4 Kidney Stone Prevention Techniques

Wouldn’t it be nice to know if there were ways to significantly lower your chances of kidney stones?

You might just be getting older and you know that many people get kidney stones in mid-life. If you’re obese you chances double, or if you’re serious about gastric bypass weight loss surgery, you probably already know that one of the increased risks for post-ops is a significantly higher chance of kidney stones.

Now for those uninitiated, passing kidney stones are one of the most painful  maladies know to humans. Lets just say that if you have any choice at all, you don’t want to go there. Trying to pass a stone can often take weeks or sometimes months. The pain is usually completely debilitating. Thankfully the medical interventions we have today usually result in  positive outcomes, but even with today’s medical advancement, kidney stones can result in the atrophy (or death) of the kidney affected.

Prevention would be SO MUCH better, so we’re going to share 4 ways to reduce your chances of forming stones in your kidneys.Are you ready? Here they are:

1. Drink plenty of fluids (water). Stay away from excessive amounts of pop, juices etc. You’d think this would be simple. Lots of advice we’ve heard over time is that we all should drink 8 glasses of water a day, but is that enough? Is there a better way to know when you’ve taken in enough fluid?Here’s the secret – you’re drinking enough fluid when your urine is clear coloured or very pale. The darker your urine, the less successful you are in your kidney stone prevention program.
2. Add lemon to the water you drink though out the day.   Adding 4 ounces of lemon juice spread throughout your daily water intake (not all at once) has proven to significant reduce kidney stone production. Lemons have one of the highest concentrations of citrate in them and the citrate is known to  inhibit kidney stone formation. As much as a 70% reduction of recurrence in some patients.
3. The most common stone formed in the kidneys is a calcium stone, which is composed primarily of calcium oxalate. If you’re using calcium supplements, you add to your risk of stone formation. One way of reducing this risk is to lower your salt intake. Salt combines with the oxalate from the calcium in your system to produce stones. It stimulates calcium excretion in the urine which is a double whammy for WLS bypass patients who are alway struggling to maintain calcium in their systems. Weight loss surgery bypass patients need to be particularly aware of their salt intake.
4. High protein diets can result in “uric acid” kidney stones. Uric acid is a byproduct of  processing protein in your body. If the urine acid crystallizes in you urine, you end up with this type of stone. Uric acid is also responsible for “gout“, which is the deposit of uric acid crystals in the joints – most commonly the big toes. Obviously rich foods, high in sugar, alcohol, animal fats, meat and fish proteins contribute to uric acid output.WLS patients generally eat high protein diets, but should not be eating high quantities of sugar or alcohol. Everyone can minimize uric stone formation through diet and drinking plenty of fluids.

To read more on kidney stones and their causes, check out this article.

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