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Kidney stones, one of the most painful of the urological disorders, are not a product of modern life. Scientists found evidence of kidney stones in a 7,000-year-old Egyptian mummy. Kidney stones are one of the most common disorders of the urinary tract. In 2000, patients made 2.7 million visits to health care providers and more than 600,000 patients went to emergency rooms for kidney stone problems.
Most kidney stones pass out of the body without any intervention by a physician. Stones that cause lasting symptoms or other complications may be treated by various techniques, most of which do not involve major surgery. Also, research advances have led to a better understanding of the many factors that promote stone formation.
Some people are more likely to get kidney stones than others. Men are more prone than women, and people who have previously had a kidney stone have a 60% chance of getting another stone within seven years. Other factors include:
A family history of kidney stones,
Being aged between 20 and 40,
Taking certain medicines such as diuretics (water tablets), antacids and thyroid medications,
Having only one kidney,
Eating a diet high in protein but very low in fibre,
Becoming dehydrated by not drinking enough fluids or living or working in a hot place,
Having poor mobility eg, being confined to bed,
Having an ileostomy, eg, for Crohn’s disease.
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