This article is about how to prevent kidney stones naturally !

If anytime you have passed through the phase of passing a kidney stone, you would be well aware of the pain and agony involved with it. In some cases, the pain is so severe that a person literally roars in pain if not treated quickly with pain-killers. Once a person goes through this agony, he should literally do anything to avoid this pain again. Unfortunately, it has been observed that almost 50% of the people who have incurred this pain have it again in the next 10 – 15 years due to non-preventive measures.

Let us see how these kidney stones are formed and what preventive measures we can take to prevent kidney stones naturally and easily.

Formation of kidney stones

Most kidney stones are formed by substances like calcium, oxalate and uric acid. When these substances become concentrated, they form crystals which then grow larger to form into stones. Almost 85% of the kidney stones formed are made of calcium the remaining are form as uric acid stones which are normally found to be formed in people having low urine pH levels.

The stones that are formed in the kidney can cause severe pain as they can move down the ureter and may block the urine flow. A person might feel severe pain on one side of the body between the back and the stomach. This pain sometimes is accompanied with stains of blood in the urine, nausea and vomiting. Other symptoms such as increase in the frequency of urination, having bladder pressure and sometimes pain the groin can be felt.

If a person experience any of the above symptoms, it is advisable to see a physician immediately who can perform a urinalysis with renal ultra sound to determine and confirm whether the pain is related to kidney stones and if yes, he can also find out the size and number of kidney stones. Proper diagnosis will help in proper treatment of the kidney stones.

The passing of kidney stones

Depending upon the size and the number of stones, it might take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months for the kidney stones to pass out. There are several pain killers available in the market like ibuprofen, naproxen or acetaminophen which can help to reduce the pain till the stones pass out. Many doctors also prescribe an alpha blocker which actually relaxes the muscles of your ureter and help in passing the stones quickly and with lesser pain.

There are circumstances where the stones are too large to pass and can cause severe pain in this case, your doctor might suggest to you the procedure of ureteroscopy whereby you are given general anesthesia and   a small lighted tube (called as ureteroscope) is passed through the urethra and bladder and into the ureter. If the stone is small in size then it might be snared with the help of a basket device and removed whole from the ureter. In circumstances where the stone is larger than the diameter of the ureter, it requires to be fragmented, which is usually done with the help of laser. Once the stone is broken into tiny pieces, then these are usually removed from the ureter very easily. To ensure that the kidney drains urine well after surgery the doctors usually leave a ureteral stent in place.

Prevent Kidney Stones

Al though it is common to have kidney stones there are simple preventive steps which if taken will help in the prevention of the kidney stones. Listed below are a few of them.

Drink enough water.

The one advice which is given by almost all doctors to patients with kidney stones problem is to drink an ample amount of water every day. You need to drink at least 2 litres of water everyday so that enough urine is produced every day to flush the deposits out of the system. If you are able to produce sufficient amount of urine everyday then the problem of having kidney stones will be reduced considerably.

Avoid high-oxalate foods.

Taking high oxalate foods like beet, almonds and spinach raise the oxalate levels in the body leading to the formation of oxalate stones so try to limit the intake of such foods to the minimum.

Increase the use of lemons

Lemon is a wonder food to prevent the formation of kidney stones. It contains citric acid and citrate, a salt found in citric acid binds to calcium and prevents the formation of kidney stones. Studies have shown that drinking ½ cup of concentrated lemon juice will considerably reduce the formation of kidney stones.

Reduce your Sodium intake

If your diet is high in sodium, then it may trigger the formation of kidney stones, this is because it increases the amount of calcium in your urine. It is recommended to reduce your daily sodium intake to 2300 mg or even to 1500 mg if you have faced any kidney stones issues due to high sodium intake.

Reduce your animal protein intake.

Uric acid is one of the biggest causes in the formation of kidney stones. Foods such as meat, eggs and seafood for that matte increase the level of uric acid in your body which can trigger the formation of kidney stones. So, if you have the problems of kidney stones then its advisable to reduce the intake of animal protein in your diet.

Follow the above tips and prevent kidney stones.