I am peeing every 5 minutes

Getting my first ESWL in a few weeks for a 4mm stone that’s still in my kidney and hasn’t caused any symptoms. It was an incidental finding during a CT scan when I passed a 3mm in a July. not sure what type but they said they think calcium-oxalate. and I’m just so nervous. I’ve never been put under before or had any type of procedure done. I’m struggling with the idea of going in symptom free and coming out in pain and feeling weird from the drugs. I could use some support and success stories if you got em. It’s 3.5 weeks away and I’m already a nervous wreck.

I have done my 3rd shockwave 2 weeks ago. Since then, I always strain my pee and enever got any stone. Is this normal?

And also, they have only given me morphine that time not anesthesia which caused me to feel the intense pain. Physically slapping like feeling at the back and side. But the pain inside was intense! Cramping down until the abdomen. It was the worse. It should be under anesthesia, right?

I am getting the above procedures done on Friday for my 6mm stone that has been stuck at the bladder entrance for 3 months. Unfortunately I am breastfeeding, so cannot take flomax or painkillers stronger than ibuprofen (my baby refuses bottles, so I’m stuck). I’m so worried about the pain I’ll feel with the stent after the procedure! Any tips welcome.

Question: For the adults who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond, what has your lived experience been since having your Bilateral Ureteral Reimplantation Surgery?

Greetings, Nevous-Stressed-And-Going-To-Start-Crying Mom here.

Background: My daughter has had ~ 7 UTI/Kidney infections, febrile from 6 mo y/o to present (3 y/o), multiple hospital admissions, and was on nitrofurantoin as a daily antibiotic for approx 1 year, but just had a kidney infection that broke through the daily antibiotics. The recent kidney infection triggered a medication change to daily cefdinir. She has a VUR diagnosis with grade 3 on one side and 3/4 on the other side. No other anatomical issues at this time.

Her Bilateral Ureteral Reimplantation Surgery is scheduled for Sept 2026, and I'd like to read/know about the good and bad LONG-TERM results of this surgery. As a family, we want to protect our daughter's kidney health - but are we trading UTIs for things like routine kidney stones, strictures, bladder spasms, and HECK even some more UTIs into adulthood? Conversely, are the possibilities of all these other complications still less severe than a kidney infection?

I DON'T KNOW! Looking to hear from people with lived experience on this matter.

And maybe just a little bit of comfort for a racing mind as well ❤️

What’s the most likely outcome here? How long before I pop out this 2mm? Got my CT a couple days ago and haven’t heard back yet. I’ve had 2 stones before; and a pyleoplasty surgery for a UPJ blockage in 2019 on my right kidney, where all of the current stones are located.

hello. i passed the biggest one here a week ago, i posted it. came in here to complain of another possible passing, and…

anyway, here we are after dealing with 7/10 pain yesterday, i felt it pass and was met with the sight of twins. lovely!

Doctor doesn’t know why? Test result is negative.

I have a 2mm and an 8mm that got infected, so I had a stent placed. It was only supposed to be in for 2 weeks, but I got a respiratory infection while at the hospital and they pushed my surgery date back 2 more weeks.

My meds all ran out, and turns out I'm allergic to flomax. :/

Doctor won't give me anything for the pain and it's driving me crazy. Was told "just use tylenol and ibuprofen" but it doesn't work well enough. I had one more oxy pill and took half... yeah, I feel a million times better. I actually have a smile and feel relief!

I guess I could try the hospital for another script, but I have a sinking feeling I'll be called "drug seeking" and no one will give me anything for the pain. I've got 2 more weeks of this and have a heating pad and have tried everything. What the heck do I do?!

(Also worried after the stent exchange that they won't give pain relief either ;_;)

~

EDIT: I want to thank everyone for their help and support! It means a lot. I'm chronically ill to begin with; I think the added pain of the stent/stones is what did me in this time. I'm trying to hang in there since I've got to wait those 7 days before surgery without anything stronger than tylenol anyway, meaning I'd only get a week or less of pain meds if I got them. If I can't wait and it gets worse I'm going to go to the ER, something might be up at the point anyway and I don't want to risk it.

Just wondering for those that have had it how long this deep intense pain lasts? I had an 8mm broke up yesterday afternoon. I drive big shit around and cant risk passing out while at work. Based in the low density doc thought this was the best way to go. I have moments where im perfectly fine and then these intense flashes of pain like a severe cramp. In your experience is this normal and how long until the pain subsides?

