Getting OLD is NOT for sissys

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston here. I had an interesting day yesterday. I got up at 5:50, walked & fed the dog. I had a bowl of cerial, a glass of orange juice & a cup of coffee. I read thru the newspaper & then went to work on building some of the parts for my brass sortation system. After lunch, I got a really nasty pain in my stomach. I never get sick & nothing ever aches this bad. After about 1/2 on hour, the pain let up & I decided to go to the gun range. I had added a new Burris FastFire Red Dot sight to my new SA 1911 x 9mm the night before & I was anxious to get it dialed in. The range was very busy & I had to wait an hour for a lane. The gun shot very well & I was able to get the sight dialed in pretty close. It will take a few more shots to get it "fine tuned". But the gun range had a long waiting line & I didn't want to hog a lane all day. On the way home the stomach pain returned with a vengenance. I actually thought of pulling over to the side of the road a couple of times. But I stayed focused & drove straight home. The pain continued to get worse. Finally an hour later I had Barbara drive me to our local "Patient First" Clinic. They immediately took a urine sample, drew 3 vials of blood & took 3 X rays from my neck to my groin. The diagnosis was: a Kidney Stone. All the pain was concentrated on my left side of my stomach just above my hip. The doctor prescribed "Vicotin" for pain & to drink plenty of fluids & "strain you urine thru a screen" to look for the stone. My total time at the clinic including getting my prescription was 1 hour & 25 minutes. My total out of pocket cost was $13.00 for the prescription. The pain let up again a good bit while I was at the clinic. The pain started to come back about about 9:00 last night. I immediately took a Vicatin = Magic Pill. The pain was totally gone in under 5 minutes. I unexpectedly passed the stone into the strainer about 11 before turning in for the evening. I got up at 5:50 this morning & walked & fed the dog. I feel as though I was never sick & am getting ready to go to the gym. I'm glad I went & had it checked out. All is well. Semper Fi. Sgt Preston USMC LLA

 

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston here. I had an interesting day yesterday. I got up at 5:50, walked & fed the dog. I had a bowl of cerial, a glass of orange juice & a cup of coffee. I read thru the newspaper & then went to work on building some of the parts for my brass sortation system. After lunch, I got a really nasty pain in my stomach. I never get sick & nothing ever aches this bad. After about 1/2 on hour, the pain let up & I decided to go to the gun range. I had added a new Burris FastFire Red Dot sight to my new SA 1911 x 9mm the night before & I was anxious to get it dialed in. The range was very busy & I had to wait an hour for a lane. The gun shot very well & I was able to get the sight dialed in pretty close. It will take a few more shots to get it "fine tuned". But the gun range had a long waiting line & I didn't want to hog a lane all day. On the way home the stomach pain returned with a vengenance. I actually thought of pulling over to the side of the road a couple of times. But I stayed focused & drove straight home. The pain continued to get worse. Finally an hour later I had Barbara drive me to our local "Patient First" Clinic. They immediately took a urine sample, drew 3 vials of blood & took 3 X rays from my neck to my groin. The diagnosis was: a Kidney Stone. All the pain was concentrated on my left side of my stomach just above my hip. The doctor prescribed "Vicotin" for pain & to drink plenty of fluids & "strain you urine thru a screen" to look for the stone. My total time at the clinic including getting my prescription was 1 hour & 25 minutes. My total out of pocket cost was $13.00 for the prescription. The pain let up again a good bit while I was at the clinic. The pain started to come back about about 9:00 last night. I immediately took a Vicatin = Magic Pill. The pain was totally gone in under 5 minutes. I unexpectedly passed the stone into the strainer about 11 before turning in for the evening. I got up at 5:50 this morning & walked & fed the dog. I feel as though I was never sick & am getting ready to go to the gym. I'm glad I went & had it checked out. All is well. Semper Fi. Sgt Preston USMC LLA

 

[Mikey 629]

Sgt Preston,
I feel like a kidney stone expert. I have had about 16 kidney stones since I was aout 35 (I'm 51 now). Save the left over Vicatin you might need them later on. Drink lots of water go easy on caffine and carbonated drinks. If you have another one and the Vicatin does not releive the pain, go to the ER and get an IV with Toradol. That works the best on me. You were lucky to have been able to pass it so easy. I have had to have Lipsotripsy twice to have them "busted up".
Good Luck,
Mike

 

[Wayne Dobbs]

And guys be very cautious with Vicodin (correct spelling). It's a synthetic opiate and I've seen lots of normal folks get addicted to the stuff and end up in all kinds of trouble. I have way too many stories to even think about posting them, but I'd rather have a rattlesnake crawling around my house than a bottle of that stuff calling my name..

