Those who have experienced kidney stone pain speak almost reverently about the experience:

"Terrible"

"I wanted to die"

"Completely the most terrible thing that ever happened to me"

"It is like a knife being stabbed in your gut, and then twisted"

And then the old standby, the one everyone's heard, emphatically stated by any mothers who have had a kidney stone ...

"It was far worse than giving birth!"

Can kidney stone pain really be all that bad?

Well, I can give you a definitive answer when I say ...

YES!

You see, I have had more kidney stones than I can remember during the last 20-plus years. I am a big, tough, ex-football player man and many of the stones I've had have had me laying in a fetal position and whimpering like a baby. I would have done anything, and I mean anything, to get some kidney stone pain relief.

Kidney stones are nothing new, as scientists have in fact found indication of kidney stones in an Egyptian mummy more than 7,000 years old (I bet I know what killed the unlucky pharaoh!). Over 3 million people visit health care providers and there are over 500,000 emergency visits because of kidney stones.

What Causes Kidney Stone Pain?

Strangely enough, doctors are not yet sure what leads to kidney stones, but know why they can cause like pain.

Your kidneys filter your blood, makes urine, remove waste from your body, and help regulate your important electrolyte levels. Urine moves from your kidney through narrow tubes called ureters into your bladder, and then empties through a wider tube called an uretha.

In a few people, chemicals cyrstallize in the urine and form what is the beginning of a kidney stone. They are very small, but slightly grow over time. Most kidney stones, when they are small, actually pass out of the human body undetected through the ureter, bladder, and ethetha.

Problems begin when these crystal stones grow bigger. As long as they are in the kidney, they hardly ever cause problems.

But when then enter the ureter, that's when things can get horrible.

Typically, you feel a very sudden and very sharp, cramping pain in your lower back and side near your kidney or in the lower abdomen. This sudden pain is sometimes accompanied by nausea, and vomiting.

Once in the ureter, the stone acts like a block ... the kidney keeps pumping out urine, the urine gets blocked by the stone, and kidney and ureter start to swell. It is this swelling that can cause such excruciating pain.

Kidney Stone Shapes Once in the ureter, the muscles in the wall of the ureter try to squeeze the stone along its way. Both the size and the shape of the stone influence how easily it moves along the ureter (I formerly had a 4mm "jagged" stone that ripped and tore it's way down my ureter causing much bleeding and pain that was FAR WORSE than a 10mm stone that was smooth and looked like a bullet).

(By the way, if you ever experience chills and fever during an episode, it might indicate an infection and you really, really need to call a doctor without delay. You do not intend to mess with an infection, especially a kidney infection.)

While the urine backup is what causes most of the pain, it is also what can push the stone down and into the bladder and which usually stops the kidney stone pain.

If you are prone to kidney stone pain, you must be happy to learn there are natural techniques that might aid with the pain, help dissolve the stone, and help you pass it quickly and fairy painlessly.

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