The presence of kidney stones is not a good sign and sometimes the pain due to stones becomes so unbearable that an emergency arises which could lead you in front of a doctor. The pain caused by kidney stones can occur any time in the day or night and could land you in the emergency ward of a nearby hospital, so it is better that you know the symptoms of kidney stones and start taking precautions as soon as possible. Also, it becomes important that you have knowledge about the signs of kidney stones and take timely precautions and consultations with your doctor to prevent it from becoming a headache for you and prove an obstacle in your work and may affect your life.
Symptoms of Kidney Stones:
Here know more about the common symptoms of kidney stones. These symptoms, if present, you should surely visit a urologist on an urgent basis – Tells Dr Sandeep Harkar, Senior Consultant Urologist, Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon.
1. Feeling Pain in Sides of the Body:
This is the first and commonly known symptom of Kidney Stone. If kidney stones are present may cause pain in the sides of your body which may either be on the left side or the right side, ust below the rib cage. There is a sudden onset of high-intensity pain which is variable in intensity and location though most commonly, if the location of the stone is within the kidney, you will feel pain in the sides and towards the back. If the kidney stone has moved downwards in the urinary pipe called as ureter, the pain also moves downward area by the groin area. Kidney stone pain arises suddenly, and the intensity of the pain reaches maximum level within minutes. You may get relief from this severe pain either by itself or by taking some medication. In case the kidney stone moves downward in the urinary pipe to the nearby areas of the urinary bladder, you will start feeling pain in the groin area or within the testicle of the same side or at the tip of the penis. In case you are facing such symptoms you could say that the pain may be caused by kidney stones and as a result you need to consult a Urologist to get instant relief from this acute pain.
2. Vomiting:
Kidney Stone presence in your body may also cause a sensation of vomiting if the stone has moved down in the urinary pipe and is creating a hindrance in passing of the urine. When urine flow is obstructed, the kidney swells due to the collection of urine in it. With the kidney swelling the patient feels a sensation of nausea & even vomiting in many cases. The vomiting level is so high that nothing digests neither any fluids, medicine nor any food entering your body. In such cases, you may need to be admitted to a hospital and your treatment starts by giving you intravenous fluids, anti-emetics and other medications.
3. Blood in Urine:
The presence of kidney stones in your body may cause bleeding in your urine. Mostly it causes microscopic bleeding in urine which is not seen by the naked eye but is seen in routine urine examination. The cause of blood in urine is due to irritation caused by the stone inside the kidney or the pipe called ureter. Presence of blood in the urine could be sometimes very dangerous and generally occurs with pain. In case the patient complains of having side pain with blood in urine, these symptoms strongly point towards having a kidney stone.
4. Feeling Pain While Urinating:
Kidney stones come down within the lower ureter or in the pipe that carries urine into the urinary bladder, various symptoms can occur. The commonly known symptoms found in these patients is an increased frequency of urination and when the patient goes to pass the urine multiple times but passes only a few drops. Another commonly known complication is that the patient’s feeling passing of the urine is urgent and it cannot be delayed anymore. Sometimes patient complains that urine has leaked and wets their underwear. If the stone has moved downwards and has got stuck into the bladder or urethra (urine tube carrying urine from the bladder to outside), these patients may have severe difficulty in passing out the urine, may get a full bladder & experience severe lower abdominal pain due to holding up of urine in the urinary bladder. They may have burning in urine also. A burning sensation while passing the urine can also be a symptom related to urinary tract infection which is sometimes caused by kidney stones.
5. Fever:
Fever, along with pain on one side of Abdomen usually is suggestive of stone stuck in ureter along with urinary infection. This should be taken seriously as urinary tract infection in presence of obstructing kidney/ ureteric stone may sometimes lead to worsening of infection and even become life threatening if not resolved in time. Such patients should take urgent medical consultation with a Urologist or visit nearby hospital for emergency care.
6 No symptoms:
Surprisingly, there is a variety of kidney stones which develop inside the kidney slowly and grows into large size, without causing any symptoms like pain or nausea. These stones are called staghorn stones. These silently damage the kidneys and patient is totally unaware of them. So, its recommended to get evaluation done with an Ultrasound once in a year or two, to be sure that the kidneys are alright & healthy.