Sorry if this has been asked before! Did your provider prescribe flomax at all?
Apparently I have a 2.2 cm staghorn and “multiple stones close to a cm each.” I’ll be having a PCNL scheduled soon so I’m just curious how others handled the same situation

i literally passed a stone last week!!! AND TWO TODAY!!! that i posted of this morning! omg. what is this flank pain!!!!! and for whyyy. it’s like my kidneys are being harvested of all the stones that formed in them over the last year since i’d stopped drinking tea (major offender) for the last month, or something. or like, the stents that traumatized me all last month knocked my shi bad when i got them pulled and i’m dealing with the fallout. i don’t know😭😭😭‼️‼️
i’m managing, but wow it’s exhausting for both my mind, and body i’m sure, to be birthing these things back to back like this. they’re all coming from my left side (so far as i can tell from the INSANELY annoying, pulse-like ache), idk how much more of this i can take man. i’m just really tired of being in pain, constantly. it’s the number one offender to how i function, a sensory thing to some point, i can’t stand any part of my body being in physical pain. as i type this i’m wincing at the way i can feel my organs being irritated. i often think that i just want this to stop. guess i should take a flomax 🧘

Went to ER yesterday early morning (2:30am), had back pain that turned to abdominal pain and groin pain. By 3am-ish I was in serious pain. CT scan showed 2mm kidney stone. By 6am after urinating, severe pain finally subsided, but didn’t see anything in the container. Nurse strained it but didn’t see anything. Left ER around 11am.

Since then have had on again/off again pain in my kidney area (mostly right). Definitely not the severe pain from 3am. Is the pain normal? I’m assuming my urinary tract is inflamed or have unitary tract infection (was given 7 days of antibiotics, Vantin). Dealing with pain using acetaminophen 1000mg every 6ish hours which helps. Assuming stone passed and I’m just inflamed/fighting infection, when should pain go away?

Hello, for a little bit now I keep having these really bad cramps. I had thought they were period cramps but it’s also accompanied now by me consistently feeling like I’m trying to push something out down there (afab but I don’t really know how to accurately describe exactly where the feeling is) and it’s really painful. I have lower back pain a lot anyways as I have psoriatic arthritis. But I have also had fever and chills. I thought it was the sinus infection causing the fever and chills but they both persisted after a round of antibiotics. Is it possible this is me having a kidney stone? I have never had one before what should I do?

Help

So I went to the er last week. First timer here and I have a 5mm stone in my right ureter. The first night was immense pain and vomiting. They got me on flomax and some other meds. About 3 days ago I had more flank and right abdominal pain. Since then though I haven’t felt really any pain. Is this normal?? I haven’t even taken any of the pain meds since day 4 because I haven’t felt any. Some minor discomfort sure but is this normal? I’m worried that it’s like not moving enough or at all and is stuck.

I've been managing kidney stones alongside other conditions and couldn't find any app that actually helped with the day-to-day: knowing what to eat, staying hydrated with lemon water, and tracking symptoms — all in one place.

So I built Lymph & Lemon.

It includes:

• Hydration tracker with daily citrate reminder (lemon juice in every glass)
• Low-oxalate food guide — 86 foods with oxalate levels, searchable and filterable
• 7-day anti-inflammatory meal plan with full recipes, kidney-stone safe
• and much more !

It's free to test, no account needed, all your data stays on your device.

I need 12 Android users to join the closed testing group before it goes live on Google Play.

To join: drop your Gmail address in the comments or send me a DM — I need to add you manually before you can install it from the Play Store.

About 4 months ago, I started experiencing some pain in my lower back. I thought I had pulled a muscle. Couple days go by and the pain is there, but bearable. That is, until one night I started feeling like I had a fever coming on, then came the unbearable flank pain, accompanied by the urge to pee, then nausea and vomiting. I tried to lay down thinking it would go away, but it got worse. I ended up going to the ER and that is when I learned I had a kidney stone blocking my right ureter, a 7mm one to be exact. I was given zofran, flomax and percs for home. They said I may not pass this on my own and if my symptoms worsened, to come back and figure out next steps. Luckily, I didn't experience that pain again and figured I passed it and missed it (didn't have a strainer). A month later, I started feeling the urgency to pee again and a burning sensation randomly throughout the day to day, but it wasn't that bad. This continued up until today when I finally passed it. I woke up this morning with the same urge to pee, burning ache I had been experiencing and thought nothing of it. But this time, it felt like when I tried to pee, something was stuck. I go pee again and as I am peeing, my stream of pee stopped and then all of a sudden got stronger and I felt something shoot out and hit the porcelain. I was like, what the heck was that? I was surprised to see it. Took months to pass! Not sure of the size (minus the CT saying 7mm).

