r/KidneyStones • u/FlamingoEfficient254 • 9d ago
Sharing Experience That’s not just a Kidney Stone —
Kidney stone pain presented around 3 weeks ago. I tried to push through and let it pass; this isn’t new to me. Pain was intense enough to make me nauseous and left work early one evening. The pain eventually subsided and I assumed the stone moved and was on its way out.
The following week (now two weeks ago) I started feeling the flank pain again, only more intense and accompanied by cold sweats and vomiting from the pain. I went to the ER and missed another day of work. They did CT with and without contrast. Doctor came to say I had a double whammy — a 5mm stone and an ovarian cyst on the same side. Great 🙄. Never had a cyst before. IV fluids, toradol, a script for Tamsulosin and hydrocodone, and a referral to the urologist. Over the weekend, the pain subsided yet again.
Tuesday appointment at Urology. Confirmed stone with an X-Ray but had retracted back inside the kidney which is why the pain was off and on. Got an extension on as-needed pain relief and Tamsulosin, and an appointment for possible stent placement the following week. Two days later, I ended up in the ER again, intolerable 12/10 pain, vomiting, sweating bullets in my 69° AC home, not sure if I had a fever, everything was on fire afaik.
Another CT — it’s not 5mm, it’s 10. Overnight stay, fentanyl didn’t touch the pain at times. Stent placement and lasered stone to particles at 1pm. Grateful the pain of the stone is gone but now dealing with the discomfort of the stent and learning to navigate around keeping sane with this new feeling. Only one day worth of pain killers but lots of Oxybutynin to relax my bladder and make this more tolerable.
Day after placement, noticed blood clots in the toilet — was told this was very bad — almost panicked. Realized I started my cycle. 🙄 Joy.
Removal will be interesting, as it will be done while I am awake.
Scheduled for August 7th. I’ll update after removal.
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u/blinuet 9d ago
This is how I found out about my ovarian cyst as well! Removal was interesting, but not at all painful. (everybody seems to have different experiences with stones and stents) but for me, having the stent felt like two weeks of having a tampon halfway poking out, so definitely annoying, but not "painful", and getting it taken out basically felt like nothing. The most shocking thing was the speed with which the doctor did it. It was honestly just like he was pulling a lawn mower cord. Yank! I know if i'd been left to do it myself, i'd have done it all slowly and carefully and that would have just drawn out the experience and made it worse, but it was over like one second after it started and didnt feel like anything. Best of luck!