Kidney Stones: Root Causes and Simple Remedies
Uncensored: Sharing My 15 Years of Search for Best Practices to Prevent the Worst Pain in the World
In this article, I have summarized 15 years of my literature research, anecdotal notes and experience, and scientific analysis. Many of the mechanisms and simple remedies for kidney stone formation discussed in this article, are not shared in major medical forums and even by trained urologists.
Table of Contents:
The Worst Pain in the World with Great Company
What Happens? The Current Understanding of how Kidney Stones form
The Modern Theory of Calcification
The Microbial Theory of Kidney Stones: The Role of Chemical Toxins, Vaccines and Pesticides
Environment, Lifestyle, Diet, Gravity
What to DO, and What to AVOID
Hormones and Minerals
Medical Protocols
Herbal and Traditional Treatments
Vitamins and Supplements
How to Test Your Urine to Predict Your Risk of Kidney Stone
Summary and Inexpensive Practical Tips
The Worst Pain in the World with Great Company
I was told by a female nurse once that the pain of passing a kidney stone is worse than the pain of giving birth. As a man, I have no way of ever testing her claim but she was a mother and a kidney stone passer so I would trust her testimony.
If you have passed a kidney stone (or stones), you are in a company of distinguished folks like Benjamin Franklin, President Johnson, William Shatner, Jack London, Isaac Newton, Caesar Augustus, Michelangelo, King Louis XIV, Lionel Messi, Jeff Bezos, and 14 American astronauts who developed kidney stones during space missions between 2001 and 2006!
Kidney stones form and develop when certain substances, such as calcium, oxalate, and uric acid, become concentrated enough to form crystals inside the kidneys narrow passages. When small, the crystals pass through the kidney and the 1 foot (30 cm) length of the ureter (the tube connecting kidneys to the bladder). When the crystals grow and dislodge from the kidney into the ureter, if they are larger than the diameter of the ureter (2-3 mm in adults) or when someone’s ureter is stiff or contracted, for example in times of stress (under the impact of adrenaline) the stones could cause severe pain including flank pain (pain in one side of the body between the stomach and the back), sometimes with blood in the urine, nausea, and vomiting. As the stones pass down the ureter toward the bladder, they may cause frequent urination, bladder pressure, or pain in the groin.
Patients with renal colic (severe kidney pain) typically appear restless and unable to find a comfortable position. Classical renal colic pain is located beneath the 12th rib. The pain of renal colic develops suddenly and is often described by patients as “the worst pain they have ever felt”. Despite this severe presentation, the majority of urinary stones pass spontaneously without the need for surgery.
The majority of kidney stones are made of calcium and phosphate. The rest are uric acid stones, which form in people with low urine pH levels. Kidney stone (Nephrolithiasis in medical jargon; Nephro: kidney, lith: stone, isis: disease) is a recurrent disease, with a prevalence of 50% over 10 years so once your kidney is sensitized by passing a stone, you need to be very vigilant about future episodes of kidney stone.
What Happens? The Current Understanding of how Kidney Stones form
Most kidney stones form when calcium binds inside the kidney’s narrow filtration channels, to a small organic molecule called oxalate to form calcium oxalate which is insoluble in water and crystallizes into stone-forming nuclei under high pressure and concentration (saturation in thick blood). The oxalate in the blood is either delivered from high oxalate foods such spinach, or when the liver metabolizes glyoxylate, which is a metabolite of Glycine1 (precursor to creatine, see my article about creatine supplements) and proline, amino acids in collagen (connective tissue) and meat. So a diet high in meat protein means higher oxalate in the blood. A diet high in salt and low in water, means higher blood pressure and thicker blood inside the kidney. So diets high in meat and salt make one vulnerable to forming kidney stones. For repairing damaged connective tissue.
Although avoiding meaty and salty diets could be beneficial to kidney stone formers, the story of kidney stones, their various forms, and ways to prevent them are a lot more complex than just avoiding meat and salt. In what follows, I try to describe the most recent theories about kidney stone formation, together with my theory of distributed calcification, and ways to prevent kidney stones.
Note: Some of my dietary suggestions are also reflected in my new book The Right Way to Eat.
The Modern Theory of Calcification
I have studied the topic of kidney stones for years. I have studied the foundations of immunology and wrote two books on neuroendocrine systems and food metabolism. The following is my best understanding of the theory of calcification which explains formation of kidney stones, as well as other disorders in calcium metabolism and homeostasis (healthy equilibrium) such as Cataracts, Osteoporosis, Dental Decay, Coronary Vascular Diseases (plaques and clots), Alzheimer and dementia, Acute Kidney Failure, Neuromuscular excitability leading to muscle cramps, constipation, anxiety, Calciphylaxis (Rather than being stored in the bones, calcium and phosphorus deposits collect in the small blood vessels of tissues in the fat and skin resulting in infection, blood clots and extremely painful skin ulcerations), Calcergy, etc. In other words, kidney stones could be an early or late alarm for other diseases such as kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, etc.
