I’m scheduled for this in a couple weeks. Had a kidney stone attack last month, which was…awful. CAT scan says bigger one sitting inside still. It’s this, or stents and laser up through ureter. Anyone had either of them? Would love to hear your experiences. TIA.
First off so sorry. I have passed two stones “naturally” and had lithotrypsy twice.
Both lithotrypsy procedures were to break down 6+mm size stones. In each case it was a pretty straight forward and easy process.
Standard don’t eat after midnight, show up at out patient hospital at 7am procedure 8ish, wake up in recovery and gone by 10:30 assuming you can urinate. You need someone to drive you. Very pleasant anesthesia (felt like same stuff they use for colonoscopy).
Felt some immediate soreness in the lower back and blood in your urine for about a day. Definitely had the sense that for the lack of a better term you were passing “gravel” vs stones. Meaning a little pain or discomfort but manageable.
Plenty of fluids and back to normal 3 days out in my experience.
I have no idea about stents beyond knowing I absolutely didn’t want them.
Good luck, and I hope I have been able to assure you a bit. Passing them naturally is absolutely horrible lithotrypsy is no comparison. As they say this to shall pass!
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It is a big nothing. Easy as it gets.
The big secret that kidney stone specialists refuse to tell patients = drink more water.
Drink enough water & those who practice in this area are out of business.
A bit of soreness. That’s it.
My son had lithotripsy twice before heading off to college. (We discussed with doc and figured it would be better to get it done rather than possibly passing stones during college/while living in the dorm).
It was in and out, and I think he had some bruising afterwards, but I could be remembering incorrectly.
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My 17 year old daughter had a rough go of it after she had the procedure. She had extremely bloody urine afterwards and used the screen given to her for days afterwards to catch the fragments. She never found anything in the screen. We felt she might have just passed everything in all that bloody urine right after the procedure.
She was very sore for a few days and could barely walk. The doctor said she might have had worse effects because she is very thin, so the sound waves or whatever they are, could have caused more internal bruising.
Here’s how thin she is, you can see that there is basically no fat to reduce the intensity of the sound waves. If you have a bit of padding, you’ll probably be fine.
Very sorry to hear that!!! Thin was not an issue for me😀. Plenty of surface area to absorb the waves.
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Oh, I have been lectured, preached at, and generally very well communicated to by all involved that I need to drink lots and lots of water. No one’s protecting their bottom line at my expense here.
Oh, I have padding! Sorry your daughter had such a hard time!
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Thanks folks! I feel pretty reassured about the procedure. I had also read that there have been side effects of possible new high blood pressure or kidney damage. I am hoping those were early when it was new, and not an issue now.
Have you followed the advice to drink lots of water ?
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I had a 6mm stone that was stuck mid-ureter. I actually had no pain. I had a CT scan due to episodes of blood in my urine with no UTI symptoms. It wasn’t going anywhere, so I had a ureteroscopy. The doctor was able to get the fragments in his basket, but he did need to put in a stent (I made him promise not to do it unless he “had” to). I am not going to lie … after the surgery, I was REALLY uncomfortable, and at times I hurt. I have a very high pain tolerance, so that’s saying something. The one thing I did not have was burning in urination, which my doctor said made me one of the lucky ones. It was probably 3 days of feeling bad, and I had discomfort from the stent for the week it was in. Oh, and the bill … that hurt, too. I hit my high deductible policy’s deductible.
Not only are you supposed to drink a lot of water, but you also need to get rid of it regularly … including getting up during the night to go. Don’t forget that part!
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SOOO much getting up in the middle of the night…
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Not me but DH has had several trips to lithotripsy, spaced over many years. He does drink ridiculous amounts of water that may have helped him avoid even more frequent trips.
He did not suffer bad effects post procedure. He has lots of padding.
He sees his urologist, scans every six months to monitor.
Its been probably 7 years since last one.
He also did not want stent, or surgery, obviously.
Wish you well!
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Don’t do stents if you can avoid. They can get infected and can prone to needing them changed every so often. Use your own anatomy until you can’t. Good Luck.
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