I haven’t yet gotten rid of this kidney stone, and I may need minor surgery soon, but it doesn’t hurt at the moment, and I’m no longer taking narcotic pain meds on a schedule. I’ve switched to ibuprofen and will only take the narcs if and when I have to.
My doctor prescribed oxycodone (also known as oxycontin), and I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would take that drug recreationally. These evil little pills must have a very different effect on other people than they have on me. They make me feel jagged and paranoid. I’ll take that, I guess, over excrutiating pain, but otherwise, no.
Reading is a bit difficult on oxycodone, and writing is impossible. Now that I’m no longer taking it, though—at least not on a schedule—I can write again. So stay tuned. I’ll be back shortly if all continues to go smoothly.
The kidney stone experience is not recommended. This is the second time I’ve developed one in the Middle East in August. I’m told it’s a common ailment in that part of the world during the summer. So if you head over there when it’s hot, or if you’re over there now, drink lots of water—or else.
Been there, done that – and I needed surgery for it once I was back in the U.S.
As for paranoia, I suppose we are all plotting together by wishing that you get well soon!
I had two kidney stones simultaneously, one in each kidney, and had to have each stone blasted with ultrasound waves to get rid of them. That was around 1997 or so, in Australia, and the procedure was relatively painless. Make sure that surgery is necessary before agreeing to it. Ultrasound might be a far better solution.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Michael.
I have had the “big” surgery, 4 Lithotripters and am n0w facing a similiar situation. Be advised that a new speciallty called ENDOUROLOGY exists in certain units aroung the country. I have consulted with the unit at UCLA and it is is staffed with th e most caring people that will tailor your treatment to a host of new proceedures and have taken the field forward into the 21st century. It might be a good idea to give them a call as they are the “cutting” edge.
Best wishes
Dick
Hoping you’re well soon, Michael.
Meds and those unintended consequences; my chemistry seems to find side effects only a fraction of a fraction experience. I’ll tolerate them, but not a moment more than necessary.
Passing a kidney stone, I’m told, is one of the more painful things to have happen to you. My wife just went through one and was in agony. The good news is that it can end suddenly. Try drinking six cokes over two hours and within five minutes of the last coke, slowly chewing 6-8 ozs of steamed and then pureéd asparagus. Continue to drink lots of water, afterward. Seriously, this works.
The other good news is that oxycodone (and other opiates) affects you the same way it does me. I don’t like how I feel on it and don’t understand how anyone could like feeling that way. Ibuprofin works much better.
Glad to see you back Michael.
I don’t fair well with pain killers either…
Take it slow. I’m suspending my thread comments on the usual topics until you’re feeling better enough to intervene.
@MJT,
Take heart,you will overcome!
I wish you a happy new year,despite your painful condition
It will be better very soon,my US colleagues are at the state of the art,especially in urology
Friendly yours,
Dr Trumpeldor
Rush Limbaugh jokes anyone?
I hope you feel good soon Michael.
I hope this is the end of the road for that recalcitrant calculus.
May it pass quietly and unnoticed into your urinary stream!
Recover completely soon.
This is more than we needed to know about your health. Good luck though.
Shanah Tovah, and I hope you recover fully very soon.
I’m convinced you needed to drink more Israeli wine while you were there.
Sympathies, Mr Totten. Kidney stones years ago taught me to be highly dedicated to remaining hydrated at all times, don’t care to go through that again. After a very painful throat surgery a few years ago I was prescribed Oxycontin, it was a wonderful relief the two days after the surgery. But as healing progressed and pain became less intense, I found it better to just endure the pain than put up with the Oxycontin, that is hateful stuff when not truly needed for the worst sort of pain. I cannot understand its popularity as a drug of abuse, the abusers must have a totally different reaction than I experienced.
Glad to hear you’re feeling better, Michael. Can’t say I know what you’re going through, but I know
it must be hard. You’re in my prayers, get well soon, and keep up the great work.
Best of luck getting over this really soon now! Sorry you have had such an ordeal.
Try eating a lot of fresh radishes. It helps both to eliminate the stones and reduces some of the pain.
Michael,
I am glad you are OK now.
May it be your last!
Drink
Lots
And
Lots
Of
Water.