It all starts with serious or chronic stressful incidents, an injury, a trauma, a toxin (chemicals or drugs) sensitizing some tissues or the whole body, enough to elicit a Repel/Resist and then Expel/Encapsulate response.
If the threat is local, for example, a cut on a finger, messages2 sent by hormonal and nervous systems attract blood clot formation ingredients (like fibrinogens, platelets and platelet activating factors, calcium) to stop the bleeding, and immune system members (white blood cells, etc.) to identify, destroy or expel/encapsulate any dangerous bacteria invading our body’s integrity (blood vessel cell walls). Calcification plays a key role in both forming the blood clot and then encapsulation of the neutralized germs/toxins. In fact, trees also have similar encapsulation and isolation mechanisms when facing dangerous pathogens. If you see ugly abnormal cancerous-looking outgrowths on tree trunks or branches, they are most likely “Burls,” abnormal or unhealthy growths or tissues that are encapsulated and isolated by the tree to minimize their metabolic interference and damage to the whole system.
In the repel/resist phase, the body needs to manage its “fighting” energy judiciously. If the cells in the locally sensitized/weakened area of the body, whether an eye, a kidney, myocardium (heart tissue) or brain neurons, have healthy mitochondria and energy metabolism, the repel/resist and expel phases occur fairly quickly. If the threat is large and chronic or if the mitochondrial or immune systems of the person is weak (as in aged or unhealthy individuals), or if the whole system (body) is resource (energy)-starved because of multiple stressors, the local tissues under attack would become sick (hypoxic) and either lose their life (necrosis) or become cancerous. In either case, to prevent the spread of the damage, the body often sequesters and encapsulates the dying tissue or entrapped damage/toxin with calcification.
An essential part of the immune system’s elimination of the injurious substances is the microbiome or the microbial balance in the person’s guts and throughout the body. A healthy microbiome is one that contains a lot of “natural” mutualistic beneficial bacteria. In times of stress, these bacteria are shown to modulate and regulate our immune response, including the encapsulation and calcification stage (see below on Microbiome effects on kidney stones).
So kidney stones, at least the calcium types, can be considered as part of our resist/repel and expel/encapsulate reaction to injurious substances or stressors when one’s sensitized/vulnerable tissue or overload/stress happens to be in their kidneys. It requires several cofactors to happen:
Sensitized/injured/stressed kidney cells
Toxins such as heavy metals, chemicals, drugs, excessive protein metabolites like oxalates and creatinine, etc.
Dysfunctional mitochondrial energy metabolism (toxins, chemicals like fluorides and chlorine, estrogen and endocrine disruptors, imbalance of minerals, etc.) that makes it difficult for sensitized and vulnerable cells to heal and recover.
An excess of calcium in the blood made available by the body’s fight or flight system (like release of cortisol which is a catabolic stress hormones breaking down bones and releasing calcium into the blood), or imbalances in the parathyroid or thyroid (calcitonin) hormones and vitamins D and K (fermentation-dependent) that disrupt calcium metabolism and homeostasis.
An unhealthy imbalanced microbiome resulting from poor food choices, toxins, chemicals, drugs (like antibiotics) which cannot assist the immune system in eliminating toxins and pathogens.
Diet and lifestyle choices that allow the growth of small calcium deposits (encapsulated toxins) into larger ones that end up blocking ureters and cause pain.
The Microbial Theory of Kidney Stones: The Role of Chemical Toxins, Vaccines and Pesticides
A healthy microbiome is generally helpful to fight injurious substances entering our body. In the gut a healthy microbiome can ferment fibers in healthy food (no chemicals) into simple fats like Butyrate in the protective mucus layer, which nourishes colonocytes and helps the gut barrier and intestines’ tight junctions to prevent entry of harmful proteins and pathogenic lipopolysaccharides into our blood stream.
The microbiological approach to understand kidney stones has received increasing attention in recent years. It started in 1980 with the discovery of a good gut-friendly bacteria (anaerobic Oxalobacter formigenes) that could degrade oxalates. The beneficial bacteria seemed to be missing in obese populations or people taking antibiotics.
