What exactly are kidney stones?

We often hear about them, yet not all of us are aware of the horror that they cause. Kidney stones have been infamous for giving a lot of people hell. Urologist Dr. Cletus Georges explains this further in this blog. A kidney stone is a solid mass of substances that forms as a result of urine. Generally, these substances are expelled out of your body through the regular flow in urination. However, there are times when they tend to become highly concentrated and crystallize into solid forms.

Note these typical stone-forming substances:

Calcium

Oxalate

Uric acid

Phosphate

Cystine

Xanthine

Any of these substances, or a mixture of them, are what commonly make up kidney stones. They form whenever there is not enough urine volume in your system. This means that kidneys stones often result from poor hydration and inadequate fluid intake, concurs Dr. Cletus Georges. It’s quite curious to note that you can actually carry a kidney stone for years without knowing it’s there. These can absolutely form gradually over time. They can remain tucked in securely in a random corner in your kidney without you feeling anything at all. It is a real threat, albeit a very subtle one.

As these vary in size, they also pose varying challenges. There are kidney stones that are small enough to be passed along during urination. There are those which reach up to the size of a golf ball, and may need surgical methods to be removed. Other kidney stones can get trapped in the ureters, which are tubes that drain the urine from the kidney into the bladder, and these prevent the urine from exiting the body.

When this is the case, it results in extreme pain and bleeding, which is as horrific as it gets, remarks Dr. Cletus Georges. Dr. Cletus Georges is a urologist who practices his medical expertise in Florida. He routinely treats conditions including bladder and kidney cancers, infertility, painful bladder syndrome, kidney stones, and serious urinary tract infections. For more about his work, please visit this page.