• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Kidney Stones

The good news is I had the shockwave treatment and didn't end up on my living room floor when I got home like the first time. I told the head nurse about that, I think she might have told the fellas who did the procedure because the were less 'aggressive' with the strength of the pulses they were zapping me with so the pain only got to two out of ten, ten being the worst on the scale. The first time I had this done a few years back, the radiologist took me up to a 7 level despite telling me to tell him if that was too much.

I'm not in much pain now, probably not even one out of ten but I still haven't passed the stones and I should have done by now. I keep looking for the pepper granule sized evidence when I go for a pee. The bad news is I think I've now got a water infection because one of the stones is slightly blocking my pipe so I'll be off to the docs tomorrow for a urine test and possible antibiotics.

When I do pass this stone, I hope it shoots out like a pea shooter again. That one didn't hurt so it was amusing to watch. I washed that one then took it down the pub to show off to some mates who were playing with it. Someone said "What's that?" so my mate handed it to her then told her "Swifty's just shot that out his dick!".
 
Swifty said:
The good news is I had the shockwave treatment and didn't end up on my living room floor when I got home like the first time. I told the head nurse about that, I think she might have told the fellas who did the procedure because the were less 'aggressive' with the strength of the pulses they were zapping me with so the pain only got to two out of ten, ten being the worst on the scale. The first time I had this done a few years back, the radiologist took me up to a 7 level despite telling me to tell him if that was too much.

I'm not in much pain now, probably not even one out of ten but I still haven't passed the stones and I should have done by now. I keep looking for the pepper granule sized evidence when I go for a pee. The bad news is I think I've now got a water infection because one of the stones is slightly blocking my pipe so I'll be off to the docs tomorrow for a urine test and possible antibiotics.

When I do pass this stone, I hope it shoots out like a pea shooter again. That one didn't hurt so it was amusing to watch. I washed that one then took it down the pub to show off to some mates who were playing with it. Someone said "What's that?" so my mate handed it to her then told her "Swifty's just shot that out his dick!".
Click to expand...
Drink loads of cranberry juice, Swifty.
Maybe a hagstone will shoot out of your dick this time. :)
 
Swifty said:
The good news is I had the shockwave treatment and didn't end up on my living room floor when I got home like the first time. I told the head nurse about that, I think she might have told the fellas who did the procedure because the were less 'aggressive' with the strength of the pulses they were zapping me with so the pain only got to two out of ten, ten being the worst on the scale. The first time I had this done a few years back, the radiologist took me up to a 7 level despite telling me to tell him if that was too much.

I'm not in much pain now, probably not even one out of ten but I still haven't passed the stones and I should have done by now. I keep looking for the pepper granule sized evidence when I go for a pee. The bad news is I think I've now got a water infection because one of the stones is slightly blocking my pipe so I'll be off to the docs tomorrow for a urine test and possible antibiotics.

When I do pass this stone, I hope it shoots out like a pea shooter again. That one didn't hurt so it was amusing to watch. I washed that one then took it down the pub to show off to some mates who were playing with it. Someone said "What's that?" so my mate handed it to her then told her "Swifty's just shot that out his dick!".
Click to expand...
I recall the shockwave treatment being incredibly painful and didn't always work, I suspect down to the skill of the operator. Think of a large elastic band being twanged against your back every second or two for 45 minutes and you get the idea. I shudder when the subject comes up.
 
PeteS said:
I recall the shockwave treatment being incredibly painful and didn't always work, I suspect down to the skill of the operator. Think of a large elastic band being twanged against your back every second or two for 45 minutes and you get the idea. I shudder when the subject comes up.
Click to expand...
I wasn't prescribed any pain killers the first time I had it done but I remember necking a quart of vodka before hand. I'd describe the procedure more as 'very uncomfortable' because as you've said, it feels like someone's flicking a large elastic band on your back but in exactly the same spot for about 45 minutes.

When I got back home, I went round to a nearby mate's flat and had a can of beer with him there and felt OK. His Mrs said "Swifty doesn't look well (God bless her), you'd better walk him home". He left me at my front door, I took about two steps in then my legs went so I had to crawl to my living room, get the piece of paper with the emergency number they give you, called that then called the Mrs at work. The next few hours were pain someone can only dream of as the shattered stones started to move around. It was humbling.

I'm prescribed painkillers now so I didn't use alcohol this time.
 
PeteS said:
I recall the shockwave treatment being incredibly painful and didn't always work, I suspect down to the skill of the operator. Think of a large elastic band being twanged against your back every second or two for 45 minutes and you get the idea. I shudder when the subject comes up.
Click to expand...
I've noticed the operators are a slightly eccentric bunch. The first bloke to 'zap' me with lithotripsy was blasting out AC/DC, boasting about how much hair he'd lost because of the radiation and ignored me when I told him the pain of the procedure was getting a bit to intense (like he'd asked me to)

Years later and the blokes who 'zapped' me a couple of weeks ago and today (for anyone wondering, they zap you 2000 times, at first about once a second then later the speed is turned up and also the intensity of the zaps, the operator asking the patient on a scale of one to ten how much pain they're feeling as they're going along so as to not hurt the patient too much) were playing dance music, both had all their hair, one was talking about conspiracy theories, how he enjoyed building camper vans and a story about when he was new and had watched a bloke dissecting a corpse while playing thrash metal and wearing a bandanna :).

I haven't keeled over (yet) this time but I haven't pissed any of them out yet either. I've got a beer in the fridge but I'm not risking it until the little bastards start moving. I'm just drinking loads of water. The nurse has given me a little specimen pot this time so I can save them so they can be analysed at last then we'll know what I'm fighting. I probably shouldn't have sent the last ones to my Dad as a joke.