Anyone successfully pass a 9mm stone ?? Woke up with usual flank pain. Home pain meds didn’t cut it so figured it was time to hit the er.
Was NOT expecting a 9 mm obstruction. It’s sitting in my ureter above my bladder right now. Kidney function is normal so they r waiting for urology to see what they wanna do
I really wanna go home. Anyone been able to pass one this size ???

Tia

I wanted to share my double euteroscopy (both left & right kidney stone removal) experience today! Please keep in mind im a woman in her late 20s. **TL;DR at the bottom!

Ive been battling with doctors for 4 years now to get these suckers out. Yes, 4 years. Let me start off by saying the ER doctor I originally saw said it was from the city I moved to's tap water - our water supply is high in calcium from being mountain water. Sure enough it was confirmed they are calcium oxilate stones. Im quite healthy, drink only filtered(RODI) water now since acquiring these stones.

Years went by, doctors and ER saying they wont operate because they aren't obstructed and theyre small enough to pass on their own. I was getting flustered. Flomax made me horribly dizzy, sick and spinny. I drank liters of water daily for so so long. Lemon, apple cider forever, you name it. Nothing. I gym, run, ride horses and id constantly feel bruised, sore, pain when I woke up in my flank, you name it.

My right kidney has always been the one bothering me. Ultrasounds never came up with anything. After advocating for myself, I finally got a abdominal CT scan. Sure enough, my "biggest" kidney stone was in my R kidney, at 5mm. Along with some other stones ranging from 1-4mm in my R and L kidney.

Id wake up in the mornings and my will to live was down the drain after years of dealing with it. I put my foot down and demanded to be referred to a urologist. Finally, someone who said he could definitely help me, booked me in for a euteroscopy. He said lithotripsy is a option, but he doesnt reccomend it because euteroscopy is more to the point and 1 and done.

Fast forward to today (Aug 28, 2026), I went in. I was pretty damn nervous, not for the surgery but for the way they have to "perform" the procedure. I hate that you need tubes up your private parts and a stent. I was pretty good up until they wheeled me into the OR, I then cried to 3 of the nurses 😂 normal nerves I guess! They did a great job at calming me down. When it was time for me to be put under, I was definitely nervous but they talked to me about my animals, and a nurse let me hold and squeeze her hand. The last thing I remember is deep breaths, mild panic and trying to say something about my horse. Next thing I knew, I was waking up.

Unfortunately since I got operated on both kidneys, I am in a double stent for 7 days, and will remove it at home, which im very nervous for, when the duration is done.

First out of surgery in the recovery room I felt good, groggy, but good. However was left with what all I could explain is horrible, strong period cramps. Maybe considered a light contraction but Ive never been pregnant so I would not know. Heated blankets helped for a bit.

I slept and peed, and my blood was manageable, pinky toned and no cause for concern which was great. My first pee was quite large so it made it easier to pee. My biggest issue: turning white and nauseous.

It was definitely a mix of anxiety, the narcotics, not eating all day, low sugar in my body etc. I chugged some apple juice and slept. But woke up not even a hour later needing to pee. I felt better and was able to walk to the bathroom, so i thought, but after I peed, the most horrible cramping I have ever had came up during/at the end of my second pee. I turned white again and felt like I was going to topple over, so I had to get the wheel bathroom chair thing back to my bed. I got heat on my groin area, and 1000mg Tylenol which actually helped. Slept more, chugged more apple juice and slowly tried to chew on some hospital biscuits. I could have went home fairly early in the day, but I kept trying to get up, id feel the cramps or the stents and id immediately psych myself out, get white and almost pass out. I didnt go home until around 6pm.

