Kidney stones are more common that we could ever imagine, and most people have at least microscopic calcifications that would eventually turn into kidney stones if they are careless and do not change their lifestyle and habits. Kidney stones are not diagnosed unless they move through the urinary tract, causing pain and other disturbing symptoms that often lead patients into the emergency room. However, there are screening methods to detect sedimentation of calcified material or microcalcifications through ultrasound and other methods. Through prevention and careful screening, it is possible to count yourself among those individuals who have never sustained kidney stone-related pain.
The reasons why kidney stones are formed vary from one person to another, but they are basically made of sedimented material that joins and becomes a compact stone over time. There are calcium and urate kidney stones, and each one of them should be treated differently according to their composition.
If you want to detect and treat kidney stones promptly, listen to your doctor and run non-invasive screening tests with a careful follow-up plan. You might also want to take a look at the most important signs and symptoms associated with kidney stones, which we will explain below:
1. Flank pain
Kidney stones are not painful if they are static in the kidney. That’s why they are often asymptomatic until something happens and they start moving through the urinary tract. Under those circumstances, pain is the most common symptom these patients display, and it might be severe enough to obstacle daily activities and even make it difficult for patients to stand up straight or walk in a straight line without help. This type of pain is not always found in the same spot, but it is often located in the flanks or the lower back. It may feel similar to muscular pain, and sometimes there is a muscle contraction in the area as well, but it is no more than a referred pain coming from the organ and the urinary tract and interpreted by the brain as if the affected structure was the back muscle instead.
The triggers of flank and lower back pain are basically an injury to the upper urinary tract and inflammation associated with it. The nerve terminals of the skin and muscles in the lower back and flanks go through the same way as those coming from the ureters, and any pain impulse deep from within these structures will be perceived in the lower back or flanks. This pain often radiates to other areas, as we will cover in the next section.
2. Leg and groin pain
In most cases, pain from kidney stones is felt in the leg, groin, and external genitalia of both men and women. This is also a referred pain, which means the kidney stones are not located in the exact spot where the pain is felt. Instead, pain sensation travels through the same pathway, and it is a misinterpretation from the brain making your body think the problem is located elsewhere. When you feel leg, groin, or genitalia pain, it is most probably because the kidney stones are located further down in the urinary tract, probably near the urethra or stuck in this small portion of the urinary tract.
Another sign that the kidney stones are in a lower position in the urinary tract is leg pain. This type of pain is poorly located and dull, often following the trajectory of the affected neuron. Leg pain may become an important part of the diagnosis when paired up with other symptoms, but sometimes it is the main health problem, and it might be difficult to trace the cause right away. Patients with leg pain often have a difficulty to walk in a straight line and need to support themselves with somebody else or a walking aid.
This type of pain tends to be severe, but it is not so always. In the case of groin pain, patients may feel an intense surge of pain in the testicles area or the labia majora in females. When pain is isolated in this area, kidney stones are often mistaken with varicocele and many other testicle alterations that cause a similar type of pain. However, it is usually accompanied with other symptoms that should be assessed by your doctor along with diagnostic tests to reach a diagnosis and start treating your condition.
3. Fever
Fever is a symptom often recognized as a sign of infection, but it is found in people with kidney stones as well. Sometimes, patients would go into the emergency room with pain symptoms as we have described above and fever with a sudden onset that usually gets worse as the symptoms aggravate. In patients with an ongoing infection of the urinary tract, fever might not be limited to the painful episodes, and it remains for a longer time unless patients start antibiotic medications or over-the-counter drugs to reduce body temperature.
If your fever is sustained and independent from other symptoms, it is very likely you have an ongoing urinary infection associated with kidney stones. Your doctor will need to address both conditions to manage your case successfully. Thus, do not reach to your own conclusions and do not self-medicate under this or any other similar circumstances.
4. Chills
Shivers and chills is a common symptom usually appearing alongside fever. It reaches a higher intensity right before the organism reach the peak temperature and begins to slow down afterwards. Chills is one of the reflexes the body has to increase body temperature. It is what gives us goosebumps when it’s too cold, and what makes our body and lower lip shake uncontrollably when we are not properly dressed in cold weather. And the body uses this natural response as a way to create more heat.
The continuous tearing of the internal lining of the urinary tract as the kidney stones descend to be eliminated along with the inflammation from an associated infection contribute to the release of various cytokines to the blood. They alert the brain that something is not working as it should, and we should protect ourselves from potential threats or invader microorganisms. One of the main lines of defense is modifying our body thermostat and tricking the rest of the body into thinking that it is too cold outside and we need to create more heat.
The muscle tissue receives this signal and triggers a series of jerking movements usually known as shivers or chills. It contributes to increasing body temperature, and they are often associated with sweating after the fever episode has subsided.
