Kidney stones & WDW trip ??? kinda long

[nuzmom]

Hello, everyone.

I have a Sept (and Dec) WDW trip planned with our family. But, my kidney stones have stuck AGAIN!!!

I had 3 stones in the year following my DS4 birth. Urologist thought may be due to high calcium because of preganancy. Believe it or not, he said to drink a lot of lemonaid and I should be fine.

Well, I had another stone this past May. Was in the ER twice with it. Both attacks happened at DS9 baseball games - had to arrange for care for him and DS4 while in MAJOR pain. This one was by far the worse. After the 1st ER visit, I was given percocet in case pain got bad. Well, it was so bad that percocet didn't even touch it!!! That's why I had to go back to ER. They said my kidney had swollen from the blockage and that was part of the additional pain.

Passed that stone the following day. Couldn't get in to see the urologist until this past Wed (6 weeks after this latest episode). I had gotten a "KUB" test in the meantime. Urologist "read" it and stated that I have 3 more stones. He wants a 24 hour urine test, but gave me Urocit -k to start taking to prevent the stones ("or if I don't want to take it, drink lots of lemonaid"). Believe me, that's all I drink besides water (no colas or coffee at all).

Well, being told that I'll just have to wait and see what happens with these other 3 didn't make me feel good. (2 are 3mm and 1 is smaller). I have a WDW vacation coming up - what happens if I have an attack on vacation????? I was told to take the pain meds!!!

Ok, so the very next day (thurs) I had another stone attack. Just me with my DS9 and DS4!!!! I took one pain med, then another 1/2 hr later, and then finally a toradol after that (per directions from ER doctor on previous visit). I was "out of it" all day - it was all I could do to sit with DSs and watch videos. After about 6 hours, the pain was gone, but I was sooooooo sick!!!!! I think it may have been the Toradol. There was NO WAY I could have taken my DS9 to his baseball practice that night (he was ok with that - I have great kids). I hope this stone passed, but I didn't "catch" it so I'm a little concerned that it just stopped moving. Oh, when I was at the Dr., he said that I had blood in my urine, but that it could have been from the stone I had 6 weeks prior - is that possible????? I think it may have been from the stone that was starting to move.

Here's my thing - is this something that will just continue to disrupt my life??? I am 38 and lead a very active life and this painful interuption is just terrible to deal with. What about vacations? I don't want to have something like this happen at WDW!!!!

Also, I have been searching the internet and came across "uriflow". I usually don't go for "internet stuff", but this is supposed to disolve the stones and has a guarentee, etc. I would really like to know if anyone has used this product. I'm VERY close to trying it - what do I have to lose?

Thanks for any comments - I've been pretty upset by my doctors visit and then stone the next day.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Here's a bump. DH had this a few months ago. I have never seen him hurt so bad. I hope that you can find relief.

 

[Kim&Chris]

I feel your pain....BELIEVE me. I spent most of the month of May in the hospital because I had four (count 'em....FOUR) kidney stones. They could only remove two via lithotripsy, so I still have two more to deal with.

I know that the pain can be unbelievable. You're unable to speak, can barely breathe, nausea, etc.

I had run into problems because my sister got married on May 14th. All I could do was pray I didn't have an attack, but guess what....on the way to the wedding, I started with the pain. Prior to the 14th, I developed a sort-of "gameplan" in case I had an attack: carry an ample supply of Oxycodone with me, but only take 1/2 a pill when I felt those first little twinges of pain.

It worked like a charm. As soon as I felt the pain, I popped only 1/2 a pill instead of the normal 1-pill dosage, and I was able to manage fine. I continued to take the 1/2 dose until the manageable pain subsided. I was happy that the pain did NOT disrupt the wedding (or my fun) the entire day. While I couldn't have any drinks, I did have plenty of water & felt fine. Just a lot of trips to the ladies room

I don't know if this info will help you find an answer to your question, but I just wanted to share my experience with you. I know what you're going through, and it's horrible. Oxycodone is the only drug I can take that helps me with the pain without having any side effects.

Good luck.

PS....I am 41 years old, and have had stones from the time I was 10 years old. Your chances of having stones for the rest of your life are pretty good, unfortunately. However, I went nearly 15 years between attacks, so their appearances are very sporadic.

We're going on a Disney cruise in October, and I will have my pills with me!!

 

[Alice28]

Another kidney stone sufferer here, although I have only been in pain with them once.

