THERE are several ways to manage and treat kidney stones or any stone along the urinary tract.
Your urologist or nephrologists or internist can give medicines depending on the prevailing ph of your urine.
The type of kidney stones will also significantly determine what the best approach towards the management of urinary stones is.
The most practical, convenient, non-medical method of dealing with urinary stones is, of course drinking your 8 to 10 glasses of water daily.
Or by drinking even more, if there are no contraindications, you may be able to pass out a stone through your urinary tract. However, there are some stones that cannot be treated with conservative measures. Either because these stones are so large or they are already causing some bleeding, kidney disease or urinary tract infection.
Pyelonephritis is infection and collection of pus in the kidneys- a serious illness which gives very high fevers and chills.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) is the procedure of choice for problematic urinary stones. However, in some cases, if the stones are really huge, your urologist may remove the stone through minimally invasive endoscopic surgery or through outright open surgery.
Lithotripsy is the other, short name for ESWL is a safe, one-hour out-patient, non-invasive (non-surgical) procedure being conducted under the supervision of a highly-trained urologist and technician. ESWL uses a device called Lithotripter which creates shock waves to break the stones into very tiny pieces so that the fragmented stones are eventually passes in the urine.
The lithotripter is a very precise apparatus, delivering just the right amount of energy to break the stone without damaging the internal organs or the surrounding tissues. The urologist will be using X-rays or ultrasound to help determine the position and location of the stone and to monitor the status of the stone during the procedure. As a precaution, please inform your urologist of co-morbidities or accompanying illnesses like hypertension and blood clotting disorders. Pregnant women cannot undergo lithotripsy.
As in any procedure, there may be some complications like hematuria- blood in the urine, bruising on the back or around the kidneys and the discomfort as the stone fragments slowly pass through the urinary tract.
It might interest our readers that ESWL is not only used for urinary stones. It is also used to manage tendon injuries, ligament injuries- common with athletes-, muscle pains, delayed bone healing, stress fractures as well as many joint illnesses like osteoarthritis (rayuma), plantar and dorsal fascitis of the foot- common among gout sufferers- recreational activities discomforts like tennis elbow and golfers elbow.
Your columnist, consistent with the mission and vision of the health column, is happy to inform our beloved citizens of Baguio and Cordillera that we have the facility to deal and manage urinary within our immediate boundaries. You may visit the Baguio Stone Center at the SLU Hospital of the Sacred Heart.