It has also been shown that the addition to Calcium oxalate crystals of an enzyme (oxalate decarboxylase) derived from beneficial bacteria Bacillus subtilis greatly increased the kidney stone material’s solubility. Bacillus subtilis, known also as the hay bacillus or grass bacillus, a gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium, is found in top soil rich in healthy organic matter (not sprayed with pesticides) and the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants and healthy humans consuming plants and vegetables. Cultures of Bacillus subtilis were popular worldwide, before the introduction of antibiotics, as an immunostimulatory agent to aid treatment of gastrointestinal and urinary tract diseases such as Rotavirus and Shigellosis. It was used throughout the 1950s as an alternative medicine, which upon digestion has been found to significantly stimulate broad-spectrum immune activity including activation of antibodies, interferons, leukocytes and cytokines important in the development of cytotoxicity towards tumor cells. So again, we see the importance of healthy bacteria in broad protection against not only kidney stones but also other diseases like cancer, which result from locally hypoxic dying tissues in the body.
Other beneficial bacteria such as natural acetobacter (in vinegar) and Lactobacillus bacteria (which we consume from our own home-made chemical-free3 sauerkraut and kefir) have shown to decrease urinary oxalate levels and help with prevention of kidney stones. Lactobacillus acidophilus inhibits Calcium Oxalate stone development by hampering crystallization, growth, aggregation and cell-adhesive ability of Calcium oxalate. By contrast, E. coli alone enhances calcium oxalate stone development by promoting its growth and aggregation. This points out to the importance of a healthy and balanced microbiome that keep potentially harmful bacteria like E. coli and H. pylori in check. In fact, a group of researchers now believe kidney stone formation is a nanobacterial disease analogous to Helicobacter pylori infection and peptic ulcer disease. When under attack by chemicals or antibiotics, nano bacteria encapsulate themselves against these stressors by calcification. From the standpoint of our body’s immune system, calcification is the preferred way to sequester and isolate potentially harmful but stubborn growths or injuries (imbalances and bad actors). Citrus prevents biofilm formation which may explain its positive role in preventing both kidney stones and stomach ulcers. But microbial imbalance in the body and an unhealthy gut microbiome seem to play a key role in enabling calcifications and necrosis of various tissues in times of injury and stress. In fact, the harmful effects of drugs (antibiotics and others) and chemicals (like chlorine and fluoride in city water or preservatives, artificial additives and pesticides residues in food) on kidney stones could be due to their negative impact on both our microbiome’s beneficial bacteria and on our mitochondrial health.
Metals like lead, aluminum and mercury or their salts can sensitize and irritate living tissue cells in the human body, including kidney cells. Many metals and their salts also impair our mitochondrial health and metabolic efficiency, which is linked to autism in children and Alzheimer’s’ disease in adults. In fact, autistic children form kidney stones at a higher rate than other children.
Many parents who report adverse vaccine reactions of their children reported that their child was also on antibiotics at the time of vaccination. Yeast overgrowth, commonly associated with antibiotic usage, might lead to increased oxalate production, kidney stone formation, and Oxalate combination with mercury (in some vaccines), slowing mercury elimination if oxalates were so high that they deposited in the bones with attached mercury.
Some critics of COVID-19 vaccines believe that the spike proteins produced under the direction of the mRNA vaccines in the entire body act similar to toxic metal irritants and cause widespread tissue sensitization in multiple organs making them prone to necrosis, cancer, blood clots and calcification when challenged with subsequent stressors. As their proof, vaccine critics point out to large spikes in kidney failures, kidney stones, osteoporosis, cataracts, blood clots (thrombotic events), strokes and heart attacks across different age groups following the COVID-19 shots (2021-2024).
Pesticides are among the main chemical suspects in increasing rates of kidney stones and other metabolic diseases. This is an accurate explanation of how herbicides like Glyphosate cause oxalate sensitivity:
Glyphosate (Round Up) is a widely used herbicide implicated in many health issues, including oxalate sensitivity. It's a great reason to eat chemical-free or organic.
Gut microbiota disruption:
Glyphosate's antimicrobial properties can cause an imbalance in gut microbiota, favoring the growth of harmful bacteria and reducing beneficial ones that metabolize oxalates. [For example] Oxalobacter formigenes plays a crucial role in breaking down oxalates in the gut, which glyphosate can lower, leading to less oxalate degradation and greater absorption
Mineral chelation:
Glyphosate chelates (binds) to essential minerals like magnesium and calcium, reducing their availability. These bind oxalates in the “gut” [instead of blood or kidneys] to form insoluble compounds that are excreted [in feces]. Reduced availability [of magnesium and calcium] can increase oxalate absorption and endogenous (the body's own) production. [Glyphosate] also chelates zinc and manganese, crucial for enzymatic functions involved in detoxifying oxalates
Shikimate pathway inhibition:
Glyphosate inhibits this in plants and bacteria, which is necessary for the synthesis of the amino acids tryptophan, phenylalanine and tyrosine. Although humans don't have this pathway, our gut bacteria do, and disrupting it can affect our overall amino acid balance and metabolism, including of oxalates.
