This is a pain you never want to feel. Women say it's worse than labor pains.
A kidney stone is a sharp piece of matter lodged in your delicate and nerve-rich urinary tract, which has spasms and tries to expel it. Ow!
And this condition tends to happen more often in summer. A summer diet of barbecue -- and extreme sweating that substitutes for urination -- can be the kidney stone's best friend.
What Causes the Agony?
Kidney stones usually contain the mineral calcium, says Becker. The stones result when a person has a slight problem with how calcium traverses the kidney and the millions of cleansing tubes in there that are filtering out waste. Infection can also cause stones to build up, or a person may get a backup of uric acid, a normal substance in the body that can increase with ingestion of meats and alcohol, among other things. Uric acid can crystallize and form stones.
"A large percentage of people have calcium in their kidneys they never know about," Becker says.
"The stones are made up of lots of things," Jerry Yee, MD, division head of nephrology and hypertension at the Henry Ford Hospital, tells WebMD. "Calcium, phosphate, uric acid, oxalate --all things we eat." Usually, if this is going to crystallize and attach to other elements in the urinary tract and form a stone, this happens in midlife, between age 25 and 50, he says.
Who Is Most Likely to Get Stones?
Although some doctors maintain that summer is the time when most people will experience a kidney stone, Becker says he has not seen data proving this. "I do know," he says, "they call the Southeast the stone belt."
Brown says hot weather and dehydration are the culprits, so summer might be a likely time. "This is more common in the Southeast," she says. "But also among soldiers in Iraq."
How to Treat Kidney Stones ?
Often the pain of a kidney stone will land a person in the nearest ER, where narcotic painkillers may be required, Becker says.
The
key is fluids. The patient will get IV fluids in an effort to flush the stone out. Small ones will pass on their own, although it is not comfortable.
If the stone is retrieved, Brown says, the lab can tell what it's made of and some dietary instructions for preventing a second episode can be issued.
If the stone is too big to pass and is blocking urine (a situation which can cause damage to the kidney),
it may be broken up by sound waves. Or the doctor can insert a device into the urinary tract and grab the stone in a little unfolding basket and remove it. Surgery may also be necessary for some stones.
Prevention
The best way to experience a kidney stone is to never experience one. The key is fluids, especially in hot weather.
"You should be excreting 2 liters of urine a day," Yee recommends. "That is equal to eight soda cans worth of urine. Of course, you will be taking in much more."
* Water is the best fluid to drink, Brown says. "Not mineral water, either. Think of it -- more minerals."
* Becker advocates drinking
lemonade.
* All agreed
grapefruit juice probably was not the liquid of choice.
Avoid that.
* There is
no need to restrict dietary calcium, for example in milk, Becker says.
*
Stay well hydrated.
*
Drink fluids consistently all day, not just in big binges, Yee says.
* He also recommends
restricting sodium
If you have ever tried to pass a stone, the doctors say, redoubling efforts to drink a lot of water and eat less salt and meat -- especially in summer -- should be no problem.
More men than women get kidney stones. A typical sufferer might be a jackhammer operator -- hours in the heat, then home to a steak dinner.
If he has not been consuming gallons of water during the day, it might be an interesting evening.
For optimal kidney health, it also doesn't hurt to exercise and keep your blood pressure in normal range. Source :
Summer Tips to Avoid Kidney Stones
How to avoid Kidney Stones? Tips, news and comments 
Ayesha would be glad to see! Coz she had faced kidney stone problem 
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds;
i m still suffering or not...as i have not recd pain since last november 
