Kidney stones are hard, mineral-like pieces of matter that can look like yellow pebble stones. They can form in one of your kidneys if the minerals in your urine don’t get flushed out well, which can happen if you don’t drink enough water.
One in 10 people will get a noticeable kidney stone at some point in their lives. Both men and women can get them, but men tend to get them more often.
A kidney stone can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a lima bean, and in rare cases, it can be as big as a golf ball. If the kidney stone is bigger than about 1/4 of an inch in diameter, it can hurt.
“How do I know if I have a kidney stone?”
Most of the time, pain in your abdomen is the first sign that you have a kidney stone. But your urine can tell you even before that if you have a kidney stone in your urinary tract.
People who have had kidney stones say that one of the first signs was that it hurt to urinate and that their urine was cloudy, smelled bad, and sometimes had blood in it. They also talk about having trouble urinating or only being able to pee very little.
Changes in how often and how much you urinate can be signs of kidney stones, among other things. Because of this, you shouldn’t just look at changes in your urine to figure out if you might be getting kidney stones.
Kidney stones can also cause sharp pain on either side of your lower back or lower abdomen, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills.
What Your Urine Can Show
Since kidney stones are made of minerals and other things that come from your urine, a doctor can take a sample and look at it to figure out if your symptoms are from kidney stones or something else. Doctors can also find kidney stones with the help of X-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans.
Urinalysis and blood tests are two of the first things your doctor will do to find out why you may be getting kidney stones, what kind of stones you have, and what kind of treatment you may need.
Your urine will show if it has too much of certain substances that can lead to kidney stones. Too much calcium, other minerals, or uric acid, a chemical that helps your body break down the food you eat, can be among these substances. The doctor will also check to see if there is any blood in your urine.
How Does Urine Testing Work?
Your doctor or a lab worker will give you a container to fill, and they will tell you how to get a urine sample and how to store it and send it back to the lab. Then, a medical technician will use several methods to look at your urine, and either the technician or the lab will send the results to your doctor or health care provider.
Any medical laboratory can test you for kidney stones or any other urologic or abdominal issues you may be experiencing.
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