Kidney Stone 101

What are kidney stones?

Kidney stones are made of salts and minerals in the urine that stick together to form small "pebbles." They can be as small as grains of sand or as large as golf balls. They may stay in your kidneys or travel out of your body through the urinary tract. The urinary tract is the system that makes urine and carries it out of your body. It is made up of the kidneys, the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder (the ureters), the bladder, and the tube that leads from the bladder out of the body (the urethra).

When a stone travels through a ureter, it may cause no pain. Or it may cause great pain and other symptoms

What causes kidney stones?

Kidney stones form when a change occurs in the normal balance of water, salts, minerals, and other things found in urine. The most common cause of kidney stones is not drinking enough water. (That’s me ) Try to drink enough water to keep your urine clear (about 8 to 10 glasses of water a day). Some people are more likely to get kidney stones because of a medical condition or family history.

Kidney stones may also be an inherited disease. If other people in your family have had them, you may have them too. (My dad had this too).