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Suffering from kidney stones can significantly affect your quality of life, leaving you in major discomfort several times throughout the day. If you've noticed one or more signs of this condition — namely, pain when you urinate and blood in your urine — it's time to seek help from a urologist. They'll likely run a few tests to confirm that your symptoms are indeed related to kidney stones, and then they'll begin to discuss some treatment options with you. The treatments can vary based on the severity of the condition.
Here are three treatment options that you'll hear about from your urologist.
Surgery
If your kidney stones are very large or particularly plentiful, it's possible that surgery may be needed. While you might be concerned when you hear about surgery, the good news is that this surgery is fairly non-invasive. Your surgeon will cut a tiny incision in your skin and gain access to your kidney area with narrow instruments in order to gain access to the stones and carefully remove them. You'll typically be under general anesthesia for this procedure, and the recovery time afterward tends to be short.
Lithotripsy
It's possible that you haven't heard the term lithotripsy in the past, but there's a good chance your urologist will use it when they discuss various treatment options for your kidney stones. This procedure involves using highly targeted sound waves that enter your body and target the kidney stones. The waves will break the stones into a number of smaller pieces, which will alleviate the discomfort they've been causing. When the stones are small in size, you'll be able to eliminate them when you urinate. The non-invasive nature of lithotripsy makes this particular treatment method ideal for many people.
Medication
Your urologist won't automatically recommend surgery or a lithotripsy to treat your kidney stones. If your condition is very minor, there's a good chance that they may recommend medication to help you deal with the problem. There are a few different available medications that can perform specific functions that will help you pass your kidney stones. For example, a medication that relaxes the tube that runs between your kidney and your bladder will ideally allow the stones to travel to the bladder and eventually out of your body when you urinate. If you believe that you have kidney stones, contact a local urology clinic to set an appointment to visit a urologist.
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