Signs, Symptoms and Diagnosis of Kidney Stones

The most common complaint from people who have experienced kidney stones is pain. There’s just no getting around it. Once the stones become big enough, you are going to experience some pain and it will be very intense.

How can you tell if the pain you are experiencing is caused by kidney stones?

Well, you really can’t. It’s going to take a visit to the doctor, or more likely the emergency room where they will perform tests to see whether you really do have a stone or not.

If you have a kidney stone that is moving, the pain will probably start out as a dull ache in your abdomen or flank and sometimes in your back.

Over the course of a few hours, the pain will get more intense and harder to manage. At that point, you will probably not be able to sit still and you will not be able to find any position that helps alleviate the pain.  Doctors usually call this “The Kidney Stone Dance.”

Eventually you may also feel nauseated. The pain may fluctuate over the period of about 15 minutes or so and at times it will become very intense.

It is also quite common to feel a burning sensation when you urinate and you may see some blood in the urine. Sometimes the amount of blood in the urine is so small it can only be seen under a microscope.

It is highly recommended you visit the emergency room immediately if you are experiencing the symptoms described in this article, and not wait to see the doctor. There are many other things it could be other than stones and only a doctor can make the diagnosis.

Once you arrive at the emergency room, the nurse will take your vital signs and the doctor will give you an initial physical exam. To begin with, the doctor is going to try and rule out appendicitis.

Next, you will be asked to give a urine sample so they can check for blood in the urine and signs of infection.

At some point, if you are still experiencing severe pain, they will give you an injection of painkiller. They may give it to you before, or after your CT scan or x-rays.

While the lab is testing the urine, the doctor will probably send you to the radiology department to have x-rays taken. This is relatively quick and the radiologist technician will take about 6 x-rays or so.

If the results of the x-ray come back inconclusive, they may ask you to undergo a CT scan. This scan gives the doctor a clearer picture of what is going on than x-rays can. It will only take about 5 minutes in the CT machine.

Now, the doctor will have a pretty good idea if you are experiencing kidney stones or not. If the doctor still isn’t sure, you may be asked to have an IVP test.

An IVP test is nothing more than a series of x-rays taken over the period of about an hour. After your first IVP x-ray the nurse will give you an IV and inject a special dye that shows up on an x-ray. The dye is clear, but will glow on the x-ray and show the doctor if there are any blockages.

It is becoming more common to simply have a CT scan after the dye injection as a CT scan will give the doctor more information than an x-ray… but both methods work.

When these tests are over, the doctor will know if you are dealing with kidney stones.