Weekend Update: This Is the Story Of a Girl

Let’s call this a cautionary tale:

In late February, we had a 60 pound metal filing cabinet delivered to our home, which was left in front of our garage. As it was raining and I had to pull my car out to leave, I took it upon myself to drag the oversized box across our garage floor and up one step so that my husband and I could both pull our cars back in later that day.

That evening, I was struck by the most intense pain in my lower back. 10/10 PAIN. It lasted about 30 minutes and then disappeared. My husband thought maybe I was having a 'muscle spasm,' though neither of us really know what that it is. Afterwards, I felt perfectly normal again. However, the next evening, the same exact thing happened again, sort of same time/same place, this time lasting 60 minutes. Nothing I did helped and I could barely move. I also felt nauseated. The only way to describe the pain was that it felt like I was in labor. And the only pain I've heard described as similar to labor is kidney stone pain. So yes, that did cross my mind. And I did have another episode of the pain about 4 days later, again only lasting 30-60 minutes.

You might wonder why I didn't go to the ER. Well, I avoid hospitals like the plague, which incidentally, this was occurring during the height of the pandemic. My only explanation was that the pain went away and I figured it was from hauling that box.

Fast forward to late May, three months later, and out of the blue, the pain hits me again late one night. Now I was concerned, as I couldn't think of anything I had done to reinjure my back. I called my primary care physician the next morning and got in immediately. She found the whole thing to be odd and didn't immediately think kidney stone, but I did do a urine test and a complete blood work panel. The next day, those results showed nothing out of the ordinary, so she scheduled me for a CT scan.  And that's when I learned that I had a 4 mm obstructing stone in my left ureter, meaning that urine was being partially blocked between my left kidney and bladder. My doctor's office wanted me to see a urologist immediately, due to the numerous risks. Of course, this all took place on a Friday, so I wasn't able to see anyone till Monday. Fortunately, I was not in any sort of pain.

The urologist was a complete idiot, never once looking up at me from his laptop, gave me incorrect information about what foods/drinks I shouldn't have, and misled me about my surgical options. And don't get me started about the office staff, none of which wore masks, and were highly unprofessional (this would take an entire new post).

I went home in tears, regrouped, and the next day I found a new urologist that I was able to see in a few days and is the leading doctor in that particular hospital system. He looked at my labs and imaging before he came into my exam room, sat down with me and my husband (who I brought for emotional support after the previous appointment) and discussed my options in a manner that put me at ease. We agreed that a ureteroscopy was my best option if I didn't pass the stone within a month's time, which is unfortunately the wait time for the surgery. Surgery was scheduled for July 12th.

Meanwhile, he had me on Flomax, and I began drinking about 3 liters of lemon water a day. A week before surgery, I went back for another CT scan to make sure the stone was in the same spot. Lo and behold, there was no stone in my ureter, but one was visible in my left kidney, again 4 mm. I was positive I had not passed a stone, so my urologist said the stone must have moved back up into the kidney. Odd to me that it went upstream, but I guess stones can be elusive/tricky. At this time, I've opted to not have surgery and take a wait-and-see approach.

'Where's the cautionary tale?' you may be asking. Well, the risk factors for stones are:

1. Male (nope)

2. Between 20-49 years of age (I wish)

3.Family history (nope)

4.Overweight (nope)

5.Medications, such as diuretics and antacids (nope)

However, under Diet:

Inadequate fluid intake (nope)

High animal protein intake (nope)

High salt/sugar diet (nope)

Excessive vitamin C supplements (none)

Excessive vitamin D supplements (hmmmm.....well, my PCP instructed me to take 2000 iu of vitamin D/day after my blood work tested low a few years ago)

Excessive intake of oxalate containing foods ('What are those?' I wondered . . . )

Oxalates are naturally occurring in plants, but in humans, they can join together with calcium in the kidney to form stones. 80% of kidney stones are calcium oxalate. What I've learned is that you need to ingest calcium from foods (not supplements) WITH oxalate foods in order for it to bind in the intestines so that it's eliminated through feces instead of urine.

Considering that I had cut back on my dairy consumption over the last 5 years, plus eating what I thought was a healthy, plant-based diet, I believe that's what has caused my issue. The highest oxalate foods are spinach and almonds and I was eating salads mixed with spinach most days, along with eating almonds, almond butter, and drinking almond milk everyday. Other high oxalate foods include: potatoes, beets, bran, brown rice, buckwheat groats, bulgur, cashews, cocoa powder, cornmeal, dates, figs, millet, miso, navy beans, okra, raspberries, rhubarb, soy, sweet potatoes, and walnuts.

Basically, a healthy diet! I've completely eliminated spinach and almonds and a few of the other highest oxalate foods and have cut way back on the others. I'm also consuming 4 servings of dairy per day and I've dropped the vitamin D supplement for now. The last thing I want is for my current stone to get bigger or to grow another one. If you take supplements or eat a plant-based diet, please be aware of the danger of kidney stones. And, drink your milk!