I am puzzled by some of what you said- I thought only uric acid stones ( what I have) can be dissolved with the pills (I am also on Urocit for dissolving them). I take Allopurinol for prevention ( but again that has to do with the uric acid). I thought calcium stones had to be broken up via some sort of sonogram or minor surgery. I would not order the tv meds cause what if they're not for your type of stone??

It's such a pain....oh, and I would research the lemonade- with certain types of stones, you are supposed to avoid citrus stuff!

Best of luck & I hope your WDW trip is pain-free.

 

[supercarrie]

Another kidney stone sufferer here! I have had 10 (!) stones in the past year and a half. Only 2 were big enough to break up with lithotripsy (2 separate lithotripsies over my spring breaks from school) so I have spent many nights in the ER for pain relief and fluids. Luckily they determined what is causing my stones. I have a condition called hyperparathyroidism which is basically excess calcium in the blood causing the stones to form, among other symptoms. I am having surgery on Thursday to remove the overactive parathyroid so hopefully the stones will stop forming!

I traveled last year to WDW while suffering from stones, and traveled to London over NYE as well. Luckily both trips were almost entirely pain-free. What works for me is drinking massive quantities of water as well as having my pain medication with me just in case. My doctors have me on Vicodin ES as well as 600mg Advil (3 over the counter pills) for the inflammation and as soon as the slightest hint of pain starts, I take 1/2 a Vicodin plus the Advil. And not that this is a good thing, but after taking the Vicodin for such a long time, the side effects of being very out of it aren't as strong. Have you had a passed stone analyzed for its chemical composition? There are several different types of stones, and what is recommended for one is not always recommended for others. Until they know what type of stones you have I don't believe they can figure out what might be causing them (until they knew I had calcium stones they didn't even think it might be hyperparathyroidism since it so rarely affects teenagers.) If they are able to locate the cause, like in my case, then hopefully you won't have to deal with it your entire life. It really has been difficult trying to lead a normal life with the constant worrying about whether they will act up during class, during exams, out with friends, etc. I am looking forward to not having them ever again.

Good luck and hopefully your trips will be pain-free! Oh, and just in case, I always carry the locations of the nearest ERs to wherever I am staying as well as my urologist's phone # obviously, but hope it never comes to that!

 

[nuzmom]

It's nice to know how to be prepared for an "episode".

Alice28: Is Urocit supposed to break up the stones? I thought my dr. said that it was for keeping them from forming? Now I'm really curious about that.

#2 stone was calcium based. #3 was analyzed but the dr. never commented on it, and I just dropped #4 off at the lab. I've heard that you usually have all the same type of stones, so I'm assuming that I have calcium stones.

I just find this such a crazy thing. You know, go about your life and here's some pain meds for when you have an attack (because we all know that there will be more). I know you can all understand this statement: I just don't want to have ANY more kidney stones!!!!!

 

[Alice28]

Yep, the Urocit-K, which I have to take 2 tablets 4 times a day, is for breaking up my uric acid (usually caused from eating too much protein, but that's not the case with me...it's just my body chemistry is all whacked I guess) kidney stones. Now maybe it has another way of working with different kidney stones; the pharmacist told me it's often also used to help with gout.

I think there are 3-4 different types of stones, with the calcium kind I think being the most common. I would have to double check this, but I know with one certain kind of stone, you are supposed to avoid citrus foods and products. I'm going to poke around on the net and see what I find. I know with mine I'm supposed to really reduce my meat intake, which isn't a problem since most days I don't think I eat more than 8 oz a day.

 

[ericamanda01]

Sorry, no advice to give. I just thought I would send you some PD! Hope it all works out and you feel better!

 

[floridafam]

Can't they break up the stones with some procedure?

My sister had something done but I do not remember wahat it was. She has a terrible time with them.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

I suffer from kidney stones also. I've been told to drink lemonade to prevent them as well. I've had a few while I've been pregnant - and I can't even take any meds besides Tylenol. If you think percocet doesn't make a dent in the pain, try Tylenol. Anyway, one of my attacks was at Disney World in February. All I could do was drink tons of water and walk it off in our room. Luckily, it passed within a few hours.

Unfortunately, these attacks can come on quite suddenly and there's nothing much you can do for them, but all I can say is try not to let the "what ifs" get you down. I hope you have a great (and uneventful) trip.