Cloudy urine and kidney stones can be a matched pair in many cases. Kidney stones are very small bit of calcium that condense in the tubes of your kidneys and cause excruciating pain. These stones can travel down to the ureters (the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder). It is here that kidney stones tend to cause the most problems. Kidney stones can vary in size from tiny grains of sand, to larger stones the size of a golf ball. Needless to say, a stone of the size of a golf ball in your ureter is NOT fun. Even the little ones can cause a person to writhe around in pain. I should know, I’ve had three of them.
Kidney stones are more common in men, but certainly can be seen in women as well. They are also more common in people over the age of 30, although this is not a hard rule either. Where there’s one kidney stone, there tends to be others like it. They can be seen singly, but the presence of one makes a doctor suspicious that there may be others. Risk for getting them in the future is increased if you’ve had many in the past.
The first and primary symptom of a kidney stone causing an obstruction is pain. The pain associated with a kidney stone is horrible. It will feel like someone is digging a very large and quite sharp knife in to your side. The metaphorical knife is then twisted about relentlessly. There is no position you can get in that will make the pain go away. Movement makes the pain worse, but sitting still doesn’t help much either. Women who have both given birth to a child and had a kidney stone report that the pain is somewhat comparable. Of course, kidney stones aren’t nearly as cute and cuddly as a baby.
As for the urine, well, cloudy urine and kidney stones are seen together in many people. Most people with an active kidney stone are in such a degree of pain however, that they are unlikely to care what color their urine is. Cloudy urine is the least of their worries. Some people with kidney stones will see some blood in the urine. In fact, it is often small amounts of the blood which is making the cloudy urine in the first place.
Kidney stones can be caused by a wide variety of conditions. Dry, hot weather can make a person chronically dehydrated, leading to a precipitation of calcium in the kidneys. Too much calcium in the diet can put a person at risk. There is even some association with excessive alcohol consumption and kidney stones.
People with a kidney stone are generally going to be screaming to be taken to a doctor. There will be little debate involved in this decision. Your doctor can provide effective pain control and hydrate a person properly to help pass the stone. CT scan and some types of x-rays are occasionally used to confirm the presence of the stone. This is often done to be sure that the pain is actually due to a stone and not some other problem.
Cloudy urine is NOT a diagnostic symptom of a kidney stone for two reasons. First, not all kidney stones will cause cloudy urine. Second, not all cases of cloudy urine are caused by a kidney stone.
If you have questions about cloudy urine, or kidney stones, call your doctor and make an appointment. If you suspect that you have a kidney stone and are still able to read this article, chances are it’s something else. A kidney stone would be so painful that reading would be the last thing you’d be worrying about, aside from the cloudiness of your urine of course.
