Video summary
Claire, a registered nurse who recently experienced kidney stones herself, shares her harrowing journey of waking up in the middle of the night with excruciating abdominal pain that radiated up her side. The intensity of the pain was so severe that she could not remain still and felt genuinely worried enough to visit A&E, a place she rarely visits unless the situation is critical. Although the wait at the emergency department lasted ten hours, Claire describes the experience as fantastic because she received regular updates, pain relief every four hours, food, and beverages while being monitored closely in the waiting room.
Kidney stones are typically composed of calcium oxalate and can form due to a variety of factors, including dehydration, acid reflux medications like Gaviscon, and vitamin supplements such as magnesium. These stones usually develop within the kidney before moving into the ureters, causing pain that many people compare to labor pains during childbirth. Diagnosis often involves CT scans, which revealed that Claire had stones on both sides; while she felt severe pain from the stone in her right side, the smaller stone on her left side passed unnoticed without causing symptoms. Treatment depends on the size of the stone, with small ones often passing naturally through the urethra, potentially causing a stinging sensation, while larger stones may require surgical removal or laser therapy to break them down.
Following the initial severe pain caused by the jagged stones scraping against the kidney tubules and lining, Claire experienced a period of dull, achy discomfort for about three days as her body healed from the inflammation and irritation. This lingering ache is a sign that the stone has moved from the kidney into the tubing, which is what triggers the most intense pain levels. To prevent future occurrences, Claire has adopted strict lifestyle changes since leaving the hospital, including avoiding acid reflux medications, stopping magnesium supplements, and drinking up to three liters of fluid daily to keep her kidneys healthy. She notes that kidney stones are more common in people between the ages of 30 and 60, placing her at risk given her age, but she is hopeful that her new habits will prevent recurrence after her recent episode in February.
Read the full video transcript
come get ready with me whilst I talk to
you all about kidney stones if you don't
know me my name is Claire I'm a
registered nurse and recently I had
kidney stones which is exactly why I
thought I'd share my experience of this
I woke up in the middle of the night in
excruciating pain all in my abdomen and
it spread all the way up my side to the
point where I couldn't keep still I was
moving I was like oh my God this needs
to go now I didn't have any pain relief
it was it was it was horrible it wasn't
a nice pain at
all and so my husband took me to a& e
cuz you know I didn't know what this was
I'd never had this type of pain before
and I was I was genuinely worried about
it it takes a lot for me to go to any
doctors like it has to be quite serious
for me to go yeah okay this needs to be
seen too now because it could be
something serious and so that's when you
know I'm bad if I'm agreeing to go to
A&E you know it's bad I can't fault A&E
A&E were fantastic I had a really good
experience at A&E don't get me wrong we
were waiting for 10 hours however I was
updated all the way through I was given
pain relief every 4 hours I was
monitored every 4 hours in the waiting
room and I was offered food and
beverages so 10 out of 10 thank you so
so much so what are kidney stones kidney
stones are usually made of something
called calcium oxy I think that's how
you say it they can be caused by pretty
much anything for me I think mine were
caused by I was dehydrated I hadn't been
drinking enough water I'd also been down
in Gaviscon and acid reflux medications
a lot because I've been getting a lot of
acid reflux symptoms and I was also
taking vitamins like magnesium and I
think all of that combined together caus
my kidney stones but it can be a whole
variety of things and people can just be
prone to making little kidney stone
babies and kidney stones are usually
they usually develop sort of in the
kidney
they can go into the urethra into the
tubing of the kidneys and they cause a
lot of pain people have labeled the pain
a little bit like labor pains when
somebody's going through childbirth
apparently that's what it feels I've
never given a baby so I can't confirm or
deny that but I know it was painful I've
broke my foot before I've dislocated my
knee and this was up there with that
sort of pain so symptoms are severe pain
abdom abdomen pain pain you can also
start to develop becoming really unwell
with it high fever stuff like that
that's when you really need to go and
see A&E and then to diagnose it they
usually do scans so I was put through a
CT machine for the first time which was
a very interesting experience the whole
experience at A&E actually was just odd
to me cuz I'd never done it before so
they put me through the CT machine and
they think the one cuz I was having the
right side pain they think I'd already P
that um at some point whilst I was
waiting for 10 hours because they
couldn't see it on the scan however they
saw one on my left side so that's why
they think yes this was definitely
kidney stones because I've got one on
the opposite side as well that must have
been small because I didn't feel
anything with that one and that's the
thing with kidney stones you might not
even know you have them um if they're
just small stones you will you might
never know you'll just pass them and
that'll be that and ways that they get
rid of kidney stones is usually if
they're small enough they just let you
we out basically which is going to cause
some stinging sensation when it comes
out however I didn't feel mine at all
come out I I can't lie but I don't know
if that's because I was in severe pain
with my adamon and I just didn't notice
if they're quite big kidney stones what
they'll do is um they they'll surgically
remove them and there's different like
laser type of treatments as well to
break the stones down and then sort of
help you get them out that way and
obviously pain
relief so I was given uh Codine and
paracetamol for mine just because the
pain levels were quite high when I
entered A&E and actually after the
Codine the pain levels did settle it
wasn't as bad and all I needed after
that was um just paracetamol and
ibuprofen and then for the next probably
I say 3 days after my kidney stones I
just felt really like rund down in
myself I still got these niggles and
these aches in my abdomen but it wasn't
severe it wasn't sharp pains anymore it
was more just like a dull achy sort of
feeling and I was like oh I was still
aware that something had gone on but it
wasn't that bad anymore that's because
of all of the inflammation because
kidney stones are literally like little
sharp Jagged stones and they're going to
cause like in inflammation and
irritation in your kidneys in the tubin
so that's going to take a few days to
sort of heal and repair itself as well
so that's where you get all of the pain
from severe pain that I got at the start
that's the sign that the kidney is
moving from the kidney into the tubing
um and that's why you get that really
severe pain because that scratchy sort
of feeling and things like that it
sounds horrible I'm sorry I hope nobody
ever gets kidney stones because it's not
very nice it's not very pleasant at all
and kidney stones are more common in 30
to 60 year olds I'm 41 now so I am
primed for those kidney stones so what
can you do to prevent these kidney
stones keep hydrated avoid all of the
stuff that's going to cause the kidney
stone that combination with the
dehydration is not okay for kidney
stones since coming out of hospital I
have avoided Gaviscon like the plague I
have stopped taking my magnesium
drinking up to three liters of fluid
every single day to keep my kidneys
healthy to stop that from happening
again and luckily thankfully I've been
okay since this happened at the
beginning of February it's now the end
of March and I've been okay since then
so I'm hoping that's going to be the end
of it
so let me know below if you've had
kidney stones or if you have any more
questions about kidney stones or any
other health conditions that you might
want me to cover um I will come back and
cover for you but for now it's bye from
me I hope you all have a great day and I
shall see you next time