Ouch! Kidney Stone Symptoms?
Most the kidney stones do present themselves without too many symptoms. However, if the size of the stone is large, then it could lead to blockage in the urinary tract resulting in severe pain while passing urine. When this happens, the person may feel pain in the lower abdomen. He may feel nausea accompanied with vomiting.
Sometimes you may see blood may be seen in the urine. This is because the stone will irritate the ureter and cause blood. However all the cases with blood in urine do not really indicate the presence of Kidney stones. Some other reasons may also cause blood spots in urine.
Frequent and painful urination may also be a symptom of the presence of kidney stone. Many people feel stinging or burning sensations while passing urine. Tenderness in kidney, abdomen and Urinary tract infection may also be signs of kidney stones.
If there is a foul smell along with pus in urine, then there is a strong indication that there is a stone present in the kidney. If all these symptoms and chills persist along with any of the above symptoms then the person should seek medical help immediately.
In addition to the IVP or CT scan,one can also opt for Retrograde Pyelogram tests. In this test, there is no particular injection given in the vein. Instead, the dye is injected through the tubes that help in carrying urine from the kidney.
Another test to diagnose kidney stones is by the method of Urinalysis. Through this test one could determine the complete details of the components in the urine. This will help to test the pH level in urine. For example if the pH level is four, then the urine is strongly acidic, 7 is neutral and 9 is strongly alkaline. Apart from this urine test, it will also help to test if blood is present in urine.
An abdominal x-ray will help in providing the clear picture of kidney, urinary bladder and the tube connecting the kidney and bladder. This will therefore identify kidney stones.
Ultra sound tests use high frequency sound waves to give diagnostically oriented pictures of internal organs. They can detect stones in the ureter. However, it is not possible to diagnose small stones with the help of this test. This test is mainly used to detect kidney stones in a pregnant woman.
Who can diagnose kidney stone?
If you feel any kind of symptoms of kidney stone then you should immediately seek the help of your family doctor. He can diagnose whether you have a kidney stone and if so what is the type of kidney stone and so on. An urologist can also help you in kidney stone diagnosis. He can also provide treatment of diseases in urinary tract for both men and women.
Once you had passed kidney stones with the treatment by a specialist, then you need to get another test to diagnose whether there are any possibilities of getting the stones back and how to avoid this if so.
How to diagnose kidney stone?
You can come to know the presence of kidney stone through self diagnosis. This should immediately be done when you feel extreme pain while passing urine. However, the doctor will confirm the same through certain tests. Such tests include the following:
Spiral Computed topography
Spiral Computed topography, also popularly known as CT scan is the best test to diagnose the presence of kidney stones. By using this technology, one can get a thorough scan of the ureter and kidneys.
The results obtained through this test are accurate. It takes more time to take this test in comparison with other tests. Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP) will help to view the position of urinary tract.
This X-ray test is taken after giving an injection of certain dye into the vein in the arm. A series of X-ray tests is taken at regular intervals to diagnose the kidney stones.
An injection is required to pass certain dye into the vein. This will help in getting clear view of the stones.