Intestinal permeability:
Glyphosate increases leaky gut, allowing larger molecules, including oxalates, into the bloodstream and leading to higher systemic oxalate levels. This can also lead to inflammation, which further disrupts nutrient absorption and metabolic processes related to oxalate management.
Liver detoxification:
The liver is crucial for detoxifying oxalates. Glyphosate exposure can impact liver function, potentially reducing its efficiency. Liver function disruption can also alter the metabolism of precursors to oxalate, increasing endogenous oxalate production. Addressing glyphosate exposure and its impacts on gut health, nutrient absorption and metabolic function is crucial for managing oxalate-related health problems.
Environment, Lifestyle, Diet, Gravity
Stress, whether of physical or psychological type, activates our body’s high-energy state, which includes the release of hormones like cortisol (in times of danger and risk) or testosterone (in times of competition and rivalry). These hormones both temporarily boost our energy by increasing our blood pressure and suppressing our immune system, which is our complex but energy-hungry enemy identification and destruction system (read my article on adaptive and innate immune system). At the same time, cortisol and adrenaline are catabolic hormones so they break down tissues, including bone tissues, and release calcium into the blood. A suppressed immune system, high blood pressure and high calcium levels in the blood, are not good news for kidney stone formers especially if they are exposed to chemicals like pesticides, fluoride and chlorine (in water), metal salts (in food, deodorants, etc.), petroleum-based chemicals (as in hair salons, machine, paint and auto shops, factories, farms, etc.).
Pesticide residues and synthetic chemicals in food can lead to kidney stones in three major ways. First, like antibiotics, chemicals in food could destroy our gut and body’s good bacteria that help us prevent toxins from entering our blood stream. Second, phosphate-based pesticides like glyphosate used on grains, seeds and vegetables break down to gloxylate, which converts to oxalate (see last section). Third, after destroying our first line of defense, pesticides and other synthetic food chemicals irritate and injure our cells, including our kidney cells (on their way out). In fact, research has shown that some kidney stones result from an altered (damaged or partially injured) papillary epithelium in the kidney. This can be a consequence of cytotoxic substances that also can induce subepithelial calcifications (remember the expel and encapsulate stage). Professional activities related with occupational exposure to cytotoxic products (inhalation of pesticides, disinfectants, and organic solvents in factories, hair salons, paint shops, machine shops, etc.) seem to be related to calcium oxalate kidney stones. In fact, it has been clearly demonstrated that the consumption of cytotoxic products like ethylene glycol or analgesic abuse induced the development of papillary calcifications (sensitization). Presence of sensitive epithelial mucosa with tendency to injury, as a hereditary factor or in people with recurring kidney stones) is also linked to formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones.
The effect of diets low in fiber on kidney stones can be explained by mechanisms we have discussed so far. Fibers have beneficial impacts on (1) The formation of Butyrates to protect our gut’s mucus layer and preventing toxins from entering our blood, (2) The motility of food waste in digestive tract and prevention of constipation which leads to abdominal pressure and toxification of our blood.
For more details, you can read my article about the effect of stress on women’s menstrual cycles and fertility (How Diet and Lifestyle Impact Women's Fertility, Menstrual and Menopause Problems), and also my book The ROGUE Brain.
Once the body calcifies and encapsulates oxalates and other toxins in the blood, it will try to expel them through the urine. Nothing works on moving a stone in a tight ureter better than gravity, water/urine volume/pressure and a flexible tube:
Gravity: Most people have sedentary jobs and lives so gravity won’t help much. Physical activity and walking may help move the stones. Constipation, which seems to follow a sedentary lifestyle with low physical activity, appears to also correlate with the risk of kidney stone formation, as stated earlier. Low or No gravity and low physical activity may be the reason many American astronauts develop kidney stones during space missions, as stated earlier4. Gravity may also be the reason for the effect of moon cycles (and full moon) on kidney stone movement and pain (the same way moon gravity is said to affect timing and speed of delivering babies in humans or in plants’ germination of seeds).
Water: The initial therapy for the prevention of any type of kidney stone recurrence is increased fluid intake to ensure a urine volume of at least 2 liters per day. But remember, if there is fluoride, chlorine or other chemicals in the water (common in many city waters now), it can hurt more than it can help. Even zero-mineral water or water in plastic bottles (due to possibly endocrine disruptors) or mineralized waters may not have the right balance of healthy minerals that uncontaminated well waters have.
