Kidney Stones

[Kidneystoner]

For a little more than a year I've had blood in my urine and problems urinating. A few months back I had X-Rays, ultrasounds, and a few tests involving the bladder. The only thing they could find is a 13mm gallbladder stone. No kidney stone detected. Two weeks ago I went through a cystoscopy that could not detect anything wrong. The urologist gave me a medication named FLOMAX. I've taken it daily in the last two weeks.

4 days ago I went to the public washroom after feeling the usual pain. I drank some water. After a few minutes I felt the tip of my penis opening up. I looked down just on time and saw a stone in the "rubber net" in the urinal! I put it in a bottle, took photos of it, and and brought it to a medical lab yesterday. I should get the results in a few weeks.

The stone is 8mm to 5mm.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, but it gives you an idea. It looks like ET!

http://photoshack.com/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0

http://photoshack.com/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=2

How is it possible that this stone was undetected by X-Ray? Possibly
its chemical composition?

Could it be a gall bladder stone?

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidney_stone

"Patients who are to be treated non-surgically, may also be started on
an alpha adrenergic blocking agent (such as Flomax, Uroxatral,
terazosin or doxazosin), which acts to reduce the muscle tone of the
ureter and facilitate stone passage. "

[mctripat]

If you have pain then the doctor needs to do something. I was under the impression flomax was given to men only as it has something to do with the prostate gland. It may have showed up on X ray but doctor did not see it. CT scans give better resolution for many stones.... but if you had a cysto. and they found nothing wrong.... I would not worry unless I have pain, fever, blood in urine or other symptoms. Do you have a urinary tract infection? Are you taking or did you take Cipro (antibiotics)?
mctripat

[Kidneystoner]

[quote="mctripat"]If you have pain then the doctor needs to do something. I was under the impression flomax was given to men only as it has something to do with the prostate gland. It may have showed up on X ray but doctor did not see it. CT scans give better resolution for many stones.... but if you had a cysto. and they found nothing wrong.... I would not worry unless I have pain, fever, blood in urine or other symptoms. Do you have a urinary tract infection? Are you taking or did you take Cipro (antibiotics)?
mctripat[/quote]

The doctor did not find any tract infection. I'm not taking nor have taken any Cipro.

I have not felt a thing for a week, which is remarkable. Only the future will tell if more stones are forming. I've read that orange juice is the best to dissolve or avoid stone formation. OJ makes my stomach acid, so I avoid it. Lemon juice is pretty nasty to me. The only juice left is cranberry juice which I like. Does it matter if it is mixed with other fruits like rasberry?

[mctripat]

lemonaid is good for most stone formers,
there are web sites that tell you how much to drink and the recipe
cranberry juice is good for uti infections not stones in general, also it needs to be pure cranberry juice which you buy at health food store and add water and apple juice(to sweeten) to it is really cranberry juice concentrate
mctripat