Kidney Stones

[Mary Kay]

An acquaintance recently asked me about kidney stones from eating so many greens. I've only been high raw for about two years, but told her I hadn't had probs. Now, I feel a pain in my lower back for over a week and suspect kidney stones. She said that she had kidney stones about ten yrs ago...Did a high-greens fast of some sort, and then after not having kidney stones for ten years, got them one month after the fast.

I already do take magnesium (water soluble, ionic) which should suppress stones, but haven't been drinking my usual water due to high amt of green smoothies. And most interestingly I've tremendously upped my Vit D3 intake due to a test result of mine being low and have read that high Vit D can contribute.

Anyone else? Comments? Advice?

Also, let this be a lesson to you all...drink 1/2 your body weight in oz, and it's a good idea to start your day out with fresh lemon in water....

HTH,

Mary Kay

[Funkalicious]

I agree, last summer I got stone the size of the avacodo pit, it took 2 months to get rid of it. Worst experiance of my life.

Drink the water & lemonaide.

[Myca]

I have no idea about the greens. I do know that some people are more prone to stones than others. My husband who does not eat very many greens gets them often. His urologist has reccomended the lemon and water.

[Colorawdo girl]

Seen where some meat eaters get lots of stone reoccurances due to high oxalic acid.

Greens might cause a releasing of what is already there and it might appear to have been the cause.

[sprouts2go]

How does the lemon water work? I had stones before raw so I would HATE to have them again! :eek:

[Raw Angel Mom]

I agree that her fast may has cause the release of what was there.

Green smoothie is safe because it contains the fiber and it help to cleanse your body in a gentle way and really do all kind of wonderful thing for you. I cannot bare the thoughts of not having my greens every day. I so love them.

Best wishes!

[Mary Kay]

Colorawdo Girl, the meat eaters get them due to the uric acid, not due to the oxalic acid. there are diff't types of stones, some caused by uric and others caused by oxalic. Some greens contain more than others, like spinach has a lot, but kale doesn't have as much.

The lemon must work because of a bunch of reasons, my guesses are that it keeps your system alkaline, and stones don't want to form then (interesting, that for the past couple wks, my pH has been low - acid), and the acid in them might actually help dissolve the stones - I'm not really sure, but it doesn't hurt to wake up with lemon and water due to its cleansing effect.

I'm just so bummed because a couple people have actually asked me if I don't worry about oxalates, and I didn't. LOL, now I'm too embarrassed to tell them I probably have them!

Mary Kay

[SuziS]

I suffered with stones before going raw. A few months after going raw I past 2 more stones and haven't had one since. That was 2 years ago. I think the greens flush them out!

[Mary Kay]

Funkaliscious, Wow, that's one big stone! How did you get rid of it and how was it detected. I'm wondering if I should get tested, or just wait and see. This is only my own theory that I have kidney stones...What else could it be? I've had a slight dull pain towards the right side of my lower back for over a week now.

Thanks,

Mary Kay

[Colorawdo girl]

Uric thats right..sorry.

[sprouts2go]

"What is a kidney stone?
A kidney stone is a hard mass developed from crystals that separate from the urine within the urinary tract. Normally, urine contains chemicals that prevent or inhibit the crystals from forming. These inhibitors do not seem to work for everyone, however, so some people form stones. If the crystals remain tiny enough, they will travel through the urinary tract and pass out of the body in the urine without being noticed.

Kidney stones may contain various combinations of chemicals. The most common type of stone contains calcium in combination with either oxalate or phosphate. These chemicals are part of a person’s normal diet and make up important parts of the body, such as bones and muscles.

A less common type of stone is caused by infection in the urinary tract. This type of stone is called a struvite or infection stone. Another type of stone, uric acid stones, are a bit less common, and cystine stones are rare."

"Still, it's important to find out what type of kidney stone you have and why it developed. Some of the underlying causes of kidney stones can be treated to prevent new stones from forming. If no specific treatment exists, you may be able to stave off additional kidney stones simply by drinking more water and making a few dietary changes."

This is what I found on google

[Funkalicious]

There are many different types of kidney stones. The vast majority of stones are composed of calcium. The most common types of stones are calcium oxalate (70%), calcium phosphate (5-10%), struvite (10%), uric acid (10%) and cystine (1%). It is not uncommon for a single stone to be made of more than one of these types.



Mary Kay,

I had a pain on left side, it hurt the most when i first got up. Then thur out the day I got these sharp pains. So I went to my internist, she told me it's probably a Fiborid that had grown too big pushing my organs up.

