Kidney or urinary tract stone may be a once in a lifetime case. However, more commonly it should be considered as a disease which requires constant effort to be protected from, which may cause permanent changes in the kidneys and in the urinary tract and which may be repetitive.
Since the reoccurence probabillity of stones in a patient with former stones in 3-5 years is 50%, we can see that protection is very important.
In protective treatment first the reason for stone formation should be known. Sometimes even with detailed laboratory tests the reason of stone formation can not be determined.
If there is a known metabolical anomaly, treatment for this is started.
In calcium stones, high intake of calcium with diet is not recommended. This does not mean totally removing calcium from diet. The main issue here is to prevent excessive calcium intake (usually more than 3 glasses of milk or equivalent). When determining the calcium intake amount, calcium removed with 24 hour urine should be kept within normal limits.
Since calcium is usually found as a compound with oxalat (calciumoxalat), restricting oxalat rich food and table salt is recommended for protection from calcium stones. Green leafed vegetables (spinach, beans, broad bean, green peas), beetroot, lemon, black grape, fig, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, sour cherry, plum, walnut, nut, almond, tea, cacao, coffee, soda drinks and high dose vitamin C drugs increase the amount of oxalat in urine.
Calcium in urine increase because of osteoporosis. In patients with osteoporosis, tha calcium amount in urine can be controlled with osteoporosis prevention drugs.
In uric acid stones the uric acid amount in blood should be controlled. If the blood uric acid level is high, by a proper diet and medicine treatment the uric acid amount can be kept within normal limits and stone formation can be prevented. In a uric acid diet:
Never:
Alcohol, haslet, delicatessen goods, dried nuts, oat-oat flour, fish eggs, mussel, canned fish, broth. Sometimes Fish (prefer big fish), beef, lamb, sheep, chicken, turkey meat, mushroom: 60 hrdaily, Chickpea, dry beans, peas, lentil: 60gr daily, Spinach, cauliflower: 200 gr daily
In a group of patients with normal uric acid values, uric acid stone formation can be onserved. The PH of the urine is thought to be responsible for this. If the urine PH is higher than normal, which means more acidic, the uric acid amount dissolved in urine decreases and crystallisation starts. To prevent the stone formation in this group of patients, urine has to made neutral or more alkalic
In infection stones, treatment of infection is started. However, since the stone itself is a cause for infection, infection can’t be kept under control without removing the stone completely. Sistin crystals also dissolve in urine very lightly. To prevent sistin stone formation, urine has to be kept alkalic in sucah patients with proper medicine.
In addition to these, the patients should take plenty of fluid, have a medium level of physical activity and have periodical medical checks in order to prevent stone formation. According to the results of laboratory tests your doctor will help you by prescribing necessary nedicine.
Fluid intake (during summer 3-3.5 liters, during winter 2-2.5 liters) should be controlled so that daily urine amount shall be 1-1.5 liters. The more fluid intake the more urine amount and more diluted urine (more water content). So, the dissolved materials in the urine shall be less likely to form precipitation. By drinking more fluids, the small sand particles in the kidneys and in the urinary tract will be thrown out of the body without growing bigger.
In less active people little sand particles formed in the kidneys can more easily settle and grow bigger. Physical activity helps to throw out the sand particles mechanically.
By routine medical checks stone formation in kidneys and in the urinary tract can be detected at an early stage and proper treatments can be started. In this way, growing of the existing stones and making the treatment much harder and harming the kidney shall be prevented.
