Hi, I'm a kidney stone expert. No, I'm not a urologist or nephrologist or any other kind of gist. I'm a kidney stone sufferer. Who better to be an expert than a person who has had approximately 35 kidney stones in the last 15 years?? Lucky for me, most of them have been fairly small and have passed on their own. Although, in January of 2004, the real fun begins...hospitalization, stenting, lithotripsy, ureteroscopy... blah.

Anyway, I thought that since I have all this space on my little corner of the web, I would attempt to collect info on preventing and treating these horrible pebbles and pass on any tips I have picked up over the years... Please, fellow stone sufferers, feel free to send me suggestions, tips, even pics of your stones!

IMPORTANT!! A new study has found that a low-calcium diet is NOT good for stone formers. They say it is best to eat low salt, low protein and have your calcium (no supplements, please).

I've done some research. Did you know the average person is supposed to have no more than 2400 mg of sodium a day? That's the amount in 1 TEASPOON of salt. The average person actually gets 12,000 mg of sodium a day!!! Wow. I shudder to think what I get. My soup for lunch alone has 480 mg! Anyway, I'm going on a quest to find low-sodium foods to replace the high-sodium foods I currently eat. I'll make a list and as I find them, I'll add to them. (Update: I've done horribly at adding items. I'll try to do better in the future!)

Low-Sodium Foods!

Unsalted Soy nuts -- 0 MG Peanuts in the shell, unsalted -- 0 MG 1 large banana -- 1 MG 5 Medium strawberries or 1/2 cup cut-up -- 1 MG Apple -- 1 MG 8 ounces Pineapple Juice -- 20 MG (Also a good source of citrate) 8 ounces OJ -- 0 MG Mini York Peppermint Patty -- 0 MG!!! 1 package of Peanut M&Ms -- 25 MG Pasta has no sodium itself...just watch what you put on it! (I never add salt to my pasta water.) Real oatmeal -- use Quaker old-fashioned oats (1/2 cup), put it in a big bowl with 1 cup water and a *DASH* of salt, cook for 3 minutes...mix in 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, cinnamon and some splenda or equal to taste. YUM! SODIUM: for the dash of salt, about 50 MG (leave out the salt and it would be ZERO MG!!!)

Okay, well, my urologist did a full workup of my urine and blood and found out that I am low in citrate (normal levels are 6.5-7.5, mine are like 5.5-6.0), which is a natural inhibitor to stone formation. I tried Urocit-K, a prescription citrate supplement, but I had too much trouble swallowing the pills (I'm not a good pill swallower). So, I started taking Polycitra, which are crystals that dissolve into water... not the greatest taste in the world, don't let the "fruit flavored" fool you! Well, after taking them religiously in January 2004, more stones formed in a month than had formed in the previous 2 years! So, the doc took me off of it immediately. Now I feel I'm back to square one.

Links!

The NIH/NIDDK Kidney Stone Guide! A Urology Channel report A good list of resources. Register your stone! Kidney Stone Page This page is like mine...Stones on the Net Here's a Kidney Stone Forum This guy, Roger Baxter (a fellow kidney stone sufferer) , has some great info!

And, if you'd like to see pics of my stones, go here.