They may be "beautiful" to look at through a microscope, but goodness forbid you don't want to "experience" one! (My experience was only a tiny stone 8 years ago, that was "resolved" by drinking litres of water. Still a goddamned hell that was.)
I had 3 stones in my right salivary gland which I dropped when I was 12 or something like that. My experience was: (1) since it was insanely painful and I could feel it with my hand (just above my neck) I kept pushing it forward and forward which made channels inside my right salivary gland to get larger and it's still (after ~10 years) larger than my left gland. (2) My mom never believed me that there is something there, he thought I'm just sick and that's the lymph node. When I finally took the stone out of there with my own effort, she was like "haha there is no way that came out of your mouth, that's probably just leftover food in your mouth". Thankfully my doctor knew better. (3) Every time the stone kept getting smaller (the first one was like ginormous, the third one was barely visible) but I think the smaller the stone, the sharper it gets and god that third one was so fucking painful.
Seeing plenty of comments on here about not wanting to experience a kidney stone, and while I've not had one, I knew someone who did. He was pretty much the 'hardest' guy I know - very manly, did lots of stuff like rally driving, etc. He used to do motorbike racing, and in once race he fell off and his fingers got caught between the chain and rear sprocket - leading to damage which meant surgery and a permanently disfigured hand - but he still managed to get back on the bike and finish the race. That's the kind of guy he was.
This man described passing a kidney stone as the 'worst pain imaginable', so I can only imagine what I would think it was like... Since that day I've made sure I drink plenty of water.
The article describes them as a coral reef in your kidney. Having cut myself on a coral reef while diving, I can only imagine running one of those through my kidneys. The thoughts of it make me almost pass out.
There's a home remedy (not sure if it works): add some baking soda to the water; this will help dissolve the stones or prevent them from forming in the first place. Of course, adding too much can cause other issues such as low stomach acid (digestive) problems.
While there are a few things that _might_ slow the formation a bit, there isn't anything that will dissolve already formed stones of the most common type (calcium oxolate). Some of the less common stone types like uric acid stones do have possible treatments in some cases.
Just drinking a lot more water is the only treatment that really does help slow or stop the formation for many people.
I would think adding more salt would only worsen the problem. Adding soluble salts are used to precipitate other salts (e.g common ion effect). Not sure how valid that is here tho.
Having had a kidney stone and having captured it for diagnosis in a piss filter I can guarantee that they really aren't that interesting. Just looks like a tiny little pebble you might find in your shoe. They also hurt. A LOT. As in the kind of pain that made me think, "I am going to just keep yelling until somebody does something to stop this pain."
Seriously, what is the point of this Times article anyway? It's like let's write a big long article about something that means absolutely nothing to anyone and is of zero practical importance except trying to reenforce the dubious idea that good things come out of human suffering.
The practical applications of it are explained in the article:
Doctors often base patient care plans upon the chemistry and molecular components of a patient’s urine. But further research could allow doctors to take advantage of the changing composition of kidney stones themselves, boosting specific ingredients to dissolve the stones completely, without excruciating passage or invasive procedures.
“Now that we know a process by which they’re growing, the question is, how can we flip the switch the other way, and break the stones down?” said Dr. Matlaga, the surgeon. “If you can intervene at a certain time during these events, you might be able to manipulate the process by which the stones are growing.”
I'm not saying we shouldn't study why kidney stones occur and how to treat them, but saying they are "beautiful" does not contribute to our scientific understanding of them.
I get one to two stones per year because my kidneys are over efficient. I'm fairly used to it now and can usually pass one with minimal discomfort, but every now and then it destroys me. The only beautiful thing about them is when they exit.
Can you please elaborate? I am 33, still getting those, precisely 12-18 months apart. Left and right kidneys. My father has them too.
I changed my lifestyle a bit - gettnig mode vitamin d3 + vitamin k2 - supposedly that way you get the calcium where it is supposed to be - in the bones and not in the kidneys. I am pretty clean now, maybe for the first time in my life - regular check did not show any stones.
But interested in finding what exactly do you mean by over-efficient.
edits: Changed my age. Can't believe I was thinking 32, when I am 33 in fact. Duh.
Sorry, I missed this - Quite simply my kidneys filter more than they're meant to, it's hereditary, as you've discovered. I've found that a cup of stone breaker tea once or twice a week keeps them at bay so that's well worth looking into. Look it up on Amazon.
They are beautiful outside me. When they were inside me they were very painful. The feeling of passing them via urine is crazy pain worse then getting kicked in the nuts.
As a 15+ years since my last, I too struggle. I mean sure, calcifications are cute. So is stone picked up on a beach. I'll take the beach stone please.
Readit News
This man described passing a kidney stone as the 'worst pain imaginable', so I can only imagine what I would think it was like... Since that day I've made sure I drink plenty of water.
Just drinking a lot more water is the only treatment that really does help slow or stop the formation for many people.
Seriously, what is the point of this Times article anyway? It's like let's write a big long article about something that means absolutely nothing to anyone and is of zero practical importance except trying to reenforce the dubious idea that good things come out of human suffering.
Doctors often base patient care plans upon the chemistry and molecular components of a patient’s urine. But further research could allow doctors to take advantage of the changing composition of kidney stones themselves, boosting specific ingredients to dissolve the stones completely, without excruciating passage or invasive procedures.
“Now that we know a process by which they’re growing, the question is, how can we flip the switch the other way, and break the stones down?” said Dr. Matlaga, the surgeon. “If you can intervene at a certain time during these events, you might be able to manipulate the process by which the stones are growing.”
I pray that I won’t ever need to consider taking it though (passed one stone last year)
"An apple a day keeps kidney stones away" https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/ason-aaa0810...
I'm guessing this type of microscope: https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/us/products/confocal-micros...
And I had never heard of the "Basic Principle of Airyscanning" which is pretty neat: https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/us/products/confocal-micros...
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