If you pass a stone or a stone is removed by surgery, your health care provider will want to test it. Testing the stone will determine what type of stone it is. This information helps your health care provider decide the best way to prevent future stones.
Once your health care provider finds out why you are forming stones, he or she will give you tips on how to prevent them. This may include changing your diet and taking certain medications. There is no "one-size-fits-all" diet for preventing kidney stones. Everyone is different.
Your diet may not be causing your stones to form. But there are dietary changes that you can make to stop stones from continuing to form. If you are not producing enough urine, your health care provider will recommend you drink at least 3 liters of liquid each day. This equals about 3 quarts about ten ounce glasses.
This is a great way to lower your risk of forming new stones. Remember to drink more to replace fluids lost when you sweat from exercise or in hot weather. All fluids count toward your fluid intake. But it's best to drink mostly no-calorie or low-calorie drinks.
This may mean limiting sugar-sweetened or alcoholic drinks. Knowing how much you drink during the day can help you understand how much you need to drink to produce 2. Use a household measuring cup to measure how much liquid you drink for a day or two.
Drink from bottles or cans with the fluid ounces listed on the label. Keep a log, and add up the ounces at the end of the day or hour period. Use this total to be sure you are reaching your daily target urine amount of at least 85 ounces 2. Health care providers recommend people who form cystine stones drink more liquid than other stone formers. Usually 4 liters of liquid is advised to reduce cystine levels in your urine. This tip is for people with high sodium intake and high urine calcium or cystine.
Sodium can cause both urine calcium and cystine to be too high. Your health care provider may advise you to avoid foods that have a lot of salt. The following foods are high in salt and should be eaten in moderation:.
If you take calcium supplements, make sure you aren't getting too much calcium. On the other hand make sure you aren't getting too little calcium either. Talk with your health care provider or dietitian about whether you need supplements. Good sources of calcium to choose from often are those low in salt. Eating calcium-rich foods or beverages with meals every day is a good habit.
There are many non-dairy sources of calcium, such as calcium-fortified non-dairy milks. There are good choices, especially if you avoid dairy. You can usually get enough calcium from your diet without supplements if you eat three-to-four servings of calcium-rich food. Many foods and beverages have calcium in them. Some foods and beverages that might be easy to include on a daily basis with meals are:. Eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily is recommended for all people who form kidney stones.
Eating fruits and vegetables give you potassium, fiber, magnesium, antioxidants, phytate and citrate, all of which may help keep stones from forming. A serving means one piece of fruit or one potato or one cup of raw vegetables. If you are worried you may not be eating the right amount of fruits and vegetables, talk to your health care provider about what will be best for you. This recommendation is for patients with high urine oxalate. Eating calcium-rich foods see table above with meals can often control the oxalate level in your urine.
Urinary oxalate is controlled because eating calcium lowers the oxalate level in your body. But if doing that does not control your urine oxalate, you may be asked to eat less of certain high-oxalate foods. Nearly all plant foods have oxalate, but a few foods contain a lot of it. These include spinach, rhubarb and almonds. It is usually not necessary to completely stop eating foods that contain oxalate. This needs to be determined individually and depends on why your oxalate levels are high in the first place.
If you make cystine or calcium oxalate stones and your urine uric acid is high, your health care provider may tell you to eat less animal protein. If your health care provider thinks your diet is increasing your risk for stones, he or she will tell you to eat less meat, fish, seafood, poultry, pork, lamb, mutton and game meat than you eat now. This might mean eating these foods once or twice rather than two or three times a day, fewer times during the week, or eating smaller portions when you do eat them.
The amount to limit depends on how much you eat now and how much your diet is affecting your uric acid levels. Changing your diet and increasing fluids may not be enough to prevent stones from forming. Your health care provider may give you medications to take to help with this. The type of stone and the urine abnormalities you have will help your health care provider decide if you need medicine and which medicine is best. Common medications include:.
Thiazides lower urine calcium by helping the kidney take calcium out of the urine and put it back in the blood stream. When taking thiazides, you need to limit how much salt you take in, as these medications work best when urine sodium is low.
Potassium citrate makes the urine less acidic or more alkaline basic. This helps prevent cystine and uric acid stones. It also raises the citrate level in the urine, helping to prevent calcium stones. Allopurinol not only lowers the level of uric acid in the blood but also in the urine, so it may also be prescribed to help prevent calcium and uric acid stones.
