Do you need a urologist for kidney stones? The kidney’s function is to purify your blood by removing wastes and excess fluid from your blood. They are responsible for the essential forming of urine and keep our blood free of toxic and foreign material. However, sometimes the toxicity inside our blood becomes too much for our kidneys to handle, and this leads to complications.
Kidney Stones
You can also refer to kidney stones as renal calculi. In terms of physical shape, kidney stones look like small crystals. Most often, these stones will form inside a patient’s kidney. However, their formation can occur anywhere between the urinary tract. This involves the ureters, bladder, and urethra. Their creation inside the body is usually due to the excessive intake of particular substances. These substances may include many things, and thus, you find different types of kidney stones inside a person.
Types
Below are some of the examples of Kidney stones. You can find different deposits in a person with impure blood.
Calcium Stones
This type of stone deposit or creation occurs from having food that is rich in oxalates. This type of condition is most common for people. The foods that most commonly put you at risk of this condition are the following:
- Spinach
- Potatoes
- Chocolate
- Beets
- Peanuts
You must be wary of over-consuming the foods mentioned above if you want to ensure that you do not develop the symptoms of calcium stones.
Struvite
You can find these stones developing mostly in women that suffer from urinary tract infections. They can be large and obstruct the urinary tract, making it hard for the patient to pass urine. Since they are mostly a result of a kidney infection, treating this condition involves anti-inflammatory measures to mitigate the infection’s effects.
Cystine
Unlike other stones, this condition is rare. They can be present in both men and women. However, one has to have the rare disorder of cystinuria. When a person suffers from this condition, an acid forms their kidneys and starts leaking into the urine, causing undeniable complications.
Uric Acid
Uric acid shows its presence mostly in patients suffering from gout. On the other hand, people going through chemotherapy may also develop uric acid. Moreover, you will notice that men most commonly go through this condition.
A person will start facing troubles once their urine starts to become acidic. Usually, eating a purine-rich diet will increase the acidity of your urine. You can find purines in animal proteins such as fish, meats, and shellfish. In its physical form, it is a colorless substance.
Risks and Indications of Kidney Stones
The biggest indication of kidney stones occurs when you start producing less than one liter of urine each day. For this reason, you will find that kidney stones are most common in infants with kidney problems. They are also common occurrences for people between the age of 20 and 50.
You need to be wary of many factors that lead to kidney stone problems. These risk factors include:
- Dehydration (water is essential for the health of the kidney)
- Obesity (a person who is obese is more likely to have toxins – excessive substances in their blood that will become toxic)
- Eating a diet that is rich in proteins, glucose, or salts
- Intake of certain medications such as anti-seizure drugs and calcium-based antacids
- Hyperthyroid Conditions
- Inflammatory bowel diseases( in this condition, a person begins to over-absorb calcium)
- Certain Surgeries
Symptoms of Kidney Stones
The most evident symptom of a kidney stone includes severe pain. The symptoms of a kidney stone begin to amplify once the stone starts to enter the ureters. Doctors refer to this pain as renal colic. Patients who suffer from this condition feel excruciating pain in the abdominal regions of their body. This pain can also travel to the back and groin areas of the bodies. Other symptoms of the kidney stone include:
- Small amounts of urine streams when urinating
- Blood in urine
- Frequent urges to urinate
- Vomiting
- Fever
- Nausea
- Chills
- The bad coloration of urine and foul smell
You must urgently visit a urologist if you come across these problems. Prolonging the visit to the doctor will increase the severity of the kidney stone condition. Avoiding treatment and checkups will lead to stone deposits entering the urinary tract. This will not only cause spasms in your ureters but also block the flow of the urine.
Conclusion
If you or anyone you know suffers from urinary tract infections or kidney stones, then you should get treatment from the best urologists in New York. We at Fifth Avenue Urology provide you with the best urologists in the city. Contact us at 212-675-3186, or visit our website for more information.