Flexible ureter: Stress and poor diet won’t help. Adrenergic receptors on ureters make it tight in times of stress (and high cortisol level, for example towards late night and early dawn when kidney stone pains are often highest). Bad diets, low in chemical-free vegetables, are known to increase blood pressure by drying up nitric oxide, the body’s signal to loosen blood vessels and make them flexible.
What to DO, and What to AVOID
DO
Consume a lot of chemical-free phytate-rich products (the bran with your whole grain wheat5 instead of bleached refined white flour, legumes and beans, whole cereals) and vegetables (maybe not those on high oxalate list like spinach, rhubarb, kale, etc.) from local small regenerative farms6.
Drink enough natural spring or well water (not those in bottles, demineralized, mineralized, with chlorine or fluoride, from sources near industrial areas or conventional farms that spray, etc.)
Eat chemical-free vegetables, particularly greens, which usually have properly balanced ratios of potassium to sodium, magnesium to calcium. As explained in The Right Way to Eat, in nature, magnesium often balances calcium, and potassium often balances sodium.
Eat foods rich in citrate and phytate because they are effective crystallization inhibitors. Citrate consumption (like a half lemon a day) causes an increase in urinary pH and decreases calcium salt supersaturation due to its capacity to complex calcium ions, and also has crystallization inhibitor activity.
Phytate, mainly present in whole cereals and legumes (chemical-free ones not sprayed with pesticides), can inhibit calcium salt crystallization. Individuals prone to calcium oxalate stone formation were found to have lower urinary phytate excretion compared to healthy subjects. Also, data from two large observational epidemiological studies revealed an inverse association between phytate intake and the risk of stone formation in women.
Have intimate love making with your spouse. Research shows intimate love making and sexual intercourse is helpful in clearing distal ureteral stones. , researchers have concluded. Remember the ureter has a lot of adrenergic receptors which tighten it during stress signal by adrenaline. The hormone of trusting touch, oxytocin, is shown to downregulate adrenaline and stress hormones, as explained in my book The ROGE Brain.
AVOID
Acidifying Diet: Excessive meat, oily (seed oils), fried, dehydrated, sugary, salty, fructose-containing food, also foods rich in oxalate including tea, chocolate, spinach, beetroot, rhubarb, peanuts, cashew, almond, dried fruits and cola. Many fruits, nuts and whole grains (like buckwheat and rice bran) may develop high oxalate levels upon exposure to pesticides or fungicides.
Excessive use of vitamin C and/or vitamin D supplements because they can cause an imbalance in oxalate or calcium, respectively.
Diets high in purified calcium, like supplements, or denatured calcium as in ultra-pasteurized non-organic, non-pasture-raised milk. Cows’ favorite food is fermented hay (chemical-free, not sprayed) with alfalfa or non-sprayed grass which they can ferment in their rumens. Fermentation helps the cows make (fat-soluble) Vitamin K2, which together with vitamin D, ensures the calcium in their milk deposits in the (calves') bones and NOT arteries (heart), joints (arthritis), kidneys (stones), eyes (cataract). When humans pasteurize (denature) the milk (at ultra high temperatures) we Deactivate lactobacilli (fermentation facilitator), Vitamins D and K2 so we may impair our body’s ability to direct calcium into bones and not to unwanted tissues (as in arteries, kidneys, eyes, etc.). Also, feeding cows grains and sprayed food would impair their fermentation mechanisms.
Synthetics and chemicals: Metals, synthetic and purified chemicals and additives in your water, drinks (like energy drinks and soda), food, drugs, supplements and consumer items like shampoo, soaps, detergents, deodorants, soaps, etc. (Read my articles about endocrine disruptors, pesticides, creatinine, and my book The Right Way to Eat, all referenced at the end of this article)
Chronic stressors in life that trigger your sympathetic or fight/flight response by releasing cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones, as explained, tighten ureters and blood vessels (high blood pressure in the kidney), catabolize bones and release calcium and glucose into the blood. All these changes make us prone to kidney stone formation and ureter blockage.
Hormones and Minerals
In nature magnesium often balances calcium and phosphate often accompanies or complements calcium so diets high in magnesium (vegetables and greens) and low on Phosphate7 may help with prevention of calcium oxalate stones.
Vegetables and grains grown with high phosphorous fertilizers may have too much phosphate and not enough calcium to balance it, so when consumed, they may draw calcium into the blood to balance the phosphate.
