What are Kidney Stones?

The kidney stones disorder is the commonest ailment of the human body that is found in almost all age groups. This disorder is not as serious as it seems provided the treatment is given on time. Kidney stone is also called as the renal calculi. The stones that are referred in the disorder are nothing but hard solid mass or crude balls of dissolved minerals in the urine. The different thing about kidney stones is that they are asymptomatic that is one cannot determine or diagnose exactly if one has got kidney stones or not. The reason behind this is that there are always such stones forming in the urine stream but they pass out through the urine without causing any significant damage. The stones are comparatively small in size it is not until they grow big enough to obstruct the path of the urine then one notices some problem. The size that can obstruct the ureter is about 2-3 millimeters. The obstruction by these stones thus causes pain in the abdomen and the groin. The kidney stones are made up of calcium oxalate crystals. Traditionally it was held that if one consumes too much calcium then he or she is at the risk of developing kidney stones. But modern investigation has shown exactly the opposite of it, that is if someone's diet doesn't have enough calcium content then there is more risk of having kidney stones.

Symptoms of kidney stones

As has been suggested above kidney stone is asymptomatic. The patient comes to know that he has kidney stone only when he has kidney stone himself. But one should generally be cautious about such signs like pain in the lower abdominal region of the body and the pain in this condition so acute and sharp that it doesn't let you lie on the bed. Other signs like nausea and vomiting are also indications along with the other signs of kidney stones. A feeling of restlessness can be the sign of kidney stone.

Diagnosing Kidney stone

While diagnosing kidney stone the location of the pain in the body is important and the pain is recurrent in nature. Ultrasound and Radiological imaging can help to determine the cause in kidney stones. The X-ray examination can help in a big way to detect kidney stone since the calcium stones are radio opaque.