How To Know If You Have A Kidney Stone

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are diagnosed with Kidney Stones. Generally, these patients are seen in their local emergency room due to the extreme lower left abdominal pain in men and women caused by these calcifications, sometimes even by ambulance due to the debilitating nature of the pain. For the most part, people experiencing symptoms of kidney stones are generally sent home to wait for the stone to pass naturally, but occasionally they may require medical intervention, especially if the stone is too large to pass or if there is a substantial level of infection or other medical issues.

For many people, the thought of sitting in an ER waiting room, waiting to be seen by a doctor while in pain, is unthinkable, especially with the extreme level of sharp lower abdominal pain that kidney stones can cause. Are you asking yourself, "How do I know if I have a Kidney Stone?" Are you or a family member at risk of having kidney stones? Do you know all the signs and symptoms of kidney stones?

Kidney stones can cause from a couple days of pain to a life-long health issue. Kidneys damaged from stones may heal quite quickly if the stones are small or pass easily or they may be damaged forever and possibly need to be replaced via transplant. Read further to learn more about kidney stones so that you will know if you have one and how to deal with it.

What Are The Symptoms Of Kidney Stones?

Kidney stone pain generally begins with a dull pain in the mid to lower back. The pain from the lower back will generally begin radiating to the affected flank/side. When the pain begins to move, the stone has entered the ureter that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. This is the sight of some of the worst pain associated with the kidney stone.

The reason for the pain in the ureter is that the kidney stone basically looks like a really small sand spur, and it digs into the wall of the ureter as it moves the urine downward to the bladder. Once the stone has damaged the ureter, the walls begin to spasm, causing much worse damage. Once the stone has reached this point, blood can sometimes be seen in the patients urine.

When the stone finally reaches the bladder, pain generally ceases for the female, with some exception to soreness associated with damage caused by the stone. For the male, however, pain will soon begin again when the stone enters the urethra that travels from the bladder down through the penis. This is generally not as painful for the female because her urethra is very short. During this part of the passage, urination can be painful, and spasming of the urethra can occur due to similar damage as in the ureter.

Although fever, nausea, and vomiting can accompany the pain from kidney stone, the pain is predominantly the main symptom. Other symptoms can include chills, burning sensation at urination, or urine that is cloudy or has a strong odor.

What Risks Do Kidney Stones Pose?

There are many different risks that kidney stones pose to an individual that reach far beyond the excruciating pain that accompanies them traveling out of the body. The most worrisome issue related to multiple kidney stones is that of kidney damage. If a person has untreated stones that are too large to leave the kidney, or multiple cases of kidney stones, they can do irreparable damage to the kidney itself. This can lead to the loss of kidney function of the particular kidney. If a person only has one kidney or has damage to both kidneys, they could have to go on dialysis and/or be placed on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Another issue that correlates to the loss of kidney function is that of electrolyte imbalance. The function of a persons kidneys helps regulate the level of certain electrolytes in the body, such as sodium and potassium. These substances have a large impact on the heart, brain, and other areas of the body, and imbalances can lead to various health issues such as heart arrhythmias, memory problems and more.

How To Care For Kidney Stones

The best initial care for a kidney stone is to seek a confirmed diagnosis at an ER or doctor's office. Depending on your health care plan, you may be able to go to a urologist without a referral. However, if you have never had a confirmed kidney stone, you will probably be sent to an emergency room to have a CT and x-rays to confirm that there are kidney stones, how many, and how big. They will also most likely check a urine sample for cloudiness, blood, and sign of infection.

After the kidney stone has been confirmed, you will either be sent home to pass the stone naturally, or, depending on size and quantity, you might be referred to a urologist. If referred to a urologist, you can expect any where from passing the stone naturally to certain non-surgical procedures to break up stones so that they are passable. That care can also include placement of a stint in the affected ureter or urethra or both to help dilate or hold it open to help passage and minimize damage.

