Hydronephrosis

[Smitty1313]

Ultrasound shows bilateral hydronephrosis. Also my bladder was not emptying. I had a Ureteroscopy done with a stent put in for two weeks as I had two .4 cm stones to pass. The stent was taken out 2 weeks ago, but I'm still having lot of bad flank pain on both sides plus under both sides of my front ribs. Taking some Tylenol but doesn't take the pain away. My GFR was 86 and the only other blood test flagged was my Bun/creatine was high at 35. This is my 10 episode with Kidney stones in the last 5 years. I worry about scaring or some type of damage done to the kidneys. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, plus inflammation. I also have a morphine pump as I have chronic pain from nerve damage from a hysterectomy years ago. All kinds of issues going through but this one worries me the most.

My father had kidney disease which he had two transplants over a 10 year period. Kidney disease runs in my family along with my father as well as my grandfather having it.

Appreciate any information you may have for me. This may not amount to anything but another stone issue but just looking for answers.

Thank you

[suzell56]

Smitty1313 .... you make no mention if you are seeing a nephrologist at this time. Are you or if not why not? I had a few stones but no damage, but during a surgery my left kidney and ureter must of been accidently nicked. I too was having bad flank pain shortly after but passed it off until my labs really went off the charts. I was sent/referred to a nephrologist and long story short after months of monitoring/testing had to have the left kidney & ureter removed. I am feeling so much better yet I have to be monitored closely no with only one left.

[Smitty1313 in reply to suzell56]

Right now I'm seeing just my urologist, he has not referred me to a nephrologist yet. I'll be getting another kidney ultrasound next week. I also have chronic constipation from the morphine pump I'm using. I'm taking movantik, stool softeners but still have it bad. I'm wondering if maybe this has an impact on my Kidney function. I already have chronic pain from a bad hysterectomy, having this kidney pain if that's what this is, it's just to much for me. Hopefully I'll find out more information from my ultrasound with next visit with my urologist. Thank you all for your responses. I'll post again after I see the urologist.

[Smitty1313 in reply to suzell56]

I’m sorry you went through so much, then to have a kidney and ureter removed sounds horrible. I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better after all that. Why did they have to remove your ureter and kidney? Was it because that nick damaged the kidney?

I’m afraid I’m taking after my father with his kidney problems. So far they haven’t been to bad just stones and an infection. I’m worried down the road because my father had two kidney transplants. Was on dialysis before the transplant for awhile. It’s a scary scenario that I have nightmares about.

[suzell56 in reply to Smitty1313]

Yes, at least that is what the urologist & nephrologist think.

[Michael__S]

I aggree with suzell56, ask to be referred to a nephrologist if you have not done so. It's a complex disease. One important thing to discuss is the use of NSAID and painkiller. kidney.org/atoz/content/pai...

It's a topic best left to professional as they will know if a better alternative exist. I say better because it might not be perfect, many members on this forum have to take medication to control their blood pressure or else yet those meds are still somewhat hard on their kidney. The big picture is that it slow down the progression of the disease as uncontrolled high BP will damage a kidney much faster. Same with Diabetes. You'll probably have a worse outcome if you can't sleep at all.

With CKD the co-morbidities are generally worse than the disease. You are more likely to die from a cardiovascular disease than from CKD itself. That why it's important to have an open discussion with your specialists. Your stones issues are likely in the hand of your Urologist but you can expect to have a better understanding of the co-morbidities from a nephrologist.

Diet and exercise can greatly improve your quality of life. I've worked with both Registered Dietician and Renal Dietician (more recently) and I've found them to be extremely helpful. They are there to guide you and offer healthier alternatives that are compatible with you. They have the qualification to give nutritional advice for medical issues. For exercise it can be tricky and I had my shares of setback. Do what you can, it all adds up!

It greatly helped me control my inflammation. What worked for me was a whole food approach and then plant-based. I still eat meat, most but not all of the time it's less than one time per day. Any more than that is asking for trouble. Buying higher quality ingredient was key for me, I generally have issues with something that says low fat rather than something that naturally contain more fats. Like mayo, it's supposed to be oil+egg. Same with yogurt. From there it's been trial and error to find whether it was worth the expense or not. It generally is.

[Michael__S in reply to Michael__S]

And FYI I also had a kidney removed and I feel much better but it's not the preferred outcome. The recommendation from the nephrologist was to keep it and for good reasons. The decision was ultimately left to my Urologist and was not a light one to make. Surgery was attempted but appeared to have been unsuccessful and/or the kidney had not function left at that point (it's generally not the case). A MAG-3 renal scan was performed to confirm that my kidney function was close to 0 (it becomes unreliable when it's that low). Even then it's generally left there unless it cause troubles.

Keep you kidneys

[suzell56 in reply to Michael__S]

I truly wish I could but it was beyond that point and it was slowly poisoning me from the backup of urine and was atrophying quickly. The function of it was almost nothing.

[suzell56]

To be quite honest, I agree with Michael_S go and get that referral. The sooner the better.