Left Flank Pain Every Morning for over a year, Could it be Nephrocalcinosis?

[Jenita7]

Hi, I'm a 24 year old female and I've been having left flank pain every morning for a little over a year. At first I thought it was normal, since it felt like pressure build up as if I needed to void. Which I did for awhile and the pain was relieved. Now its becoming worse. This pain wakes me up at 3am in the morning, sometimes 6am, and its more severe. Some mornings I'm in tears. The 2 things I do to alleviate some pain so I can try to get more sleep is void, and sleep elevated with a back support pillow. Even so the pain doesn't go away anymore it's so presistant, and once I'm finally out of bed and doing things the pain goes away. This isn't a way to live anymore. I can't get enough sleep. I've complained to my primary care physician. She suggested blood work and an xray of my kidneys. Bloodwork and xray came back normal except my potassium was low. So she suggested a CAT scan of my kidneys which revealed kidney stones (her interpretation). She suggested I see a urologist for the kidney stones, and a nephrologist for my presistant low potassium. I saw the urologist he said I did not have kidney stones except I apparently had "Medullary Sponge Kidney." Which is a congenital condition which your tubules in your kidney's are formed like cysts which is a benign dx that I shouldn't worry about. So I went to the nephrologist and he said I don't have "Medullary Sponge Kidneys!" He read the CAT scan results and said that the Medullary Sponge Kidney is just one of the diagnosis that comes up as a result of how my kidneys looked. He said it looks as if your kidneys are retaining calcium which would explain the low potassium. So now I have to take potassium pills to avoid more calcium build up in my kidneys. So apparently I have nephrocalcinosis. So my question is: Could this Nephrocalcinosis be the cause of my chronic left kidney pain? The nephrologist said that people with Nephrocalcinosis never shows symptoms until they are in kidney failure. Which I was lucky they found this out now so I can avoid kidney failure. The end result is the doctors are still stumped to why I have this chronic left flank pain, and there's nothing they can do! They suggested taking Tylenol PM before bed, but by the time the pain arises the tylenol wore out and I still get up with pain!. Ugh this is so frustrating.

[Jenita7]

Cool, I'll ask the nephrologist if that's a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion, but I have to ask...Why would taking magnesium help?

[Caryopteris]

I would ask if it would be okay to try taking magnesium as well as potassium.  And how much can you take every morning?  500 mg?  

Many people are deficient and you may get pain relief with it.  But since you have a body that handles calcium strangely, I wouldn't try it without checking with the nephrologist.