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Kidney stones are one of the more painful kidney diseases known. If you've ever had a symptom of kidney stones, you'll never forget what it feels like. Both men and women can get kidney stones but it appears there is a slight predominance of men. In fact, the typical individual with a kidney stone is a white male between the ages of twenty to sixty with a positive family or personal history of stones before. About 60% of all of those with stones that have calcium in them will get a second stone within 10 years.

Before an individual even develops a symptom of kidney stones, the kidneys are busy forming those stones. The conditions that favor the development of kidney stones are low blood volume, low fluid intake and an excess of a molecule that precipitates out in the urine. The substances that make up kidney stones are primarily calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate or uric acid stones. They pass through the kidney and end up in the urinary side of the kidney, in an area called the renal pelvis. It is there that the stones precipitate out into hard stone-like globules.

One doesn't get a symptom of kidney stones very often if the stone is big enough to remain inside the renal pelvis. It can get caught on parts of the kidney and can just get bigger. In fact, one of the few symptoms of kidney stones that remain in the pelvis of the kidney is the presence of recurrent kidney or bladder infections. This is because bacteria are incorporated within the stone and the stone acts as a reservoir for bacteria.

The primary symptom of kidney stones is extreme pain in the side or flank. The pain often radiates to the groin area and is so painful, it is likened to the pain of childbirth. When someone has such a symptom, it is important to consider doing a plain X-Ray of the kidney and ureter area to see if any kind of calcified nodule can be seen. This represents the stone itself and it is usually found stuck in the ureter. The other test that is sometimes done is a dye study using X-Rays. This test checks for the presence of a blockage in the ureters or decreased flow past the ureters.

Another symptom of kidney stones can be nausea, vomiting and sometimes a fever. If the stone causes an infection in the kidneys, the urinalysis can show infection cells in the urine. Even in the absence of infection, red blood cells will often show up in the urine sample.

When someone has a symptom of kidney stones and evidence of stones on X-Ray or urinalysis, the treatment is generally supportive. The individual is given pain medication, antibiotics and is sometimes told to strain their urine for the presence of the stone. The person also needs to drink a lot of fluids to help push the stone past the point of the ureters and into the bladder.

In some cases, the symptom of kidney stones is so severe that hospitalization is necessary. The person may need to have the stone broken up by means of shock waves used by ultrasonic machines. In rare cases, the individual has a huge kidney stone that can only be managed by surgical removal. After treatment, the person will need to keep their fluid intake up and may need to take medications to reduce the further incidence of stones.