What Causes Kidney Stones
Hey there, welcome to this blog post “What Causes Kidney Stones – Warning Signs & Symptoms.” Kidney stones are extremely painful. A high concentration of minerals like calcium, oxalate, and uric acid form a type of crystal. These crystals stick together to form kidney stones. In short, when your urine doesn’t have enough fluid, kidney stones will happen.
In this article, we’ll be discussing why this happens. How is a lack of water responsible for kidney stones? What role does your diet play in this? Should you increase or decrease your intake of animal protein? We’ll be discussing all of these AND more…
1 – Lack of Water
One of the most common reasons behind kidney stones is a lack of water in your body. It’s important you drink a lot of water in order to pee frequently. If you don’t drink enough water, there won’t be enough fluid in your kidney to dissolve substances that form crystals. Without that dilution, stones will be formed in your kidney.
It’s recommended you drink at least 10 cups of water a day. Considering you lose a bit of the fluid through sweat, you still have enough in your kidney to ensure you urinate about eight cups a day. If possible, you can swap a glass of water for a citrus drink like lemonade or orange.
This helps as the citrate stops stones from forming. Do you drink enough water during the day? Do you keep yourself hydrated? Share your preferences with our community in the comments.
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2 – Diet
It’s not just about fluids. The risk of kidney stones increases based on the kind of foods you eat. One of the common forms of kidney stones occurs when the calcium and oxalate in your body stick together during urination. Considering that oxalate is present in most of the healthy foods you eat, it’s not easy to get rid of.
But if you’ve had a kidney stone in the past, it’s best to avoid high oxalate foods like spinach, bran cereal, and rhubarb.
There is a tendency to avoid calcium-rich foods like milk and cheese. Instead, if you have foods with calcium and oxalate at the same time, you lessen the risk. This is because the calcium and oxalate combine in your gut rather than your kidneys, making stone formation less likely.
3 – Sodium
If you consume way too much table salt, you’re running the risk of many different types of kidney stones. This is because the sodium ends up increasing the amount of calcium in your urine. Snacks like fries and chips are loaded with these salts. Same with canned foods. These types of foods are the primary reasons behind sodium-related kidney stones.
You should also try to avoid packaged meats and other processed foods. By doing this, you avoid the associated issues with blood pressure and heart disease.
4 – Animal Protein
Another type of kidney stone you get is when your pee becomes acidic. This can happen when you eat too much red meat and shellfish. These foods with animal proteins tend to raise the uric acid in your body. This either collects in your joints or causes gout. If it’s not those things, the uric acid could end up in your kidneys, causing stones.
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The animal protein you eat also increases the calcium level in your urine. It brings down the citrate levels in your body. The combination ends up causing kidney stones.
5 – Gut Problems
If you have inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s, or even ulcerative colitis, your chances of suffering kidney stones are even greater than before.
Bowel problems like diarrhea cause you to pee a lot less than normal. Your body also ends up absorbing the additional oxalate from your intestines, which means more of it gets into your urine.
You don’t have to worry about every bout of diarrhea. It doesn’t always cause these problems. Your chances of getting kidney stones are only higher if it’s a chronic case.
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6 – Obesity
If you’re obese, you’ll likely get kidney stones. Obesity is when your body mass index (BMI) goes above 30. Once this happens, you’ll need to start cutting back your fat.
If you choose to go for weight loss surgery, you might have problems absorbing nutrients. Now, this doesn’t always happen, but people who get gastric bypass surgery are at a much higher risk of ending up with kidney stones.
Before we move ahead, here’s another article you might like. Read and learn more about The Best Immunity Boosting Foods During COVID 19. Now back to our discussion on the causes of kidney stones…
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7 – Genetic Diseases
Sometimes, a person is predisposed to kidney stones because of their genetic makeup. Certain genetic diseases can cause cysts to form in your kidneys. This is a birth defect that often causes the formation of kidney stones.
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8 – Type 2 Diabetes
If you’re suffering from type 2 diabetes, your chances of getting kidney stones are more than double. If you use insulin to treat the condition, it actually ends up increasing your chances even more.
The reason behind this is that diabetes makes your urine more acidic. As I said earlier, more acidic urine means you end up with stone formation in your kidneys.
If your cells develop insulin resistance due to diabetes, it increases the calcium content in the urine. Also, high levels of insulin mean more acidity. All these factors combine to make kidney stones a much more likely outcome for those with type-2 diabetes.
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9 – Gout
If you’re suffering from gout, you’re more likely to get kidney stones. This is because the crystals that cause gout can also form painful stones in your kidney. Since gout develops from high uric acid, and the acid is filtered through the kidneys, the two conditions are related.
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When your kidneys don’t filter out the waste, the extra uric acid can form into crystals. If your body doesn’t respond to the medication you take, it causes complications for your kidneys and results in more stones.
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10 – Hyperparathyroidism
I know, big word, right? One of the more common reasons for kidney stones is hyperparathyroidism. In fact, if you end up with kidney stones, your doctor would probably test you for problems with your parathyroid glands.
About half the people with kidney stones test positive for a parathyroid tumor. When there’s an issue with your parathyroid glands, they could end up sending out more hormones than necessary. This results in higher levels of calcium in your blood, as well as your urine. Elevated calcium levels cause kidney stones.
11 – Renal Tubular Acidosis
Alright, one more difficult name to get through. If you’re suffering from renal tubular acidosis, you’ll have an imbalance in your body’s electrolytes. The condition will cause increased calcium deposits in your kidneys. As a result, you end up developing kidney stones.
Continue Reading – What Causes Kidney Stones
12 – Medications
Some of the medications you’re taking will unintentionally cause kidney stones. This includes antibiotics. If you’re being treated for HIV or AIDS, some of the meds cause kidney stones to take effect.
For those suffering from high blood pressure, certain diuretics are prescribed. These medicines can end up giving you kidney stones. Not all diuretics are bad though. Certain meds can actually lead to your kidney stones being broken up.
Kidney stones are painful and pose a huge health risk. They cause inflammation to take place, and if the problem isn’t addressed in time, it only leads to other health problems down the road.
However, there are things you can do to make sure your kidneys are healthy. How’s your diet been lately? Let’s take a look at a couple more articles. Check out How to Make Your Kidneys Healthy – 13 Foods for Healthy Kidneys. You can also try Best Kidney Cleansing Herbs – Keep Your Kidneys Healthy. Go ahead, click one. Or better yet, read both, and learn more about how to keep your kidneys from suffering. Have you ever had kidney stones? Let us know in the comments!
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