If released to pass the stone without visiting a urologist, you will be encouraged to drink plenty of water to keep everything opened up and give plenty of "flow" to help push the stone out. You may also be given prescriptions such as Flowmax to help dilate or other prescriptions for pain management.

There are many home remedies on the Internet that claim to help break down the stone or push it out. Be sure to consult a physician before attempting to use any of these remedies. Your physician may not agree with you using them, but he can definitely tell you if any of them are dangerous or counterproductive.

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Do You Need Gallbladder Removal?

More and more often today, people are having issues with their Gallbladder. Many people experience pain, usually from Gall Stones, and often they end up having their Gallbladder removed via surgery. In fact, more than half a million people have their Gallbladder removed each year, due to a Gallbladder stone problem or other problems.

Part of the problem may be that we, as a people, are more obese than in years before. On of the biggest risk factors for Gall Stones is obesity. Not unrelated, rapid weight loss diets can increase a persons risk for developing Gall Stones. For this and other reasons, females are at a higher risk of Gallbladder problems than are men. This is particularly worrisome since gallbladder symptoms in women can be masked or diminished like heart attack and other thoracic and abdominal issues. In fact, the main risk factors for Gall Stone development are obesity, female, at or over 40 years of age, and premenopausal females.

What Is The Gallbladder?

The Gallbladder is a small organ that lies just below your Liver, to the right of your stomach. It is about 3-3.5 inches long. It holds bile that is produced in the Liver and releases it into the Duodenum, the beginning of the small intestine, on the presence of partially digested fats released from the stomach. This bile then emulsifies the fats to prepare them for digestion and metabolism.

It is believed that the Gallbladder stores higher concentrations of bile when a person has a high fat diet. If that is true, it is easy to see why calcifications, or Gall Stones, form more often in those who eat more fatty foods. It is also understandable that many people who experience Gallbladder stone pain feel it worse after a fatty or greasy meal. When these Gall Stones form, a person is at risk of developing Cholecystitis, (inflamed Gallbladder), Pancreatitis (inflamation of the Pancreas) or other infections.

Signs And Symptoms Of Gallbladder Stones

Gallbladder symptoms in women, in particular, can be masked or different, just like other serious medical issues. Signs for all patients generally include severe upper abdominal pain, more specifically abdominal pain just below the rib cage, below the right breast. This pain is generally constant and in many cases can occur after eating a greasy meal or after eating in general.

Although it sits in proximity to the lower right lung, it generally does not present as lung or right chest pain, however, a Gallbladder symptom can also be mid-back pain or right shoulder pain.

The upper right abdominal pain can be accompanied by Nausea and/or Vomiting, along with sweating or diaphoresis. Also, if the condition progresses without care, a person's skin and eyes can begin to yellow and a fever can occur. These tend to be late signs of the problem.

Reasons To Have Gallbladder Removal Surgery

The two main reasons for Gallbladder removal surgery are Cholecystitis (infection of the Gallbladder), generally caused by Gall Stones in the Gallbladder or one of the ducts to the small intestine, or Gallbladder Cancer. Although Gallbladder cancer is serious and should be taken as such, Cholecystitis is both more prevalent and can cause further damage to the body and even death much more quickly than Gallbladder Cancer.

Although many people have "silent stones" that do not cause pain and generally go unnoticed, once a person begins to experience Gallbladder pain the end result is usually Gallbladder removal. The most definitive reason to have Gallbladder Removal Surgery is that if a person truly has Cholecystitis and allows it to go untreated, the infection will spread to nearby organs, including the small and large intestine. An untreated case will eventually lead to sepsis, shock, and then death. This pathway normally will not go unchanged due to the intense pain that is associated with the Cholecystitis.

