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Can Kidney Stones be helped with Fruit Juices?

Have you ever had pain so severe that you thought the you were going to die?  That’s right . . . Kidney stones.

Today the pain we are talking about can be found in your sides, flank, lower stomach, or pelvic area and it can cause you to fall to your knees and maybe…prevent you from getting out of bed.

This pain can be described as sharp, stabbing and/or burning. In addition, you may noticed some Blood in your urine. After a few days the pain may have seemed to “pass” and so did the blood. In worse cases, the pain never passes.

Maybe you have a Kidney Stone!

This medical condition is described exactly as it sounds. A stone forms in your Kidney and either it remains in the kidney or it passes into your Urethra and in most cases it eventually passes out in of your urine.

Many Americans each year suffer from this condition.Sometimes, it requires a visit to the Urgent Care or Emergency room. Some patients are required to go to the hospital for pain medications and others have kidney stones that are so large that specific procedures such as surgery or other procedures are done to break the stone into smaller pieces in order for them to pass.

Kidney stones have been described as equal or worse then pain associated with Pregnancy or Childbirth. If you have never had a Kidney Stone it would be hard to believe. If you’ve never had Childbirth it would be hard to compare. But if you have experienced both….then you might know exactly what I am saying.

Prevention of Kidney Stones using Fruit Juices

If you’ve had one before – you hope and pray that you never have one again.

Often the future prevention of kidney stones is at the top of the list for discussion by patients and their providers. Often individuals are encouraged to change their diet such as caffeine, sodas, chocolates, and others.

Often discussion about the benefit of fruit juices are in the mix. The hopes is that citrus juices may protect against the formation of Calcium Oxalate Stones. These stones are one of the types of stones found in kidney and are the most common type.

Are all juices equal?

It appears that the answer is no.

Often the juice recommended is Lemonade or diluted lemon juice.

Dietary changes including caffeine and fruit juices has been found to be quite important.

But a study by the “National Institutes of Health” compared lemonade with Orange juice and it found that orange juice decrease levels of stones more efficiently then lemonade.

Other juices such as Apple and Cranberry did well with certain stones and bad for others. These two juices actually raised the risk for calcium stones but helped with the less common Brushite Stones (another type of kidney stones).

Grapefruit juice appeared to fail completely and raised the risk of all stones.

Finally

Therefore a couple essential things have been noted.

–  First, dietary changes are essential.
–  Second, knowing the type of stone can be helpful.
–  Third, try to avoid grapefruit juice if you are at risk for kidney stones.
–  Lastly, some individuals will only have one stone while other may have ongoing issues with repeat stones.