 

[Swissman]

Sir,

It's good to read that you're allright. But what makes me wonder is: Do you heavy-crimp the kidney stones or do you use them only for plinking loads??

Swissman

 

[Paul5388]

At the present time, I have a stone in the right kidney that's been there for several years. I try to let "sleeping dogs lay".

They used to give me percodan, but it wouldn't stay down long enough to do any good, so I just have to grin and bear it.

Since you captured that stone SGT, it might be a good idea to have it analyzed for composition. There are several different stones made of either carbonates, uric acid or oxalic acid with different methods for preventing each one.

At the present, I take daily 1 teaspoon of citric acid mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (it's pretty much stoichiometric quantities that makes sodium citrate in water, basically Alka Seltzer without the aspirin) to control pH and to help prevent calcium from forming stones (it also helps in preventing gout).

When you know the composition it will let you avoid certain foods that may contribute to your stone formation.

 

[cp1969]

Originally posted by Wayne Dobbs:
And guys be very cautious with Vicodin (correct spelling). It's a synthetic opiate and I've seen lots of normal folks get addicted to the stuff and end up in all kinds of trouble. I have way too many stories to even think about posting them, but I'd rather have a rattlesnake crawling around my house than a bottle of that stuff calling my name..

This is good advice to heed. I, too, know people near and dear to me whose lives have basically been ruined by addiction to prescription pain killers, most notably Oxycontin.

It is bad stuff. Don't use it unless there is no other choice.

 

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston bacak again. I've been to the gym & to the gun range & feel totally normal. I did save the stone & put in small plastic bag in the fridge. I'll call my urologist tomorrow & find out what we should do next. Right now it seems to be a non event & all the discomfort is in the past. Thanks for all the advice. I'm very aware of the risks of "drugs". I took 1 Vicatin last night & hope never to take another. It worked fine but I'm generally NOT a pill taker. I did get the new Burris FastFire red dot sight dialed completely in. It makes a nice addition to my SA 1911 x 9mm & it makes this old Geezer a much better shot. Thanks again. See Ya! Sgt Preston USMC LLA

 

[Littledragon777]

Sarge I feel your pain. About 5 years ago I had just stood up after eating dinner and I had what I thought was a catch type pain in my lower left back. In less than 2 minutes the pain was so severe I was throwing up before I could get to the bathroom. The only pain I have had near that level was when I had caught pnemonia (spelling) and got pleurasis (spelling again). It is a seperation of the lining of the lung which then fill up with fluid. Tha pain was about as unbearable as they come along with the stones. After a trip to the E.R. I went to a uerologist (spelling) and was told I had 7 stones in my right kidney and one the size of a quarter in the left. I hadve passed 6 of the seven from the right but the big one in the left needs to be blown up with ultrasound. I had a friend have this done and his kidney was so bruised from the procedure that he peed blood on and off for a couple weeks. He also said they ended up having to put a stint up him in order to pass what they blew up as they were still large and were no longer round but jagged which in turn caused even more pain when he had to try and pass them. So I am waiting until the big pain strikes again before I submit myself to additional pain and discomfort that is hard to describe. I talked to a friend at work and she compared her kindey stones to like having a 10 pound babby without any pain meds. Sounds like fun huh!

 

[Spotteddog]

Your correct Sergeant,
it ain't!

 

[Paul5388]

Sgt,

I had a kidney stone analyzed at Ft. Hood, so they should be able to do it at the VA or where ever you decide.

If it's an uric acid stone, just raising your pH above 5.8 will help prevent new stones and reduce the size of existing stones.

It's rather amazing that something that hurts that bad doesn't have residual effects and allows life to go on almost immediately.

Glad you got your 1911 dialed in!

 

[Skip Sackett]

I had a friend that had them as a missionary in West Africa. No medicine there as they were way back in the bush. He said it must be what it's like having a baby!

Don't know and don't want to find out either!

Never had one, in fact I have all of my body parts including my tonsils!