Our hormones play a key role in controlling mineral levels in the blood and the formation of kidney stones. For example, it has been shown that presence of calcium phosphate complexes like hydroxyapatite promotes the aggregation of amorphous and then crystalline (stone-like) calcium oxalate. Hydroxyapatite phosphate primarily originates from the breakdown of bone tissue, meaning that the primary source is bone resorption where old bone cells are naturally replaced, releasing calcium and phosphate ions into the bloodstream, which can then form hydroxyapatite crystals under certain conditions; this process is tightly regulated by hormones like cortisol (stress hormone), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitonin (from thyroid). Vitamin D, which acts like a hormone, increases both Calcium and Phosphate reabsorption in the blood from kidney and from intestines, PTH promotes Calcium (from bones and kidney) but downregulates Phosphate reabsorption from kidney into the blood8. Calcitonin promotes absorption of Calcium back into our bones.
Any biohacks, calcium or Vitamin D supplements, drug, and surgeries that disrupt the complex and delicate interaction of stress, thyroid and parathyroid hormones could impair calcium metabolism and homeostasis and aggravate risks of kidney stone and calcification diseases instead of mitigating them.
Medical Protocols
Although our main goal should be to prevent the formation of kidney stones, in times of emergency and when larger painful stones form and move, we may need to resort to medical protocols to manage the pain while pushing the stone. Among different medical protocols, I personally like the following New Zealand protocol. The idea is to manage the excruciating pain for several days while passing the stone. Unlike many American protocols, they discourage the administration of opioids.
NSAIDs [like Declofenac or Ibuprofen (without dyes and colors)] are the first-line treatment for renal colic pain because they have been shown to achieve greater reductions in pain scores, have a longer duration of action and result in a reduced need for additional analgesia in the short-term, compared with patients treated with opioid analgesics. The increased efficacy of NSAIDs may be partially explained by the fact that prostaglandin production is part of the pathophysiological process of renal colic. Diclofenac is … the NSAID with the strongest evidence of effectiveness in the management of renal colic. It is available in immediate and modified release oral, injectable and suppository formulations… Oral or rectal diclofenac, 75 – 150 mg, daily, can be prescribed for ongoing pain management. Some clinicians recommend NSAID suppositories as the best analgesia for out-of-hospital care for renal colic pain. Advising patients to [drink enough water to] maintain a lightly colored urine is a “rule of thumb” for achieving this.. Alpha-receptor blockers (especially for For larger distal stones lodged closer to the bladder), e.g. [tamsulosin or Flomax brand in America) doxazosin and terazosin, or calcium channel blockers, e.g. nifedipine, can accelerate the passage of urinary stones by relaxing smooth muscle without preventing peristalsis.
Obviously, extreme pain may trigger nausea, and vomiting will prevent painkillers from staying in the stomach long enough to affect pain (hence the preference for suppositories). A strategy to prevent nausea is to use antiemetics before taking pain medications and plenty of fluids. This may be tricky, however, because antiemetics may make you drowsy and prevent you from using gravity to your advantage by walking and other physical activities.
Cannabidiol in marijuana is reported to lower pain thresholds and delay the release of anti-inflammatory molecules. CBD oil has analgesic, antispasmodic, and muscle-relaxing properties and can reportedly suppress headache and nausea, which often occur with kidney stones.
There are also drugs like thiazides, potassium citrate, and allopurinol which are prescribed to prevent kidney stones.
In patients with complex struvite stone disease, colonized urinary tracts and infectious stones, postoperative and prophylactic irrigations with Renacidin (Citric acid, Magnesium carbonate, D-gluconic acid, Magnesium acid-citrate, Calcium carbonate) were shown to eliminate the nidus for recurrent infection and serve as a potential long-lasting cure.
Another treatment, called “Urologic solution G” uses only Citric acid, Sodium carbonate, Magnesium oxide.
Generally speaking, many kidney stone treatments contain carbonates or citrates of potassium or magnesium.
Herbal and Traditional Treatments
As always, the quality and purity of herbs and vitamins vary greatly so caution is advised in trying any herbs or supplements to treat any condition.
Many stone patients in Brazil take a tea made from the annual herb Phyllanthus niuri that grows in the tropical indigenous area and does not cause side effects. This natural product is locally called Chanca Piedra, which means “break stone” because it has been used for generations to eliminate gallstones and kidney stones. Its effectiveness may be due to its richness and balance in minerals. The extract of Phyllanthus niruri has been shown to exhibit a non-concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on the calcium oxalate crystal internalization. The clinical beneficial effects of the herb may also be related to ureteral relaxation.
