Cut Your Risk of Kidney Stones This Summer

Think summer and you might think cookouts and baseball. You probably don't think about kidney stones - but you should. Kidney stones are more prevalent in the summer since they are linked to water intake, and people don't always drink enough to compensate for the warmer temperatures.

Andrew Sambell, M.D., a urologist on the medical staff at Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie, says there are steps you can take to reduce your risk of kidney stones.

Drink enough water. He recommends at least four to eight glasses a day, and double that in hot weather.

Go easy on meat. A diet high in animal protein increases your risk. Dr. Sambell recommends eating a vegetarian diet two days a week or cutting your meat intake by 30 percent.

Shake the salt habit. Most salt in our diets comes from prepared foods, not salt we add at the table. Dr. Sambell notes that fast food is typically high in salt. If you're eating fast food more than twice a week, you're getting a lot of salt in your diet.
Trim the caffeine. If you drink mostly colas, coffee or iced tea, try to switch to decaf at least some of the time. Caffeine is a diuretic which can leave you dehydrated.

Buy some lemons. Lemons are high in citrate, which acts as a stone inhibitor. Slice them up and put them in your water or tea. This also may make your water more palatable.

There are a couple of uncontrollable factors that can increase your odds of kidney stones, including recurrent urinary tract infections, certain medical conditions and a family history. There also are some genetic risk factors that can increase your likelihood of getting kidney stones.

If, in spite of your efforts, you get a kidney stone, it will probably pass on its own. "Most stones of 4 millimeters or less will pass," Dr. Sambell says. "Anything larger than 6 millimeters won't pass on its own."

But a large stone no longer necessarily means surgery. There's a treatment that's been around for 20 years, called extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) that uses sound waves to crush the stone into small particles that can pass on their own. There are also minimally invasive surgical techniques that doctors can use to remove kidney stones. Dr. Sambell says that open surgery is now necessary only in one to two percent of people with kidney stones.

People with recurrent kidney stones should have their risk factors evaluated by a doctor, since multiple stones could lead to a complication.

Baylor Health Care System