I was almost 26 weeks pregnant when I started feeling flank pain on the left side. I thought it was merely gas pains because the pain waned and came back again after several hours. I just rubbed mentholated liniment and oils and gently massaged the area for relief. People told me these are just pains connected to pregnancy But the pain continued.
On the fifth day of feeling the pain, one attack persisted for almost 2 hours already and so my mother in law decided to take me to my OB-Gyne. When my doctor saw me writhing in pain, she recommended for my immediate admission to the hospital.
They brought me to the Labor Room in order to monitor the baby. Then the doctors tried to manage the pain by giving me a pain killer that is safe for pregnancy, called Buscopan (hyoscine-N-butylbromide). But the pain didn’t subside right away. In fact it got worse. It felt like I was being stabbed on my back. My husband, who just came from work, kept on massaging my back, while my mother in law processed the papers at Admitting.
After an hour, they gave me Nubain (Nalbuphine hydrochloride), which is a stronger sedating pain killer. I felt so drowsy but I could still feel the pain. I was already hungry after being in pain for several hours, so I was still able to eat some of the bread that my husband brought over. And then I went to sleep.
Then I woke up with the pain still there. They wheeled me to the ultrasonology room for a KUB (kidney, ureter, bladder) ultrasound check. And it was there that we learned that I have a 7 mm stone (urolithiasis) from my left kidney that is not lodged about 3 cm in my ureter. It was the one causing me extreme pain. I was still writhing in pain when the doctor was doing the KUB that I could not exactly remember the next details, except when he said, “Girl.” I asked, “What?” He said, “Yup, it is a girl” referring to the baby in my womb. Even in pain, I wanted to tell him that he could have told me what he was doing because we didn’t know of the baby’s gender prior to that and my husband was just outside. He also would have wanted to see his baby inside my womb.
Anyway, they sent me back to the Labor Room and gave me another dose of Buscopan. While in pain, they are trying to monitor the baby’s movements for signs of contractions, thankfully, there were no premature contractions.
The urologist gave me Acalka (Potassium Citrate) and Rowatinex (Pinene alpha + beta, Camphene, Cineol, Fenchone, Borneol, Anethol and Olive Oil), which will both aid in the passing of the stones through my ureter.
For the next three days, whenever extreme pain would build up on my flank, I was given Buscopan through IV. If the pain didn’t subside with Buscopan, they administered Nubain. In between, I was well. After 3 days, I was discharged from the hospital and was given oral Buscopan for pain.
But on the third night, the pain would not subside. We went back to the hospital for IM doses of Buscopan and Nubain. Pain persisted. I was then admitted again, put on IV, and given Buscopan on IV before the pain subsided. Then I was fine until I was released two days later with my IV.
I had to have a nurse. I had pain almost every night, and so I was given Buscopan. On the third night, we reached 2 doses of Buscopan and 1 dose Nubain before the pain subsided. Since then, the pain had not come back.
Three weeks later, I started to feeling a burning/itching sensation on my lower abdomen and genital area. Upon urine analysis, it was learned that I had urinary tract infection (UTI). My doctor prescribed antibiotics for seven days. I still felt the discomfort and the pain.
On the seventh day of my antibiotics, I went to the toilet to pee. In the middle of the flow, the urine stopped, then I heard a clicking sound on the toilet bowl and the urine continued to flow. When I was done, I inspected the bowl and there it was! The calcium stone came out of my system naturally!
Thankfully, the didn’t cause me anymore pain before leaving my system. And it left without much ado. After that, even the symptoms of my UTI disappeared almost immediately as well. Probably it was the stone trying to come out that caused the UTI in the first place.
It was such a relief because then our concern was my pregnancy, because the baby had been exposed to so many drugs already. But then again, it is a different matter now.
