[jrichardson]

Hi - My son just turned 16 a couple of weeks ago. After about a week of testicular and flank pain, we saw his urologist 2 days ago. Yes, he already had a urologist that he saw for the aspiration of a renal cyst that was causing him significant pain last fall. His urologist told us that is was unusual for someone his age to have a renal cyst and that they were normally located on the outer edges of the kidney and did not cause pain. However, my son's was located centrally in the kidney and was large enough to distend the kidney causing pain. But... back to our current problem - on this visit he had a "significant" (whatever that means) amount of blood in his urine and was sent for a CT Scan. The urologist told us that his right kidney was "full" of small stones. He was given pain medication and a strainer. He has only taken OTC naproxen which is managing his pain, but he has passed 12 small stones in the past 48 hours. Is it "normal" to have that many at one time? He is still experiencing pain and collecting blood in his strainer, so we are assuming that this isn't over. Is that correct? My son is very athletic and just recently started baseball practice. Does physical activity make the stones move? Is there someone out there that started at a young age that can give us some insight to disease progression? Should he pass all of the stones now or is this just going to keep flaring up so to speak? He also lifts weights and takes creatine and protein supplements. Does anyone have any information on the relation of these to kidney stones?

[haylee_beutler]

I am female and i was first 15 years old when i passed my first kidney stone. Unfortunately, my kidney stones get very large before i pass them and the last one cause surgical intervention. I have heard of people with 30 or more small stones in their kidney at one time. Although, usually they have experienced stones most their life. Im not sure if him being an athlete would actually make the stones move, but it is odd that he is passing this many stones all at once. Has he ever passed stones in the past? Sometimes you'll notice blood in the urine for a few days after passing the stones. If he experiences severe pain and the inability to urinate or decrease in urine output, compared to his liquid intake, then he should go back to the urologist and make sure he does not have any stones lodged in his urethra or ureter.

[jrichardson]

Thanks for responding. He continues to have intermittent pain but hasn't passed any more stones - that I am aware of (he hasn't been very diligent in using his strainer). He goes back to his urologist next week. Is there anyway to predict how frequently this will occur? Did your stones get progressively larger and more frequent or is this whole thing just completely random?

[haylee_beutler]

It is very odd that this happened to him just randomly. Some people form stones very quickly and pass them very quickly, and others form stones slowly over time and have a hard time passing them. I was lucky that i passed my first one normally (when i was 15). I had a 22 mm kidney stone taken out via surgery in my back, and i currently have a stone in my left kidney that is small but growing in the tissues so i will never pass it myself. In your sons case, it could be just random, and he many never get another stone again in his life. However, i would request a KUB x-ray probably at 3 months and again at 6 months to make sure he is not forming any new ones. If he continues to form many stones in the future, then his urologist may be able to give him a medication (depending on the stone make up) and he may be able to adjust his diet to help slowing the formation. Unfortunately, I have noticed that "once a stone former, always a stone former." Hopeful that will not be true for your son. I hope he gets better soon, considering i know first hand how horrible the pain of passing a stone really is. Be sure to watch for signs of decreased urine output and increase in fever and pain. Good Luck! If you have any more questions, please ask.