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Practical articles for understanding and caring for your urinary health.
According to a report by the World Health Organization, only 30-50% of chronic patients take their medication. This adherence rate is even lower in developing countries. Other studies estimate that the costs of low medication adherence exceed €100 billion per year! (yes, you read that right, a "fortune").
After the excesses of the holidays, it's back to routine, and some of us will take the opportunity to try to lose those extra "pounds." There are many diets for weight loss, and one of the most popular is the keto diet (or ketogenic diet). But be careful, because the keto diet can promote the formation of kidney stones!
Many times, patients ask us if they can have sex with kidney stones. Let's get straight to the point because this is a hot topic… Yes, you can! And what's more, if practiced enough, it can be the best "medication" to expel them.
In summer, emergency room visits for renal colic skyrocket in our hospitals. This is because during the summer months we tend to neglect our diet and drink more alcohol than recommended. If we add to all this the fact that it is hotter and more humid during the summer, the result is a ticking time bomb.
Who doesn't like to drink a cold beer on a hot summer day? Let's face it, it's one of our favorite drinks at this time of year. And since beer is a diuretic, some kidney stone patients believe that by drinking more beer they can prevent the formation of kidney stones or even expel them more easily.
During the summer, many of us enjoy a good lemonade (or lemon juice) to cool off. And in fact, many doctors recommend it to prevent calcium oxalate kidney stones. But is lemonade really good for your kidney stones? Well, the answer is, it depends.
A kidney stone or renal lithiasis consists of the deposition of minerals and salts that form inside the kidneys. Kidney stones form when the urine becomes supersaturated with a certain salt. This supersaturation causes the formation of crystals that eventually form kidney stones.
The most common warning sign or symptom of renal colic is severe pain in the back on the side affected by the kidney stone. More specifically, it is a pain between the lower ribs and the hip. The pain of a kidney stone or renal colic can come in waves and is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting. In fact, the pain of renal colic is one of the most intense pains there is.
