pass in the urine stream, through the urethra, to the outside of the body.

In Males the stone has to travel through the penis, and is painful to pass because it is a longer trip for the stone to travel once the stone is passed out of the ureters, to the bladder, and through the urethra in the penis, to the outside of the body. Males have two ureters like females. However, the Male urinary tract is slightly different in that the stone(s) pass from the ureters, then to the bladder, then through the urethra (inside the penis), and it is long and narrow, and the stones cause a great deal of discomfort on the way outside the body, in the urine stream.
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Avatar universal
I am having my 2nd bout with Kidney stones, I am 36 years old, strong male. I have an extremely high threshold for pain ( ive broken finger playing football and, set them right there and kept playing). Kidney stone make me cry like a little girl scraping her knee.
I knew I was having one a week prior to  to the pain, my pee was the color of Apple Juice (blood in urine). I was hoping that it was just a small one. My last one was 2-3 MM and passed in one day after my ER visit.

I had to go to the ER 2 days ago, I always drive myself ambo costs to much but if you cant stand the pain call an ambo to get seen right away, sat in waiting room an hour, got back they atleast gave me meds before blood work to take the edge off. I was released 4 hours later with a prescription of Diladid (sp. there)... went home, and had to go back within 6 hours of leaving, the pain was even more intense than it was when I went 12 hrs before. This time I was left in waiting room 3 hours before getting back (which was insane). This time they atleast gave me a cat scan. It is a 6-7MM stone. This time they gave me Oxycodone and Flomax ( to break it up). Today I am still feeling pain, but it has moved to the front of the belly which has less pain than in the flank/back area. Other than drinking ALOT of water, there is not much you can do but suck it up and take the pain meds they give you. I drink 4 bottles of water daily on a normal day, with kidney stones I will drink about 16 bottles a day (one an hour). Good luck with your future stones.

*** I had a hard time getting my narcotic prescriptions filled. There is some kind of DEA restriction on the pharmacy giving them out. MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR MEDS FROM THE HOSPITAL PHARMACY YOU WENT TO!
Helpful - 0
4851940 tn?1515694593
Sorry to hear that you have been through the ordeal of kidney stone problems.  Thanks for sharing what you have been through and how you managed to rid the stone without surgical intervention.  Nice to know that the lemon juice actually does work.

I've been there and had to have mine surgically removed in the end.  Most of it did break up over a number of months that made me very ill, but the last bit got stuck solidly in the ureter and had to be surgically removed.

Unfortunately, once we have had problems with kidney stones, the likely chance of us getting them again is increased.

If you can catch the kidney stone, get it analysed so that you know what its composition is.  Mine was a calcium oxalate stone and I was told to cut out dairy produce and some foods, as well as drink a lot.  
I haven't had a stone again, but do occasionally get an uncomfortable feeling and a lot of very fine sediment in the urine.  I drink freshly squeezed lemon juice mixed with water from time to time.

Keep well and stone free.
Best wishes
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Avatar universal
I ended up at Urgent Care yesterday and CT Scan showed a kidney stone 6mm.   They said anything >5 mm one can't pass on one's own and that I would need intervention.   But - the Urgent Care doc had me pull up a YouTube video about drinking lemon juice (8 oz straight up, then an 8-oz glass of water w/ 1 oz lemon juice every hour on the hour for 11 hrs).  

I drank the lemon juice last evening but only got in 2 of the follow-up glasses.  Woke up in the night with pain, but nothing like what I went through yesterday with the stabbing pain and vomiting.    Have been up for 2.5 hours and no pain yet.    Peed into a glass and it's cloudy but not the dark reddish brown it was at Urgent Care yesterday.

Best part?  There was a small stone in the bottom of the glass!   The lemon juice seems to be breaking it up!   Have an appt w/ urologist this afternoon and will take it in to determine size and composition.

Anyway - I'm stoked!   Crossing my fingers because I really didn't want to have to have a procedure to get rid of this thing.
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Avatar universal
I'm a 31 yr old female never had a kidney stone the pain was sudden and crippling I thought something had ruptured. After er visit and catscan they told me I had a urinary infection and small kidney stone. The doctors gave me a bunch of meds said drink lots of water and to stay on a easy diet of broth and easy to digestion foods said it helps with the passing. So for 4 days I've drink water cranberry juice and can't get off the couch. I will say a heating pad helps with the discomfort a lot. I hope to never ever experience this again. Good luck everyone
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Avatar universal
It started while I was playing xbox online then it hit me like my back hurt so bad I thought it was cause I needed to go poop #2 , but the pain was so bad to where I had to go to the hospital . Once I got there they gave me an I-V an gave me morfine / medicine to block the pain . It took bout 15 mins to kick in . Then they gave me a cat scan an said I had a 5 mm stone in right side , then let me go with a prescription for pain an nausea. I was peeing blood an then it stopped hurting so I thought I was done so 2 weeks go by then the pain worse I missed about a week of work and went to doctor an another X-ray an they  said we just see the left side bladder is backed up that's all they said an now they want me to get a X-ray with die that's where I stand for now 2 more days till X-ray , o an I had gastric bypass sergury 2-1/2 months ago and I'm 25 years old and male/guy from TX!
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4851940 tn?1515694593
There is no way of knowing how long it will take to pass a stone.

I was advised my a specialist (urologist) to drink 2-3 litres of water every day.

If you get a lot of pain and discomfort and the stone is too big to pass through the urethra, a urologist has an implement that can remove the stone.  

Urinate in a clean jar and look at your urine.  If you see a lot of sediment that settles on the bottom or looks like grains of sand, then that is the stone that is breaking up.

If you get blood or other discharge with urination, make an appointment as soon as possible with your doctor as that would indicate that you have an infection and would need a course of antibiotics.
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Avatar universal
a 5mm stone is finly moved frm my kidny but it stukd n blndr so what i should do..? how much water i should drink  and hw much time it ll take..?
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