Home HealthTopics Health Centers Reference Library Research
Join us on Facebook Join us on Facebook Share on Facebook

Kidney Diseases

Duration of kidney stone pain

09/25/2007

Question:

My husband suffers from sharp pain in his right flank and has passed two kidney stones in the past five years. It is not painful to the touch and is always in the same area, and he often pushes and grips in that area and rolls on the ground in attempts to relieve the pain. His pain is always most intense between 9am and noon and has occurred almost daily for several months. Is this long term, sharp, intense pain consistent with recurring kidney stones?

Answer:

Kidney stone pain can present in variety of ways. On one side of the spectrum it can present as excruciating pain in the flanks radiating to groin while on the other side of spectrum it can be without symptoms and still have kidney stones. So the pain you are describing could well be due to kidney stones. It is important that your husband be seen by urologist/nephrologist/or emergency physician first of all to make sure that he has kidney stones by CAT scan or other imaging modalities. If he has kidney stone then it is important to make sure that it is not obstructing the urine flow. If so he may need some sort of urologic intervention to remove the obstruction. If the CAT scan is negative for kidney stone, then other causes of pain in that area should be looked into.

Related Resources:

Kidney Pain

For more information:

Go to the Kidney Diseases health topic, where you can:

Response by:

The Ohio State University Ganesh Shidham, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Division of Nephrology
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University
Ganesh  Shidham, MD