A bit concerned about my health

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey Jordan and Austin, Jake here. I just needed some guidance on some things as I’m a bit concerned over a couple problems I’m having. On April 24th of this year, I passed a 3 mm kidney stone. I had a CT scan the day before it passed, I had urine in my blood 1 week before it passed. I would’ve gotten a CT scan sooner but I left on vacation. A couple weeks later, I started having sharp, jabbing pains in my abdomen, sides, and genital area again. I went to the instacare but there was no blood in my urine like there was before when they took a sample. This continued for a couple more weeks and then stopped, and during this period of time, my bladder emptied all the way and didn’t feel blocked like it did before. When I went to the instacare, the doc there gave me the CT report from the other clinic and (I think) it said at least one 2 mm stone was noted in addition to the 3 mm, but I’m not sure how it could have picked it up on the CT scan if it was less than 3 mm.

What has has been happening now is I’ve been getting a ache in my lower left back and I’ve noticed it happens when I’m standing up or leaning over for a long period of time. It’s been frustrating because I’m on my feet all day for work so my productivity has been compromised as a result. When I saw the stone, it appeared a brownish color so, (I think) it may have been a calcium stone. The pain hasn’t been as bad, but I’ve still been getting pain in my abdomen, low back, and genital area. Today, it was worse than the past couple days and I vomited after deadlifts today and had to leave the gym and avoid eating tonight, I rested normally and hydrated normally as well.

Also some stats about me:

23 years old
5’11”
232 lbs
Best lifts:
Squat: 479 lbs
Bench: 297 lbs
Deadlift: 545 lbs
34” waist

My questions are:

Should I be concerned about this coming up at 23 years old?

If I was to consult with a physician, what kind should I see? Urologist? General family physician?

Jordan, I asked you about any dietary changes a while ago as I get coaching from you and you mentioned calcium stones are due to excess calcium in the blood for unknown reasons and nothing dietarily could be done to prevent future stones, but would there be anything else that could be done to at least reduce the future onset of passing stones that isn’t dietary?

Thanks again docs!

2

Hi Jake,

Unfortunately, some people can certainly be prone to developing kidney stones. Based on the current evidence, there are things that can be done to reduce the risk of stone formation, but several of them depend on the type of stones you have.

-Increasing fluid intake (Urinary volume, water and recurrences in idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis: a 5-year randomized prospective study - PubMed and Factors that predict relapse of calcium nephrolithiasis during treatment: a prospective study - PubMed)
-Increasing dietary potassium (e.g., from vegetable intake) and calcium (but not using calcium supplements)
-Avoiding supplemental vitamin C, especially at high doses
-The utility of manipulating dietary protein, sodium, or oxalates remains controversial.

With certain types of stones, there may be medications (e.g., thiazides or allopurinol) or supplements (e.g., potassium citrate) that may be beneficial.

The specialist with expertise in this area would be a urologist.

3

Thanks Austin, I was kind of shocked too because as far as I know my family has no history of passing stones as far as I know, guess I may just be unlucky in that regard, at what point would you recommend surgery depending on how large it is?

4

Size can definitely be an indication for surgery, among other complications as well. That’s a question best directed to a urologist on a case-by-case basis.

5

Alright thanks, I’ll be sure to check that, thanks for all you guys do!