Has anyone had similar symptoms?

[Venione]

I have had 3 bouts with kidney stones in the past. Each time the symptoms are different.
First time was the excruciating consistent pain for about 5 hours resulting in a stone being passed.
Second time was off and on pain, but pain was mild in comparison to the first, resulting in a stone being passed days later which looked completely different then the last one.
Third time was a quick bout of side pain and chills which  went away within an hour and I am assuming I passed a stone but no evidence to prove it.
The Second and Third were within a year of each other.
Now, about another year later I am experiencing what appears to be blood and discoloration of urine but no pain as of yet with a mild burning feeling upon urinating which started a few days ago so I started drinking more water, it looked good for a couple of days but now its back and I'm obviously worried about it.
My question is:  Does this sound like another possible symptom of kidney stone/s, where brownish/orange/reddish urine results without any of the tell tale side pains?

[mctripat]

Bully pucky... nothing can be done to stop kidney stones from forming or keep you fro passing stones and getting sick...This is not true.

Did you read my post on Sept 15 about the kidney stone handbook? Please go to this web site http://www.thekidneystonehandbook.net I believe.. Dr. Stephen Leslie co wrote the book with Gail Saviz.  

People I know what I am talking about I have had kidney stones/kidney disease since 1965.

Your doctor is wrong most kidney stones can be treated: the goal is to stop or slow down the formation of them.  This is accomplished through metabolic testing... which many be done by a nephrologist in some parts of the US. Once it is determined what is causing the stones to form and the composition of them..( there are about 3 or 4 kinds that are the most common and people can have more than one kind... and the stones are layered with deposits.... just like a rock with different colored strata  and this changes over time) a special diet and/or medication can be prescribed.

I made a post on Sept 15 I think read it... this metabolic testing is a 24 urine catch. Some doctors will order it and not understand how to interpret the results... (they won't say that) they say I don't know what causes your kidney stones. There is most likely another doctor in your area ( if you live in a fairly big city) who is an expert at understanding the results of the test.. who may be a nephrologist not a urologist.

Nephrologists treat inoperable kidney disease and  you can see one in addition to a urologist or instead of one, if the urologist shortage is very bad where you live. These doctors measure kidney function in different ways.

A nephrologist once saved me from being released from the hospital and then coming back to the ER within an hour , by arguing with my urologist and insisting I have another test before I was release. This was also a radiological test.. and the IVP was commonly used before CT scans were invented.

I ended up having emergency surgery as another group of kidney stones was ready to move around and form another blockage.  I already had had a very bad kidney infection with septicemia for a while and later my doctor did a cystoscopy and used the stone catcher basket to remove some.  I was in the OR within 15 minutes. All of you know sepsis kills the most people in hospitals don't you?

I ended up having about 1/3 of my side sliced open.(like a kidney transplant incision).. and the recovery period was 3 months.  Many people that had jobs could not work for at least 2 months. I was in intensive care for 3 days. But, I fought hard to get my life back and recover... This is why ESWL and Utererscopy and percutaneous surgery were invented so big incisions did not have to be made. Since about 1985 urology residents have been taught the 3 new methods to remove stones... what I had done was started sometime before WWII and I had it done in 1983. Residents may still learn the older methods but they learn on a simulator... or through reading books... no cadavers are involved.

Back to metabolic testing:
Your urologist who ordered the test but did not understand the results... is not really interested in kidney stones.  He has another subspecialty... any kind of kidney cancer..is important right now as.. the field is changing fast... also use of robotics.. using the Da Vinci Robot to treat prostate cancer. Also some doctors are transplant surgeons.

You can look up kidney stone treatment programs in this book: at some universities/hospitals: University of Texas SW Medical Center in Dallas. University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, University of California in Orange County, Wake Forest University, Duke University,   I think it is Washington University in Omaha, Nebraska  also the Mayo clinic in Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Dr. Leslie gives you a list... there was also a doctor at the University of California at Davis. There is a man who has some kind of a private practice/university association in Indiana... James Lingman..etc. There is also a doctor in private practice in St. Paul, Minn.

The kidney stone handbook gives you a list of urologists who are interested in kidney stones and there location. A few are in private practice.
Most are associated with universities.. a few of them are private not state universities...

do not give up.  I am going to go to Dallas to see the expert there because where I am there are no real kidney stone experts available who work full time... I have access to... and I have difficult kidney stones so maybe 90% of the urologists currently practicing can't treat me properly.

mctripat

[Unclebuck257]

My Urologist, my civilian Urologist, that I used a few months ago to remove the 3 stones that were causing me so many problems from March to May of this year is a very "down to earth" kind of guy. He's a straight talker too, which I like very much. When I asked him the question on prevention that you asked me, his answer to me was very honest. He told me that there isn't much you can do to prevent getting kidney stones and if you're prone to getting them, you will. He did say that making sure you drink plentry of fluids all the time and making sure you drink enough so that your urine is constantly a clear color will certainly help. He also said that eliminating certain things in your diet, depending on what your stones are made up of,  may help in prevention too, but he didn't put a whole lot of stock in that. Basically his major thing was drinking plenty of fluids and I'll probably see you again! I appreciated his honesty since over all the years I've been getting stones, I've tried all the diet restrictions etc and nothing stopped me from getting stones. Personally, I decided to enjoy eating what I wanted to, because I was going to get stones anyway apparently. His statement to me just confirmed my beliefs.

[Venione]

Yeah, well the color has gone away and this past weekend I had that frequent urge to go to the restroom almost constantly but it all seems to have subsided for the last few days now.  Didn't feel or see a stone come out at all. Is that typical as well?   Every time I get it, symptoms are a bit different then the last.
Will go see the doc regardless.  
Hope things improve for you as well.  Have you tried anything that seems to have worked for you in prevention?
Thanks again.

[Unclebuck257]

I fully agree with you about getting freaked out! In all the years that I've had stones now, that last bout, earlier this year, was the first time that I ever urinated discolored urine and it was highly discolored to the point of looking like pure brownish red. It does upset a person, but if it continues, I'd suggest that you call your Urologist immediately and get in there and make arrangements to get those stones removed. That's what I did.

[Venione]

Thanks for the reply.  
I thought I would have some kind of obvious pain by now if it was a stone but then again,  the second stone I had didn't cause pain but I had the constant urge to urinate but could not urinate and there was microscopic blood present without the pain.  This time its actually seeing what I think is blood in urine that freaks me out because I can actually see something coming out of me I've never seen before.

[Unclebuck257]

The simple and quickest answer I can give you after years of having stones and numerous stones in all those years is...YES. As a matter of fact, I just experienced somewhat of the same thing earlier this year. As it turned out I had 3 different stones at the same time while expereiencing the discolored urine. I did however have a great deal of pain that was on and off for several months due to a misdiagnosis of "no stones" from first cat scan. I did not have the severe pain though, most of the time, when I experienced the dark reddish/brown urine, usually in the mornings and early day periods.