10 Symptoms of Kidney Stones

Kidney stone or renal stone is a serious medical condition of the kidney also known as nephrolithiasis, in which stones are formed within the kidney. The stones are made up of hard deposits of minerals or crystals in either one or both kidneys.

1. Stabbing Pain

The pain due to Kidney stones is also known as renal colic, it is one of the most severe types of pain felt in the back, belly or to a side just like stabbing. People sometimes compare this pain to the pain associated with childbirth or getting a sharp cut with a knife. Often times kidney pain is soo severe that it accounts for more than one million people visits to the emergency department per year. The pain does not depends upon the size of the stone as often a smaller stone can trigger a severe kind of pain.

Usually, the kidney pain starts and aggravate as the stone starts moving downward from the kidney through the narrow ureter, where it may block the ureter and develops pressure in the kidney.

Apart from the generation of localized pain, the pressure developed also activates the pain receptors there and transmit the pain to the brain.

The pain usually starts suddenly, and the severity of the pain changes as the stone moves along the ureter or urinary tract.

The kidney stones patient experience this pain in the form of waves, which comes back and forth and then disappears for a period. The patient feels the pain along its side and back below the ribs. The pain then radiates to the lower abdominal region and groin area due to the movement of the stone through the urinary tract.