So I went to GYN, he said fiborids don't cause pain like that, it could be scar tissue. So he ordered vaginal ultrasound. Now it's 3 weeks of this pain and neither my Internist nor GYM could figure it out. Then my GYN said he was going on vacation and he will review the ultrasound results when get got back. I burst into tears, he just gives me perocet medication.

I was so mad that I went back to my intern and demand a catscan. Another week goes by, I get the cat scan done at the hositpal. An hour later my cell phone blows up both my intern and the hositpal is calling me. Both telling me to find a Urologist right away.

Two hours later, I'm in the Urologist office, he's asking me question about my pain cause he does have the cat scan result yet. The Urologist tells me, there's no way I have a kidney stone cause the pain is out of this world. I would have gone to the ER. I say yes doc, it' hurt big time.

So he calls the hospital to get the lab result, come back in the room says WOW you do have stone and it's huge. So he tell me first he wants to put in a stent before treating the stone. It's a plastic tube between your kindey and bladder. I have this done the next day. So i'm pain with this stone and now this doctor puts me asleep and inserts this stents. By the time I got home, I was climbing the walls.

The stents is a NIGHTMERE, that plastic tube just taps on you bladder non stop. you feel like you have to pee all the time but can't. It's much worst than stone pain. The doc gives you perocet to kill the pain but guess what it does, it give you consipation. you got it, stents tapping on your bladder, stone in your kidney and pain in your bowels.

Then I had to wait a week to get lithotripsy done. My stone was so big it could not get out of my kidney. The Lithotripsy is machine that sends shock waves to break up the stone into pieces. the machine is like xray, you lay on table with this big ball on your back. And the sound wave tube is over your stomach. They do put you alseep during the procedure. But when you wake up, you got burn mark on your back and big black & blue mark cause the ball pounds on your back.

My stone was so big, that I had to get the lithotripsy done 3 times over a 4 week period. I had that stents in entire time.

sorry for the long story, but I think it helps to stress how important it is to drink WATER !!!!. Keep your kidneys flushed out. Some people get stone naturally and there's nothing they can do about it. I got the stone cause I was working too many hours, so I drank nothing but Redbull, tea and coffee. no water. along with stress the result was kidney stone.

Drink water!! Also if you think you have stone and you're in alot of pain. Go the Emergency room. They see stone patient all the time and can diagnose it right away.

[*RayRay*]

I already do take magnesium (water soluble, ionic) which should suppress stones
does this suppress or prevent?

[PonyGirlMom]

I have quite a bit of experience with this subject. I avoid oxalic acid in foods to prevent crippling vulvar pain as well as kidney stones.

Leafy green vegetables are high in oxalic acid, especially when cooked. However, in raw form, you are more likely to be getting too much oxalic acid from berries than from spinach. Look at your consumption of berries of all kinds, as well as your consumption of citrus fruits (generally medium in oxalates.)

There are many places to find lists of low, medium and high-oxalate foods. One place that does constant research into the oxalate acid content of foods is the Vulvar Pain Foundation. You can also get lists from various dieticians; I got one from the Mayo Clinic.

[Mary Kay]

Oh Funkalicious, that is horrible!!! I feel for you. How ya feeling now?
funny thing, that the day I started noticing the pain, I went in for a vaginal ultrasound and was going to ask the doc about the back pain and could she u/s that too, and I forgot!!! The pain is not bad, I just keep noticing it, is all. I went in for a vag u/s because I'm going on 54 and still getting regular pds, but keep feeling mittlesmerze, like I'm ov'ing throughout the month, so the doc just wanted to rule out cysts. turns out, I'm just getting perimenopausal whackout. But still pretty good for my age to be getting reg pds.....Hope this isn't TMI.....

Ray Ray, I think magnesium helps prevent stones because it allows calcium to be better absorbed, rather than floating around in your system, trying to make stones.

The best prevention/ as well as way to rid them is with lots of lemon juice, and a couple places have said ACV, so what the hey, I'm doing both and drinking a lot of water..

Yesterday I went over a friends house and jumped and "slammed" on her trampoline, trying to get it to move/dislodge! It feels a little better today...but is nothing terrible anyway...I just know there's a dull pain there, but it's not "cramping my style." I even rode my bike today, as I've been really trying to be good about working out....sigh...

So thank you to all of you for your responses and for even looking up info and copying/pasting.

I love this group! I joined sometime last yr, but kind of forgot about it. Now, after getting my first copy of Living on Live Food, figured I'd check it out again. Glad I did. I feel a camaraderie here.

Sorry to be such a mushy mush!

Thanks again,

Mary Kay