Kidney stones are made of salts and minerals in the urine that
stick together to form small "pebbles." They are usually
painless while they remain in the kidney, but they can cause
severe pain as they travel through the ureters (narrow tubes
that connect the kidneys and the bladder) to exit the body
during urination. Symptoms of a kidney stone include severe pain
on one side of the back, just below the rib cage (flank pain).
The pain may spread to the lower abdomen, groin, and genital
area. Other symptoms include blood in the urine (hematuria),
painful or frequent urination (dysuria), and nausea and
vomiting. A kidney stone is usually treated at home with pain
medicine until it has passed. Make sure you drink enough fluid
so that you don't get dehydrated. Most of the time, the stone
will pass in a few days. If the stone seems unlikely to pass on
its own or is causing severe pain, treatment options include a
shock wave treatment (lithotripsy), which can break up a large
stone into smaller pieces that are easie