Complications Of Gallbladder Removal Surgery

Here lies the definite reasons to not rush to Gallbladder Removal. Although in many cases people have true Cholecystitis and must have removal, others experience mild Gall Stone pain from "silent stones" or have digestive issues that may be related to their bile storage or production. Some of these people struggle with irritable bowels and just want some relief from never knowing when they may have to rush to the bathroom.

For those just looking for digestive relief, you may find quite the opposite from Gallbladder Removal. Especially in the short term after removal, most patients experience very irritable bowels due to unrestricted bile flow to the small intestine. Although this can be controlled somewhat by change in diet, finding the right combination of food can be difficult. Also, if this can be controlled by diet change, it is highly likely that the irritable bowels experienced before removal can be controlled by diet to the same extent.

There is also a small possibility that patients who have had Gallbladder stone issues and have their Gallbladder removed will have issues with scar tissue. When the Gallbladder is removed, the ducts to and from the Gallbladder are severed, stapled, and cauterized. In this process, scar tissue can form and can cause more digestive issues or sensitivity.

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How To Know If You Have Appendicitis

Each minute of every day a new person has a case of acute (requiring immediate care) appendicitis in the U.S. More worrisome is that another person dies from complications associated with acute appendicitis every day. One cause of this death rate is that appendicitis is sometimes misdiagnosed in the ER setting. As a matter of fact, misdiagnosis of appendicitis is the third leading cause of malpractice suites in hospitals and health care centers.

Do you still have your appendix? Do you know where your appendix is in your body? Do you know what it does and if you have a problem with it, what can happen? Although lower right abdominal pain in women and men is fairly common in the U.S., and often it is suspected by people that they may have appendicitis, most people do not know what appendicitis is, how it happens, and what risks it poses.  Find out what the appendix is, what it does, and what risks a ruptured appendix can pose in the abdomen. Also learn how other abdominal pains differ from pain in appendicitis, even if it is sharp lower abdominal pain.

What Is And Where Is The Appendix?

The appendix, or Vermiform Appendix, is located at the beginning of the colon, or large intestine, and is a short, finger-like appendage. From the outside of the body, the appendix's location is referred to by medical personnel as McBurney's Point. This is located half way between one's bellybutton and the front of their illiac crest (hip bone).

For many years, doctors though that the appendix was a useless part of the GI tract that was better off removed routinely any time any abdominal surgery had to be performed. Recently, though, doctors have stopped routinely removing the appendix for two main reasons: possible reasons for the appendix's existence and new uses for the appendix in the body. Many doctors are now finding correlations between the appendix and the lymph and immune systems. They have found that it contains high amounts of lymphoid cells, and that it may assist in "training" the body's immune system by introducing antigens to the body.

Classic Signs And Symptoms Of Appendicitis

Although many think of lower right abdomen pain when considering appendicitis, the initial pain at onset of acute appendicitis is often felt around the bellybutton. The reason for this is that the center of the abdomen is where the appendix is located during gestation, therefore the nerves that are associated with the appendix refer pain to this area.

Once the appendix is inflamed it begins to aggravate and inflame the peritoneum (lining of the abdomen) at the location of the appendix. This, in turn, causes the sharp lower abdominal pain, in the right lower quadrant, that many associate with appendicitis. Although their is acute pain in this area, one confirmation of the possibility of appendicitis in the field is if the patient has rebound tenderness. Many things can cause pain to the abdomen, and most of them will cause tenderness on palpation, but few will cause that pain to worsen sharply when the palpation is removed. Another confirmation is to give a quick bump to the heel of the patients straightened leg. If the patient has peritonitis (often caused by appendicitis) they will feel excruciating pain.

Some patients may experience "silent appendicitis." This occurs when there is no added pain from palpation or rebound tenderness. This can be due to anatomy and other issues, but if the infection progresses, peritonitis will occur and will cause severe abdominal pain.

Another key to identifying appendicitis or peritonitis is to look for fever and/or swollen lymph glands. This often happens due to the actual infection of the organ.