Garlic (chemical-free) and its main phytochemical (Allicin) are shown to have antihypertensive (against high blood pressure), antioxidant, and nephroprotective (protecting kidneys against high blood pressure and toxic sensitization and infections that may lead to kidney stones) effects.
Fresh lemon, lime and apple cider vinegar are great ways to alkalize our body (to urine pH of 6-6.5) which would effectively block the formation of many types of kidney stone.
In Iranian studies, the size of kidney stones was reduced significantly in the treatment group after oral administration of Lapis judaicus (Hajrul yahood). The plant and its formulations have been claimed by Unani (ancient Greek and Persian) medicine to be useful in the management of kidney stones. The plant is also part of the ayurvedic Indian herbal kidney stone remedy Cystone® manufactured by Himalaya Health Care9.
The Chinese Kampou medicine has been used for prevention and treatment of kidney stones for centuries.
Moroccan herb Hernaria hirsuta has similarly been evaluated to prevent or dissolve kidney stones.
Hydroxycitrate (HCA) is a natural substance isolated from the fruit of the Malabar tamarind (Garcinia cambogia). Molecular inhibitors of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystallization—citrate and hydroxycitrate— are shown to induce dissolution of the calcium oxalate crystals under specific conditions.
Vitamins and Supplements
As always, the quality and purity of herbs and vitamins vary greatly so caution is advised in trying any herbs or supplements to treat any condition.
High dose of vitamin A has been shown to improve the renal function by restoring the glomerular filtration rate and by increasing the urinary pH and excretion of citric acid.
Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) has been recommended for hyperoxaluria (excessive oxalate in the urine).
Sodium citrate at higher pH (above 6) may help dissolve stones.
Chondroitin sulfate C may inhibit the formation of calcium oxalate stones.
Citrate and carbonate salts of magnesium and potassium are used as supplements to treat kidney stones. For example, subjects treated with potassium-magnesium citrate have demonstrated significant decreases in the relative saturation of calcium oxalate and in the concentration of undissociated uric acid compared to placebo. Potassium-magnesium citrate seems to also effectively prevent recurrent calcium oxalate stones.
While most chemical-free vegetables and fruits contain balanced ratios of magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium, some supplements may not offer the proper balance.
How to Test Your Urine to Predict Your Risk of Kidney Stone
We want to make sure our urine is fluid (not viscous) and clear (not turbid, too yellow or dark) because proteins and amino acids tend to thicken and darken urine. But there is another relatively easy and yet accurate test one can do to predict their risk of kidney stone formation. According to some theories, including those cited by Dr. Rogers in this video, kidney stones are a result of metabolic acidosis. In other words, our body creating too many acidic metabolites from meat, proteins (broken down to amino acids), etc. How do we know our body is acidic? Our blood always maintains a stead homeostatic pH of 7.4 so it will excrete the excess acid in the urine. You can buy an inexpensive digital or paper pH meter and check your urine pH for acidity. Ideal urinary pH to prevent kidney stones of most kinds is probably in the 5.5-6.5 range. For patients with urate stones, reducing dietary purines by eating less purine-rich meat (e.g. red meat and offal) and seafood (e.g. shellfish and oily fish) is an effective way to decrease urate production. A urinary pH of 6.0 – 6.5 can increase the solubility of urate. The following is from a paper by Felix Grases and colleagues which has some good dietary guidelines for different forms of kidney stones:
Urinary pH is an important variable that can be strongly affected by diet. A diet rich in animal protein is associated with high uric acid urinary excretion and a low urinary pH. Uric acid solubility decreases dramatically at a urinary pH lower that 5.5, leading to uric acid crystal formation that can act as a heterogeneous nucleant for calcium oxalate crystals. For people eating a vegetarian diet, the consumption of citrate-rich products (foods and soft-drinks) and carbonated beverages notably increases the urinary pH. In this case, it is important to consider that calcium phosphate solubility abruptly decreases at pH values above 6.0, causing formation of calcium phosphate crystals that can act as heterogeneous nucleants for calcium oxalate crystals. Indeed, hydroxyapatite and uric acid are very frequently found at the core of renal calculi of this type.
Summary and Inexpensive Practical Tips
Based on anecdotes shared by friends and family members, and scientific data shared above, the following may be practical tips to prevent painful kidney stones:
Consume less meat, salt, fat, and more chemical-free vegetables and whole grains.
Don’t forget drinking water, especially if you consume any of the many kidney stone culprits from salty oily sugary foods, to meat, protein, chocolate, tea, spinach, chemically (conventionally) grown sprayed vegetables, grains and fruits, etc.
Avoid chemicals of all kinds as much as possible, in your food, house, work space, shampoo, deodorant, etc.