These stones form because of repeated urinary tract infections UTI. AHA makes the urine unfavorable for struvite stones to form. The best way to prevent stuvite stones is to prevent repeated UTIs caused by specific types of bacteria and to completely remove the stones with surgery. These medications d-penicillamine or tiopronin bind to cystine in the urine and form a compound that is less likely than cystine to crystallize in the urine. This drug is used when other measures fail, such as raising fluid intake, reducing salt intake or using potassium citrate.
Your health care provider and a dietitian may be good sources of information about over-the-counter nutritional supplements. Like the horns of a stag deer , these stones get their name from the shape they take as they grow to fill the inside of the kidney. Staghorn stones often form because of repeated urinary tract infections UTIs with certain kinds of bacteria.
Even though they can grow to a large size, you may have no idea you have them because they cause little or no pain. A staghorn stone can lead to poor kidney function, even without blocking the passage of urine. Kidney stones are more common in people who have a family member with kidney stones. Some conditions that cause stones may be inherited. But sometimes kidney stones form in relatives because of similar diet and lifestyle. Yes, but rarely. Kidney stones can cause damage if they cause repeated or serious infection or cause kidney blockage for a long time.
Some stones, if left untreated, can cause the kidney to stop working. During treatment, your health care provider may ask you to do another hour urine collection and have your blood work checked to see if your urine test results have improved. Your health care provider will also check to see if you are having any side effects from your medications.
If you form stones often, you will need monitoring with X-rays and urine studies to be sure no new stones are forming. Your health care provider will monitor you to make sure your medications and diet changes are working.
Diet changes recommended for heart conditions also often help prevent stones. A healthy diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and less animal protein and salt can help avoid stones and other conditions. You can learn more from your health care provider or dietician.
Keeping a normal weight can also help avoid diabetes and stones. If a stone in the ureter does not pass in a reasonable time or is causing pain or infection, you will need surgery to remove it.
You may get another stone even if you've had surgery, changed your diet or are taking medications. However, with the right dietary and medical treatment, you can be less likely to get stones over and over again. Kidney stones are on the rise. Listen to this minute podcast featuring Dr.
Kidney stones, medically know as nephrolithiasis neph-ro-lith-i-asis , is a term many people have probably heard before. You may have dealt with them first-hand, know someone who has dealt with them, or simply heard it in passing.
Read the latest issue of Urology Health extra, the Urology Care Foundations patient-focused magazine. This web site has been optimized for user experience and security, therefore Internet Explorer IE is not a recommended browser. Thank you. Urology A-Z Kidney Stones. What are Kidney Stones? The Kidneys and Urinary System The kidneys are fist-size organs that handle the body's fluid and chemical levels. Urinating more often or a burning feeling during urination.
Urine that is dark or red due to blood. Sometimes urine has only small amounts of red blood cells that can't be seen with the naked eye. Some are like grains of sand, while in rare cases others can grow to the size of a golf ball. Page last reviewed: 30 April Next review due: 30 April Certain medical conditions can lead to an unusually high level of these chemicals in your pee. You can unsubscribe at any time. Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address.
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You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail. Your in-depth digestive health guide will be in your inbox shortly. You will also receive emails from Mayo Clinic on the latest health news, research, and care. Kidney stones often have no definite, single cause, although several factors may increase your risk. Kidney stones form when your urine contains more crystal-forming substances — such as calcium, oxalate and uric acid — than the fluid in your urine can dilute.
At the same time, your urine may lack substances that prevent crystals from sticking together, creating an ideal environment for kidney stones to form. Knowing the type of kidney stone you have helps determine its cause, and may give clues on how to reduce your risk of getting more kidney stones. If possible, try to save your kidney stone if you pass one so that you can bring it to your doctor for analysis.
Calcium stones. Most kidney stones are calcium stones, usually in the form of calcium oxalate. Oxalate is a substance made daily by your liver or absorbed from your diet.
Certain fruits and vegetables, as well as nuts and chocolate, have high oxalate content. Dietary factors, high doses of vitamin D, intestinal bypass surgery and several metabolic disorders can increase the concentration of calcium or oxalate in urine.
Calcium stones may also occur in the form of calcium phosphate. This type of stone is more common in metabolic conditions, such as renal tubular acidosis. It may also be associated with certain medications used to treat migraines or seizures, such as topiramate Topamax, Trokendi XR, Qudexy XR. Kidney stones care at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission.
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