I said it slowly so that people in warm climates might get the message. (Really, Lebanon is not as far South as San Diego or Yuma.) Here Ease of LA in the low desert we have the same problem when the weather gets hot and dry. I typically consume nearly a gallon of water per day along with some other miscellaneous sources of water.
I learned about this from a fellow I dated who’d use a LOT of beer to pass stones when he got them. He worked outside as a building inspector. I saw his pain. You have my sympathies.
{o.o} Joanne
Get well soon, Michael!
Glad to hear you’re off pain killers. I suppose that’s progress.
Well, feel better & Shana Tova.
You’ve really motivated me to drink more liguids.
I had the same experience after a hernia operation with oxy. I was in some pain, but after a half day on oxy, I decided to suffer instead. Oxy was exhausting for me. Paranoid, very intense dreams that left me tired.
The issue is more than just staying hydrated. Some of the bottled water has high mineral content, which can lead to stones.
Four years I’ve been telling you and it takes a second kidney stone to get you on the water wagon! The first was on 18-19 July, not August, though. Close enough, it was plenty hot in Iraq. At least you got a nice rug out of the deal!
As for the effects of jaggedness and paranoia,
Get well soon Michael!
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-to-ahmadinejad-stop-slandering-the-jews/62566/
When Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric is too much even for Castro…
Listen and listen good, when I was living in Israel I had horrible kidney stones. I finally got a filter for my water faucet and found out I had been drinking sand laced water. Now back in the US I switched to only distilled water and my kidney stone problem has for the most part disappeared (after suffering for years well before I went to Israel, while in the US). I don’t know what is causing your stone problem but I can assure you that distilled water or at the very least filtered water is part of the solution. Also keep away from black and white teas.
from someone who has felt your pain. Just thinking about it terrifies me.
Remember DISTILLED WATER
Sorry to hear that this kidney stone awfulness is still going on. Hope you get better soon -
Distilled water is not particularly delicious.
Would water purified by reversed osmosis be good enough?
27. leo wrote
“Distilled water is not particularly delicious.
Would water purified by reversed osmosis be good enough?”
I don’t know, I enjoy the taste of distilled water, and I very much enjoy not having kidney stones. I figure the purer the water the better.
Michael, I feel your pain. It is the little stones getting caught in the ureter and causing kidney colic that are so very painful. Did you do the little dance of pain? A nurse told me that she can diagnose a kidney stone as soon as the patient walks in the door of the emergency room, because we all seem to do the same dance — pacing, lifting our knees, putting our heads down, leaning on things, etc, trying to get away from the pain…
A little advice for anyone who travels in the Middle East or other ridiculously hot places, in summer:
1) Drink more water than you think you need. Then drink more. Especially if you have had coffee or alcohol, which make you feel you do not need to hydrate, but at the same time DEHYDRATE you.
2) Sorry to be graphic, but PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR URINE. If it is anything other than colorless and crystal clear, drink MORE water.
3) One of the best, and most overlooked, signs of dehydration is the appearance of hangnails. If you develop hangnails while traveling in a hot or dry climate, you are not drinking nearly enough water…
I got my first kidney stone in Baghdad years ago, and I spent SIX HOURS pacing back and forth in 120 degree plus heat until the First Cavalry came to get me. In my head I truly heard the trumpet call of a cowboy movie cavalry rescue when I saw the Humvees swinging around the corner. I had no painkillers. And I have to say that during the last half-hour before I got my painkiller, I couldn’t even look at my M-4 without fantasizing just a little about using it on myself. Everyone to whom I tell this either cringes, if they have never had a kidney stone, or nods enthusiastically, if they have. Ever since that day, I go nowhere without my emergency supply of 2 percocets. I keep about thirty of them in my suitcase. Even if I were susceptible to addiction, I think there is zero danger that I would ever abuse my emergency painkillers. The idea that I might not have them if I got another kidney stone is just too terrifying.
Since then I have had kidney stones two more times, once in northern Iraq and once in Beirut, both in August. Having my painkillers handy and knowing what to do at the first sign of flank pain helped make these recurrences less hellish. But I have avoided kidney stones since, I believe because I have begun to really PAY ATTENTION TO HYDRATION, as outlined above…
Regret your pain and wish you well, Mr. Totten. We need your writing.
Larry (St Johns)