Kidney Stone Disease.

Kidney Stone Disease.
Kidney stone disease refers to a condition in which the mineral deposits in the body get hardened in the kidney. In this case, the kidney is unable to filter waste products from the blood and completely dissolve them. Consequently, the waste crystallizes to become kidney stones.

Keeping free from kidney stones disease is vital for a healthy life. This, however, cannot be achieved in one day or two. It is necessary to cultivate and maintain healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle in order to avoid this disease. Eating right is very crucial in keeping this disease at bay.

Food substances that have high salt contents, sugar, vegetable protein, fats, meat and unrefined carbohydrates should be limited. Nuts and chocolates should also be taken in very small amounts, to avoid kidney stone disease, since they are said to have a direct bearing to the disease if taken in large quantities over a sustained period of time.

There are different types of kidney stones. Some of them include calcium stones. These account for a huge percentage of kidney stones, and are most common in men. The others are known as uric acid stones, which cause excessive uric acid. This category of kidney stone disease is also prevalent in men.

The others are struvite stones, which mostly affect women with urinary tract infection. Cystine stones are the other type, which commonly affect people with insufficient tubular reabsorption of amino acids in the kidney. Minerals like uric acid, oxalate and calcium will crystallize and lead to kidney stone disease if the kidney is not able to maintain a substantial amount of water in the urine.

Kidney stones usually form due to insufficient fluid intake, reduced volume in urine, high uric acid, calcium, and oxalate, including urinary tract infections, dehydration and even genetic disorders.

It is important to undergo proper diagnosis, including physical examination, medical history and laboratory tests. This is useful in early detection of kidney stone disease, since small kidney stones may already be situated in the tube passing from the kidney to the bladder.

Treatment of kidney stone disease varies depending on the size and type of stone, urinary tract infection, and the cause of the condition. If the stones are not removed early enough from the urinary tract, surgery remains the only option. The best method of detection is to pass the stone through urine for analysis.