I'm a lifetime VIP, and currently have 3 active ones. One in my right kidney and two in my left. All are below 4mm this time, but moving around and causing issues. Have had at least a dozen in the last 25 years but honestly don't know the exact count. Chlorthalidone has been a life saver for me as I went 6 years before brewing up this current batch.

Who else hit the bad luck genetic lottery?

Only had a few, only passed one big one a couple decades ago 4.5mm sticker burr looking thing. Pissed orange and pink and had horrible pain. Changed my diet and they stopped for me.

Ive been in the ER at least 10 times for these. Thankfully in 2020 when I went 3 times in one month, I finally met a good urologist who was able to correctly diagnose wtf was wrong with me. I was leaking too much calcium into my urine, so chlorthalidone fixed most of that issue. I was stone free from then on until just recently.

Twice in my 40s that passed on their own after er trips.

Terrible round of multiples on October of 2023 that led to couple er visits, couple surgeries, stints (arguably worse than the stones) and what seemed like a solid month of being high on pain meds it all hurt so bad.


Now I have to go knock on wood, check my horseshoes and pray for never again!


They suck so bad!

MouthBQ98 said:

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Only had a few, only passed one big one a couple decades ago 4.5mm sticker burr looking thing. Pissed orange and pink and had horrible pain. Changed my diet and they stopped for me.

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Same. Hit me on a saturday when I was in the office. Thought I'd been shanked. Threw up on the way home. Writhed and gnashed my teeth for about an hour before calling it. Pregnant wife took me to the hospital.

It finally passed. Caught it in that little coffee-strainer thing they give you. Now I drink water like a fish. Try for as close to a gallon a day as I can get and they've never come back.

Dad used to get them all the time, which be neglected to tell me prior. They're awful. Lady at work told me she got one while pregnant. I can't imagine.

Kidney stone club here as well. I've used a supplement called Chanca Piedra to keep mine at bay.

I can tell when I haven't taken the pills for a couple of days; when I am consistently taking them, I have no kidney pain.

Regular doctor was useless. Just told me to drink more water; that was all. I even went to a urologist and had my kidneys checked out; they were fine.

I did my own research, and started taking these pills.

Most doctors these days seem to be useless IMHO. We've had to go to Vanderbilt to even find some semblance of figuring out all my wife's digestive issues. The local doctors have been useless.

I've had stone removal surgery three different times over the last ~8 years. All of them initially presented with blood in urine (usually after a long run), and all were too large too pass safely (over 10mm). Agree with the poster above about the stents--had those twice and one of the times--omg. Absolute nightmare during and at removal and even phantom pains after. Pray never again.