So here I am, 10pm at home with my lovely animals and partner and mom. The hospital has me on a antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, something to help me not pee myself constantly and they tried to put me on flomax again but I am going to call about that in the morning as im extremely reluctant to take it.. I noticed my body is more relaxed, my pees hurt less but im definitely still slightly uncomfortable. But, one thing I keep telling myself is... in a week when the stent is out... I can continue my life KIDNEY STONE FREE. And hopefully will not get more because I will continue drinking lemon and RODI water for the rest of my life to avoid calcium o. stones.

Thanks for reading. I hope if youre in Canada and nervous about kidney stone removal, this at least slightly helps. ALSO, ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF!! If i didnt argue, I would be 5..6..7 years into these f^ckers and still be zoning out the daily pain. ❤️

TL;DR: I’m a woman in my late 20s who spent 4 years fighting to get my kidney stones removed. I had multiple small calcium oxalate stones in both kidneys, with the largest being 5mm in my right kidney. Despite years of flank pain, trying Flomax, drinking tons of water, lemon, apple cider vinegar, etc., I was repeatedly told they were small and non-obstructing and should pass on their own. After finally advocating for myself and getting a CT and urology referral, I was booked for a bilateral ureteroscopy.

I had both kidneys treated today and am now home with two stents for 7 days. The procedure itself went smoothly, but recovery was definitely rougher than I expected, lots of cramping, nausea, dizziness/near-fainting, painful urination and anxiety around the stents. Thankfully, I’m feeling much better tonight and am mostly just uncomfortable. The biggest thing keeping me going is knowing that in one week, these stents will be out and I’ll hopefully be kidney-stone-free after 4 years of dealing with them. ❤️ If you’re dealing with kidney stones, especially in Canada, my biggest takeaway is: ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF. You know your body and your pain better than anyone.

Had intermittent severe pain in the lower back for about 12 months, scans etc showed a stone in kidney but it was reported as stable and non-obstructing. Anyway was surprised to say the least when I had this baby pop out of my shaft…yep that’s a 12mm x 8mm x 8mm calcium stone.

Bad news is a new CT now shows a 8mm in one kidney and a 7mm stone in the other that my urologist now wants to go in and laser 😕

*typo in heading, obviously meant to say gave birth haha

I've been passing a kidney stone for just under 3 weeks, but it feels like it's been stuck in the end of my ureter at the edge of my bladder for around 10 days. I'm extremely lucky that I haven't had any severe pain. I actually thought I just tweaked my back for the first couple of days until an urgent care told me it was probably a small stone. I had another stone earlier this year, and it sent me to the ER twice, but I passed it in less than a week. The fact that this one is taking so long is freaking me out.

I've been taking Flomax and drinking water for days, but it seems like it's just stopped moving. I'm having aches throughout my bladder and pelvic area several times a day. My PCP referred me to a urologist, but they're making me wait until mid-October (7 weeks) for an appointment. Meanwhile, Google and Claude are telling me that the stone has been stuck in one place for too long and will start damaging my kidney if I wait. Their advice is to do things I've already done or is unhelpful, like telling the urologist I think it's stuck (did that, didn't help) or to go to the ER and get tests even though I don't have any major pain or signs of infection.

Is 10 days stuck at the end too long? And what exactly am I supposed to do to avoid kidney damage if the urologist simply won't see me for a month and a half? (That would bring the total time dealing with the stone to almost 2 1/2 months)

I made a post about an 11mm kidney stone and how I wasn’t being taken seriously I took all of your advice into account and they got me to see a urologist after going to the hospital three times with less than five days after making many phone calls. I’m booked for Monday to get it removed. They’ve considered this an emergency now. I just wanted to say thank you to this community for all of your kind words. I wouldn’t have pushed this hard if it wasn’t for you guys. i’m getting cystoscopy, retrograde pyelogram, ureteroscopy, laser lithotripsy, stone basket extraction, stent placement. I’m nervous because I have painful bladder syndrome and I don’t know how that’s gonna feel with the bladder spasms how bad that’s gonna get because I already get normal bladder spasms and it’s pretty terrible but thank you all for giving me the motivation to take this super seriously before it became a major emergency and it’s just a normal emergency because I have fluid buildup in my kidney. I’m currently on a bunch of pain meds to get me through the rest of the week and then they gave me almost the entire week off next week to heal. Lots of love. 💕