What are the types of kidney stones and how to prevent them?

Posted By Suborna Fermi Posted on Feb 01, 2023

A kidney stone is a solid clump formed of millions of crystal minerals. The size of kidney stones can be as small as a grain, and as big as a golf ball. If you have small stones then you might not even sense that you have a kidney stone. Also small stones generally leave the body through urination. Besides, bog stones needed to be discarded with surgery.

No matter whether the kidney stone is small or big, kidney stones can cause extreme pain to the person. Also, the person might need to pay a visit to the emergency room because of the harshful pain. The kidney stone can be made up of several types of crystallized minerals, and these depend on the type of kidney stone you have.

There are primarily 4 types of kidney stones, which are:

• Calcium stones: Calcium stones are the most common kind of kidney stones. Generally, calcium is used by the bones and muscles, and rest of the calcium goes to the kidney and leaves the body through urine. Calcium stones form when the leftover calcium does not pass through urine, and interconnects with other wastes in the kidney.
• Uric acid stones: Uric acid generates in the process of metabolizing protein. And uric acid stones form when there is too much uric acid in our urine. Eating an excessive amount of red meat and poultry increases your chance of developing uric acid stones.
• Struvite stones: Kidney stones made up of calcium carbonate, magnesium, phosphate and ammonium are called struvite stones. These types of stone buildup as a result of an infection present in your body.
• Cystine stone: Cystine stone is very rare, and this mainly occurs if the person has an inherited metabolic disorder called cystinuria.

Your doctor would recommend a kidney profile test to detect what kind of kidney stone you have, and kidney profile test price is also quite cheap. However, you can prevent yourself from having a kidney stone. The best way to prevent kidney stones is to drink a lot of fluid. Most doctors suggest drinking at least 8 glasses of water everyday, which will help to flush out the buildups that cause stones. Make sure to limit your daily sodium intake, because intake of high sodium increases calcium in the urine.