The nurse was so cool, she even gave me permission to blag a pair of NHS patient headphones on the way out.
 
Swifty said:
I've noticed the operators are a slightly eccentric bunch. The first bloke to 'zap' me with lithotripsy was blasting out AC/DC, boasting about how much hair he'd lost because of the radiation and ignored me when I told him the pain of the procedure was getting a bit to intense (like he'd asked me to)

Years later and the blokes who 'zapped' me a couple of weeks ago and today (for anyone wondering, they zap you 2000 times, at first about once a second then later the speed is turned up and also the intensity of the zaps, the operator asking the patient on a scale of one to ten how much pain they're feeling as they're going along so as to not hurt the patient too much) were playing dance music, both had all their hair, one was talking about conspiracy theories, how he enjoyed building camper vans and a story about when he was new and had watched a bloke dissecting a corpse while playing thrash metal and wearing a bandanna :).

I haven't keeled over (yet) this time but I haven't pissed any of them out yet either. I've got a beer in the fridge but I'm not risking it until the little bastards start moving. I'm just drinking loads of water. The nurse has given me a little specimen pot this time so I can save them so they can be analysed at last then we'll know what I'm fighting. I probably shouldn't have sent the last ones to my Dad as a joke.

The nurse was so cool, she even gave me permission to blag a pair of NHS patient headphones on the way out.
Click to expand...
Good luck with recovery Swifty. I’ve had a few new twinges of late, not sure if it is a side effect to my new Crohn’s medication or it is potentially more stones. To be on the safe side I’ve upped my intake of vodka and tonic and have double the amount of lime squeezed in to get the citric acid I was advised to take daily.

Not been zapped yet and reading your accounts I wouldn’t be looking forward to it, but anything has got to be better than that excruciating pain of a stone.
 
Tempest63 said:
Good luck with recovery Swifty. I’ve had a few new twinges of late, not sure if it is a side effect to my new Crohn’s medication or it is potentially more stones. To be on the safe side I’ve upped my intake of vodka and tonic and have double the amount of lime squeezed in to get the citric acid I was advised to take daily.

Not been zapped yet and reading your accounts I wouldn’t be looking forward to it, but anything has got to be better than that excruciating pain of a stone.
Click to expand...
To be honest, the zapping itself isn't that painful. On a scale of one to ten, I only got to 1, maybe 2 so it's bearable and infinitely better than the pain of stones. At worst, it only feels the same as when you've got a small new bruise but I've been told people have different pain thresholds. I took a codrydamol 100ml and a couple of ibuprofen an hour before hand as I was told to by the hospital and I was happily chatting away while it was happening.

The vodka's not a good idea though unless you're also drinking you 2-3ltrs of water a day. Otherwise, the alcohol clenches your kidneys because of dehydration and locks kidney stones in. I was drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice for one bunch of stones. Now I'm taking 2 cranberry pills a day because that's good for your bladder and pipes which helps in avoiding getting a urine infection, green tea because that makes you want to piss more often, 4-6 500ml recycled plastic pop bottles of Britta filtered water because the Mrs bought one of those jugs that filters tap water because I live in a hard water/limescale area so I've got those going in rotation in my fridge.

That can of beer does keep looking at me though ...
 
Swifty said:
To be honest, the zapping itself isn't that painful. On a scale of one to ten, I only got to 1, maybe 2 so it's bearable and infinitely better than the pain of stones. At worst, it only feels the same as when you've got a small new bruise but I've been told people have different pain thresholds. I took a codrydamol 100ml and a couple of ibuprofen an hour before hand as I was told to by the hospital and I was happily chatting away while it was happening.

The vodka's not a good idea though unless you're also drinking you 2-3ltrs of water a day. Otherwise, the alcohol clenches your kidneys because of dehydration and locks kidney stones in. I was drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice for one bunch of stones. Now I'm taking 2 cranberry pills a day because that's good for your bladder and pipes which helps in avoiding getting a urine infection, green tea because that makes you want to piss more often, 4-6 500ml recycled plastic pop bottles of Britta filtered water because the Mrs bought one of those jugs that filters tap water because I live in a hard water/limescale area so I've got those going in rotation in my fridge.

That can of beer does keep looking at me though ...
Click to expand...
I've got a high pain threshold but the zapping I found to be very painful. This was many years ago though so perhaps the spec has changed. The chatting by the operator may be designed as a distraction technique which can work. On the three occasions I had it done the operators were a silent morose bunch and there was no music playing so no distraction! Having said that the pain was nothing like what I endured with gall stones which lead to pancreatitis and apparently a close run thing with the old GR. Thankfully (touch wood etc) been free of stones for years.
 
Swifty said:
To be honest, the zapping itself isn't that painful. On a scale of one to ten, I only got to 1, maybe 2 so it's bearable and infinitely better than the pain of stones. At worst, it only feels the same as when you've got a small new bruise but I've been told people have different pain thresholds. I took a codrydamol 100ml and a couple of ibuprofen an hour before hand as I was told to by the hospital and I was happily chatting away while it was happening.

The vodka's not a good idea though unless you're also drinking you 2-3ltrs of water a day. Otherwise, the alcohol clenches your kidneys because of dehydration and locks kidney stones in. I was drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice for one bunch of stones. Now I'm taking 2 cranberry pills a day because that's good for your bladder and pipes which helps in avoiding getting a urine infection, green tea because that makes you want to piss more often, 4-6 500ml recycled plastic pop bottles of Britta filtered water because the Mrs bought one of those jugs that filters tap water because I live in a hard water/limescale area so I've got those going in rotation in my fridge.

That can of beer does keep looking at me though ...
Click to expand...
I bought cranberry juice to go in the vodka.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top