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Kidney stones are extremely painful! The excruciating pain has often bean compared to the pain incurred during child-birth. It’s agony beyond comprehension! A trip to hell and back! Patients who have suffered with kidney stones and have undergone treatment for the same can tell you how inconvenient it can eventually get. It’s not just the pain but the recovery time, the medications with their side effects, surgery etc that one would be much happier without. Thus, such an individual, who has had the first hand experience of kidney stones, would go to any length to ensure that a similar situation never arises, at least not in this lifetime.
As I mentioned, people can do anything to prevent recurrence of kidney stones. They are willing to give up their favorite dish to make dietary changes, to regulate their life, putting it on a more disciplinary track. They are ever so ready t go to the doctor for their regular check ups and do whatever s humanly possible to keep kidney stones at a bay.
Following the same line of thought, there was a time when kidney stone patients willingly put themselves on a dietary calcium restriction as it was considered that kidney stones mainly sprout from an access of calcium. Recent studies have proved that to be a myth. We now know that a diet high in calcium, especially dairy calcium actually helps prevent the most common kidney stones from forming.
Almost 80%to 90% of kidney stones are calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate stones. If one is susceptible to kidney stones because of family history or has already had kidney stones once, diet can help reoccurrences. Here are some guidelines:
Drink as much water as you can. Doctors suggest a daily intake of 2 quarts of water or fluids everyday. In fact people living in areas with hot and humid climate must take special care of the same.
Consume high calcium dairy products, like milk, yogurt and cheese, to help prevent oxalate or phosphate stones. It is believed increased calcium from food binds the oxalate in the intestine. Then less calcium oxalate needs to be excreted by the kidney, resulting in less stones. Research shows that dairy calcium is especially good at preventing another calcium stone.
If you get calcium oxalate stones, you may need to limit your food sources of oxalate. The foods with the highest oxalate content include: beets, chocolate, coffee, nuts, rhubarb, spinach, tea and wheat bran.
Take calcium supplements carefully. There can be a slight increased risk of developing calcium-type kidney stones. The risk can be reduced by taking supplements with meals that contain the most oxalate, like lunch and dinner.
Watch sodium. Sodium can cause more calcium to be excreted in the urine of stone-formers. High calcium in the urine increases stone-forming.
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