Glad to hear you are OK Sarge. Glad to hear you are getting the 1911 dialed in too!

 

[wheelgun1958]

Originally posted by Swissman:
Sir,

It's good to read that you're allright. But what makes me wonder is: Do you heavy-crimp the kidney stones or do you use them only for plinking loads??

Swissman

You collect them in a jar until you have enough for a buckshot load.

 

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston back again. Littledragon my attack came on immediately after lunch also. At one point I thought I was going to vomit also & was actually drooling salty water? It was weird. Today was almost as weird. Nothing hurts, I went to the gym and had full strength & stamina. I went to the gun range this afternoon & have been building parts for a shell sorter project this evening. I have a digital blood pressure measurement device at home & check mine weekly. It averages 124/80 with a pulse rate of 58. At the hospital yesterday it measured 174/82 with a pulse rate of 41. Right now it's 140/80 with a pulse rate of 66. So I guess I was sick. Everything seems back to normal today. I just hope it stays that way. Thanks for all the kind thoughts guys. Have a good week guys! Sgt Preston USMC LLA

 

[klondike]

I am just recovering from a prostatectomy. I never appreciated a working urinary tract before. I am now aware of every drop produced.
As me ole Mudder used to say " To HELL with these so called happy golden years." Go out shooting!

 

[Mikey 629]

Sarge,
I have had some of my kidney stones analized(sp) and they wre 90% of 2 different types of calcium. They used to say no dairy products, but now say dairy in moderation is OK. If your body makes calcium kidney stones it will rob calcium from your bones to make them so some dairy is OK. The biggest thing they will tell you is drink lots of water. It is kind of like adding sugar to a glass of ice tea and stirring it up eventially the sugar will settle to the bottom of the glass. The more water you drink, the more your kidney will stay in solution and can remove the the wastes before it has a chance to form a stone. They have me on a "water pill" (HCTZ) to help keep me thirsty and having to visit the restroom. You can tell if you are drinking enough water if your urine is clear not yellow. Hope the info helps.
Good Luck,
Mike

 

[Paul5388]

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) is also implicated in gout attacks. High doses of Niacin and regular use of low dose aspirin are also contributors to gout attacks. That would also probably apply to uric acid stone formation.

Urology told me to drink lots of lemonade, but upon further questioning it was the citric acid component they were wanting included.

Cystoscope procedures aren't fun, even if you can watch on the monitor.

 

[Smitty500Mag]

Originally posted by Sgt Preston:
The diagnosis was: a Kidney Stone.

Been there done that! Most pain I ever had in my life!!

At first the doctor thought I was having a heart attack. The nurse at the hospital said she'd never given that much morphine to anyone but a cancer patient before. I couldn't tell that she had given me anything 'cause the stuff didn't even phase the pain.

I was expecting to pass something the size of a bowling ball but when it finally did pass it was as small as a grain of jagged sand and the pain went away just as fast as it came. Then the morphine kicked in and I slept for two days.

Forgot to mention one other thing. My wife had the big idea of me drinking plenty of cranberry juice before all this happened. She said it was good for the kidneys and would flush them out and keep'em clean. All it did was about kill me when it loosened up all the junk that had been building up in there for about 50 years like an old hot water heater. I told her from now on I don't ever want to see another drop of that crap in the house!

Smitty

 

[Wheelgunner840]

Originally posted by Sgt Preston:
On the way home the stomach pain returned with a vengenance. I actually thought of pulling over to the side of the road a couple of times.

It was at this point in your story when i said to myself, "Kidney stone". I have had several over the years, and was lucky enough to pass them without any help from doctors or hospitals.


The most recent one was last summer. Driving along, just doing my job, when very suddenly I started having back pain that was much worse than my "normal" back pain. The nausea, cold sweats came on rather quickly. I had another 70 or so miles to go before I reached home, and like you, I didn't think I was going to make it without having to pull over.

Once home, I was thinking that I must have eaten something that caused food poisonong. I passed the stone later that night. As soon as I felt it exit, I knew what had caused all my earlier problems.

I am glad you got through it fairly quickly.

WG840

 

[Littledragon777]

Sarge its good to hear you are doing better. Hang in there my friend. When I get the nerve to have that quarter sized stone blown up in my left kidney I will let you know. Probably be on my death bed before I get the guts to do that one so I am in no hurry.

L D