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Kidney stones are hard, crystalline deposits in the kidney. They are usually hexagonal, eighty percent of which are made of calcium. These calcium stones are two to three times more common in men, and are most likely to reoccur. The calcium oxalate versions most likely result from eating specific food. One percent of stones are cystine stones, which have to do with the hereditary disorder cystinuria. Struvite makes another small percentage, and grow very large primarily in women, producing kidney damage and obstruction of the urinary tract.
Struvite stones consist of magnesium, ammonium, and phosphate, and are also called infected stones because they only form in infected urine. Another 8 percent of stones are made of uric acid, and half of the men that have this also have gout. These stones vary in size from microscopic to an inch in diameter. There are several symptoms of kidney stones.
One is slowly increasing pain in the lower back and pelvis area, eventually leading to the groin. A constant urge to urinate is also a symptom. One of the more obvious ones is blood in the urine. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal distention, chills, and fever occasionally occur. And finally, family or personal history of kidney stones, because kidney stones are partially hereditary.
Luckily, after the excruciating occurrence, the stone usually doesn't damage anything. Sometimes there comes a situation where the kidney stone either becomes too big or for some reason gets wedged in the urinary tract and the pain worsens. Also, the urine begins to get backed up, and the bladder and urinary tract begins to get infected. Thus, an operation must be performed.
Originally, they were removed, either by slicing the bladder or kidney open, or by shoving an instrument up the ureter. Fortunately, through the miracles of technology, one does not necessarily have to go through this "invasive" treatment. Instead, there is a treatment that uses shockwaves to slice up the stone. This is called kidney stone lithotrity.
A large machine uses sound waves to break up the stone into small fragments that can be more easily passed through. Lithotripsy can be administered in two different ways. One is a large bed in which you are immersed in water and hundreds of sound waves hit the stone over a period of an hour. It is so loud that you must wear earphones, but it is not painful because your body has the same properties as water, sound wise. Afterward, one should walk around and drink plenty of water. Another way is a small instrument with an ultrasound-producing end, which is shoved into you, and enters the bladder through the ureter.
This works for the stones that cannot be accessed the other way. There are several medical treatments also used for kidney stone pain. Over-the-counter pain relievers usually don't work because of how great the pain is, but oral analgesics like acetaminophen / codeine (Tylenol with Codeine), propoxyphene HCL (Darvon), and tramadol HCL (Ultram), may be administered using a needle. There, of course, is a risk of overdose, as well as side effects which include constipation, drowsiness, nausea, slowed breathing, and vomiting. Nausea and vomiting can be reduced with prochlorperazine edisylate (Comparing), promethazine HCL (Phenergan), and metoclopramide HCL (Region). There are also several treatments for each of the other types of kidney stones or side effects from the kidney stone.
For high cystine levels in the urine, one may increase fluid intake, or take Penicillamine (Cuprimine), or tiopronine (Thiola). A low level of urinary citrate, hypocitraturia, requires a dosage of potassium citrate. High levels of urinary oxalate, hyper oxaluria, can be treated with pyridoxine (vitamin B- 6). High levels of uric acid (hyperuricosuria), can be treated with 3 liters of water a day and either potassium citrate or allopurinol.
Free research essays on topics related to: urinary tract, uric acid, side effects, kidney stones, sound waves
Research essay sample on Urinary Tract Kidney Stones
