We leave for Vegas in less than 24hrs. I woke up in middle of the night with sharp pains in my side. Now trying to pass a kidney stone before our flights tomorrow morning. I love Vegas but it sems like the only time I get sick or hurt is right before a Vegas trip. Any magical cures to pass this demon stone in less than 24 hrs?
Aside of lots of water and keeping active as much as possible, nothing much to add. I had a kidney stone attack on the flight over to Vegas back in 2005. Suffered all thru the flight. Arrived at the GN downtown, walked over to 4 Queens, had to go to the bathroom and passed the stone right there in the urinal. I was glad it passed in the beginning of the trip. Hope everything works out with you. Good luck. Don't forget to pack some pain-killer meds.
Facilitating stone passage — Several different medical interventions increase the passage rate of ureteral stones, including antispasmodic agents, calcium channel blockers, and alpha blockers, which have been used in combination with or without steroids. The benefits of medical therapy have been examined in meta-analyses, which have analyzed different agents: In a 2007 meta-analysis of 11 trials that enrolled 911 patients, ureteral stone passage was 44 percent more likely with alpha blocker therapy versus conservative therapy alone (95% CI 1.31-1.59). One 2006 meta-analysis of nine controlled trials included 693 patients with mean stone size between 3.8 and 7.8 mm. Compared with the control group, patients treated with a calcium channel blocker (usually nifedipine) or alpha blocker (usually tamsulosin) had a 65 percent greater likelihood of stone passage (95% CI 45-88 percent). In analyses of the individual agents, there was a 90 and 54 percent greater likelihood of stone passage with calcium channel blockers and alpha blockers, respectively, relative to controls. Studies directly comparing nifedipine and tamsulosin have reported similar rates of stone passage or perhaps slightly higher rates with tamsulosin. A potential advantage of tamsulosin is somewhat faster stone passage and fewer hospitalizations and procedures. Other alpha blockers appear to be similarly effective. International guidelines from the American Urological Association and the European Association of Urology on the management of ureteral calculi suggest that: "In a patient who has a newly diagnosed ureteral stone <10 mm and whose symptoms are controlled, observation with periodic evaluation is an option for initial treatment. Such patients may be offered an appropriate medical therapy to facilitate stone passage during the observation period. In a choice between active stone removal and conservative treatment with medical expulsive therapy (MET), it is important to take into account all individual circumstances that may affect treatment decisions. A prerequisite for MET is that the patient is reasonably comfortable with that therapeutic approach and that there is no obvious advantage of immediate active stone removal". Based upon data suggesting faster stone passage with tamsulosin, we initiate treatment with tamsulosin (0.4 mg once daily) for four weeks to facilitate spontaneous stone passage in patients with stones ≤10 mm in diameter. Patients are then re-imaged if spontaneous passage has not occurred. Patients will typically require analgesics such as ketorolac. Concurrent antibiotics are used by some groups but have not been studied to determine their value in the setting of a patient receiving MET. Patients with stones larger than 10 mm in diameter, patients with significant discomfort, those with significant obstruction or who have not passed the stone after four to six weeks should be referred to urology for potential intervention.
I like your style, Ron! Get your medical advice from the Vegas forum. Seriously though, I hope everything err.. comes out alright.
Been there, done that. Those things are nasty. If I had a Vegas trip planned I would go, with some plan to insure I did not go ballistic while on the plan. When that pain hits, it is pretty much impossible to contain it. And, yea, I would find a better forum for some help.
Thanks for the replys. Unless the pain gets so bad I can't walk I'm getting on the plane in the morning. I'm drinking plenty of water no blockages or bleeding so hopefull it will pass before morning.
Just so you know most bleeding is not visible so don't let that get you into a false sense of security. The biggest thing to worry about is an obstruction, especially an unnoticed one that leads to infection which can then lead to acute renal failure. But kidney stones are usually harmless - 70-80+% and in some studies 90% pass without a problem. Some will suggest straining the urine to get the stone when passed to do an analysis on it to see if a causation can be established.
If it's to big to pee out then it was most likly to big to travel from the Kidney to the bladder which is when you have the pain as it moves.
As an RN, I can tell you that's definitely the prevailing medical opinion. All kidney stones should be collected whenever possible, since while usually it's nothing to be concerned about, unusual compositions can point to serious metabolic or organ-specific problems.
Ron in SC (or LV?) ~ Did you make it? Are you in the hospital? Those suckers are SSSSOOOOO painful. Hope all is well. Dr. Booker's prescription ~ Rx: Beer ~ Taken by mouth as needed.
My roommate in college used to take a really hot bath and he would have a six pack of beer in a small ice chest next to the tub. That was his way of passing them.
I've only had them one time. Ended up at the ER and they finally stuck an IV with some pain drugs into my arm for a few hours and bingo. Holy shit those little stones hurt. My regular doctor said that mine probably were caused by some heavy duty antibiotics I was on at the time. Pissed into a screen for a few days and nothing. Have been OK ever since.