Add good bacteria back in your food by eating fresher chemical-free food. Remember, non-fresh and non-local often means sprayed and fumigated and adulterated (see The Right Way to EAT for the concept and adulteration score). Make your own meals fresh at home, make fresh whole grain breads, fermented foods like sauerkraut and kefir (using raw milk from healthy natural cows, lightly pasteurized). When in doubt, add fermented food, fibrous chemical-free vegetables, garlic and lemon (chemical-free) to your food.
Move, get sunshine, stand up, walk, exercise. Let gravity and blood flow help you.
Reduce stressors in life. Trade some income, money or habits to free up time to rest, relax, cook good food, enter joyful activities (without deadlines), fellowship, spirituality, good sleep.
Read my articles and books listed below. Educate yourself about how your brain, guts, soul and body either work together or burn out together. You can be in charge once you understand the system. It’s not that difficult.
My Books and Relevant Articles:
The Right Way to Eat: A Handbook About Wholesome Food, by Ray Armat, Ph.D., 2024
The Rogue Brain: Understanding the Unruly Mind Behind Our Bad Habits, Anxieties, Diseases and Blind Spots, by Ray Armat, Ph.D., 2024
Masks, Crutches and Daggers: The Science of our Self-Delusional, Addictive Homo economicus Brain, by Ray Armat, Ph.D., 2022
Creatine 101: Supplementation and its Downsides — A Clarification to Joe Rogan and Elon Musk
These Two Factors May Reverse Aging Effects on our Immune System's Fight Against Viral Infections
Do Pesticides Impact Fertility, Masculinity and Miscarriages?
Will Fat-free Milk Fatten Humans like it Fattens Pigs? Facts and Myths about Whole Milk
How Diet and Lifestyle Impact Women's Fertility, Menstrual and Menopause Problems
Other Sources:
https://bpac.org.nz/bpj/2014/april/colic.aspx
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21741690/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1586208/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17509313/
https://dietitiansondemand.com/calciphylaxis-a-lesser-known-complication-of-ckd/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1100/tsw.2006.374
https://gutsybynutrition.com.au/gutsy-by-nutrition-blog/2024/7/11/the-relationship-between-herbicides-amp-oxalate-problems
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1765041/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7109061/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9366314/
https://kidneystones.uchicago.edu/2014/11/22/citrate-to-prevent-stones/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26142575/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3311908/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17681643/
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4684-7272-1_113
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29733943/
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40168-024-01877-y.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19766470/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/5-things-can-help-take-pass-kidney-stones-2018030813363
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16890682/
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2020.576110/full
https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/Images/Dietary%20Changes%20to%20Prevent%20Calcium%20Oxalate%20Stones_tcm75-194243.pdf
https://www.renalandurologynews.com/news/physical-activity-tied-with-lower-risk-for-kidney-stones/
https://wordpress.uchospitals.edu/kidney/files/food-oxalate-graph.jpg
https://www.nutritionalmagnesium.org/magnesium-and-kidney-stones/
The body has a limited capacity to produce glycine, and it's often difficult to obtain from plant-based foods so heavy meat-based diets help us make more creatine in the muscles and oxalate in the kidney (stones)!
These are cytokines and other messenger proteins involved in the so-called Acute Phase Response, such as IL-6, cortisol, C-reactive proteins, Procalcitonin, etc.
Chemical-free means grown on a farm without using any pesticides or fertilizers during seeding, cultivating, harvesting and storage.
Other factors contributing may be dried salty food, limited water access, space stressors like radiation levels, sleep cycle disruptions, and irregular exposure to limited sunlight.
We buy local organic wheat, grind the whole grain in small quantities, and make our own sourdough bread from freshly ground whole grain flour.
We grow chemical-free vegetables. Even if you have a 1000 square feet of lawn or land, you can grow a good bit of your vegetable staples like potato and garlic there.
Naturally balanced foods usually have both calcium and phosphate together so the phosphate in raw milk, cheese and fish would probably not be as harmful as the phosphoric acid in soft drinks.
Actually PTH has a more significant influence on the urinary excretion of phosphate ions than calcium. Since phosphates could combine with calcium ions to form insoluble complexes, more phosphate removal will ultimately raise the serum ionized calcium levels.
The product also includes shilapuspha (Didymocarpus pedicellata) Pasanabheda (Saxifaga lgulata Syn. Bergenia ligulata/ciliata) and other plant and herb extracts. In the United States, the product is known as Uricare®.
Would you consider powdered eggshells as denatured? I read somewhere that oxalobacter formigenes are no longer present in the human microbiome. Is that true?
LIFE changing...