Fever is a common symptom in many ailments, most of them infectious in nature. Therefore, it is important to have a complete assessment of the problem before starting any antibiotic treatment. Think about your symptoms and write them down with detail so you can talk about each one of them to your doctor without missing one. That would be really helpful to help you address every real problem that is triggering fever in your organism.
5. Burning pain while urinating
As the kidney stones travel through the urinary tract, it becomes very painful with a burning pain that continues until urination is stopped. This pain is not located in the ureters but rather in the urethra, the last portion of the urinary tract. It is a similar pain compared to that felt in urinary tract infections, and it is very difficult to distinguish. However, we should note that in many cases kidney stones make patients more susceptible to urinary infections, which is why most patients will need antibiotic therapy along with medications to dissolve kidney stones.
The cause of such burning pain is that, by passing through the urinary tract, kidney stones injure the inner lining of the urethra, and since the urine is a bit acidic, it irritates the nerve terminals and creates the sensation of burning pain. Additionally, this portion of the urinary tract is closer to the outside, and if the injured area gets infected, inflammation adds up to the stimulation of the nerve terminals and worsens the symptom.
Thus, next time you have a burning sensation while urinating, do not only think about a possible infection of the urinary tract. Kidney stones would also trigger this symptom, and if you solve the former without addressing the latter, you will have recurrent infections. Thus, go to the doctor, get properly checked, and complete every diagnostic test you need to complete in order to get a full assessment and therapeutic plan according to your needs.
6. Nausea and vomiting
In most cases, patients with kidney stones come into the emergency room with severe pain, fever, sweating, and past episodes of vomiting. Pain symptoms are usually so difficult to withstand that the whole gastrointestinal system suffers as well and people suffer from loss of appetite, anorexia, and nausea. This is because severe pain is a source of stress in the organism, and this stress activates the sympathetic system, which accelerates the heartbeat, induces sweating, and impairs the normal movements of the intestines.
At the same time, the pain signals trigger the activation of the emetic centers in the brain, which causes the sensation of nausea and may even trigger the reflex of vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are often severe when the pain associated with kidney stones becomes worse, usually associated with the movement of the stones through the urinary tract. When this symptom is severe, and especially in susceptible patients, it may cause an electrolyte disorder the physician needs to address along with the emergency symptoms associated with kidney stones.
7. Increased volume and frequency of urination
Patients with kidney stones might have an increased volume of urination. They often describe a constant need to go to the bathroom, and they usually eliminate a very small amount of urine, especially when there’s an obstruction in the urinary tract, and when there’s a coexisting infection worsening the symptoms. Sometimes the urgency to go to the bathroom is completely unexpected, and some elderly patients would even have incontinence.
Patients with prostate problems and those with existing incontinence usually experience more urinary symptoms compared to the rest, which is limited to pain symptoms, fever, and nausea. It is common to feel difficulty in passing urine when the kidney stones are blocking the way of the urethra, and when that happens, the feeling of a blockage is clear and very uncomfortable. When this happens, it is important to look for medical attention right away, especially in elderly patients who are more susceptible to experience complications caused by an abnormal accumulation of urine in the urinary bladder.
This symptom is not permanent unless there are infectious sequelae to the kidney stones. If that is to happen, doctors should readily address the problem, investigate whether or not there are. Other signs of infection include foul-smelling urine and cloudy urine, both indicating that there are bacteria and white blood cells in the urine and an active infection somewhere in the urinary tract.
Kidney stones are one of the most common problems a patient could report in the urinary system. They are a common cause of urinary infection, and one of the most prominent symptoms patients describe is an excruciating pain that does not improve after using over-the-counter drugs or any other therapy. In most cases, patients remain in the emergency room with supportive medication until the pain has improved and are encouraged to drink more water and use certain medications to dissolve the kidney stones. However, other cases might need an invasive approach, and there are surgeries to extract larger kidney stones that would not dissolve or may create extra problems along the way. Each case should be assessed by your doctor and it is important to follow his instructions to the letter, even if you stopped having symptoms and now feel better.
Read Also:
Kidney Infection Symptoms | 10 Warning Signs & Symptoms
10 Warning Signs & Symptoms of Kidney Infection You Should Not Ignore!
References
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Evan, A. P., Coe, F. L., Lingeman, J. E., Shao, Y., Sommer, A. J., Bledsoe, S. B., … & Worcester, E. M. (2007). Mechanism of formation of human calcium oxalate renal stones on Randall’s plaque. The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 290(10), 1315-1323.
Press, S. M., & Smith, A. D. (1995). Incidence of negative hematuria in patients with acute urinary lithiasis presenting to the emergency room with flank pain. Urology, 45(5), 753-757.