re kidney stones in article apr ux cts eiu edu cfaks ux cts eiu edu alice sanders writes a student told me today that she has been diagnosed with kidney stones a cyst on one kidney and a kidney infection she was upset because her condition had been misdiagnosed since last fall and she has been ill all this time during her most recent doctor s appointment at her parents hmo clinic she said that about forty x rays were made of her kidney when she asked why so many x rays were being made she was told by a technician that they need to see the area from different views but she says that about five x rays were made from each angle she couldn t help feeling that something must be wrong with the procedure or something she is a pre med student and feels she could have understood what was happening if someone would have explained when nobody would she got worried also she is told that thre are surgery patients ahead of her and that they cannot do surgery until august or so it is now april she is supposed to rest a lot and drink fluids but she has to go to classes she wonders why they have given her no medicine she plans to call back her doctor s office clinic and try to get answers to these questions but i told her i would also write in to sci med and see what i could find out about why there were so many x rays and whether it seems o k to wait in line or more months for surgery for something like this or whether she should be looking elsewhere for her care she does plan to get a second opinion too i will pass info on to her it never hurts to get information from more than one source you can e mail me or post thanks alice my opinion for what it s worth is that x rays is way too many guidleines have been set on the number of dental x rays and chest x rays that one should have over a given period of time because of all the environmental factors that can cause cancer in humans ionizing radiation is one of the most potent splits dna and causes hydroxyl free radical formation in tissue cells ultasound like that used in seeing the fetus in the uterus has been shown to be extremely good at picking up tumors in the prostate and gallstones in the gallbladder but kidney tissue may be too dense for ultrasound to work for kidney stones any radiologists care to comment most stones will pass but it s a very painful process unlike gallstones i don t think that there are many drugs that can help dissolve the kidney stone which is probably calcium oxalate vitamin c and magnesium have worked in rabbits to remove calcium from calcified plaques in the aterial wall i have no idea if a diet change or supplementation could speed up the process of kidney stone passage but i m pretty confident that a diet change and or supplementation can prevent a reoccurance if surgery is being contemplated the stone must be in the kidney tubule a second opinion is a good idea because there are better less damaging ways to break up the stone if it s logged within the kidney sonic blasts hmo s are notorious for conservative care and long waits for expensvie treatments my condolences to your friend marty b