Risks Of Rupture Of The Appendix

The largest cause of mortality from acute appendicitis is the reluctance to seek emergency medical care. Many people simply attempt to ignore the pain, often writing it off as gas, especially in cases of "silent appendicitis" where the pain may be dull. However, if a person does not, at some point, seek medical care for acute appendicitis, death is almost certain.

If the appendicitis is allowed to go untreated, or removed, it will most certainly rupture. The rupture of the organ will spread the infected body fluids throughout the abdominal cavity. The aggravation from this fluid in the abdominal cavity will lead to widespread peritonitis and inflamed bowels. After the peritoneum and other abdominal organs become inflamed, a patient is at high risk of septic shock which can snowball rapidly into hypovolemia and death.

Although many patients with appendicitis do not experience organ rupture, many cases do happen. Most of those patients are rushed into an emergency appendectomy. If appendix rupture happens away from the hospital, transport by ambulance and treatment by paramedics en route is imperative.

Treatment Of Appendicitis And Rupture

As with any acute pain of unknown origin that is persistent and debilitating, you should call 911 to be transported by ambulance to the hospital. If you are near the hospital and feeling well enough, you can be transported in a personal vehicle by a family member or friend. If you are taken by ambulance, you are not likely to receive pain medication due to the necessity for a doctor to be able to assess your sharp lower abdominal pain on arrival at the ER. You are, however, going to have an IV established and may have a blood draw done to make your ER care seem a bit quicker.

The most widely held cure for appendicitis today is removal of the inflamed organ. In most cases, appendectomy is performed and the patient generally is released from the hospital in a couple days without any complications. In some places, mostly those that are remote and do not have surgical capability, a patient is given antibiotics to fight off the infection in the appendix and its surroundings. This treatment has been known to provide complete cure, but in many cases, the appendix is still removed either due to lingering inflammation or possibility of recurrence of appendicitis.

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How To Know If You Are Having A Stroke

Each year, over 100,000 Americans die from strokes which occur in over 3/4 million people each year. Although this disease is most deadly in black males, every demographic is reached by this silent killer. Although the mortality rate for stroke is not as high as heart attack, many of those who experience stroke are left with debilitating deficits that confine them to assisted living or even 24 hour care.

In many cases, stroke symptoms can be largely reversed if the right care is given in a certain window of time. However, many who die or are debilitated by stroke ignore the symptoms or try to push through them thinking they will go away. Are you at risk for stroke? Do you know what the symptoms of stroke are? Do you know how to care for someone experiencing stroke?

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of A Stroke?

There are two different types of stroke, and they can happen in several areas, which can make every stroke seem a little bit different. If a person has a stroke in an area of the brain that controls memory, he may have one set of symptoms, while someone who has a stroke near the brainstem may have different symptoms. However, there are certain symptoms that may occur with almost all strokes, just in different areas of the body.

A person having a stroke may have the following symptoms:

• Right or left side weakness
• Upper or lower body weakness
• Vision distortion, such as double or blurred vision, or absent sight fields
• Difficulty remembering significant words, names or numbers
• Difficulty understanding people
• Difficulty saying certain words or sounds
• Worst headache ever
• Sensitivity to light
• Facial droop
• Trouble swallowing
• Loss of balance or unsteady gate or hands

There are many other possible symptoms that can occur, but these are the main and most common symptoms that occur in most strokes. Any time you experience one or more of these symptoms that is not easily explained, you should seed immediate medical care by calling 911.

What Are The Risk Factors That Can Lead To Stroke?

Although many people who have stroke are never diagnosed with one of the risk factors, most people are found to have had them. Risk factors do not necessarily mean that a person will have a stroke, nor do they mean that a person without them will not, but they can give us an idea who is more likely to have a stroke.

For all intensive purposes, stroke can be broken down into two areas, ischemic or hemorrhagic. Ischemic strokes are caused when a person has a clot, thrombus, or emboli lodge in an artery or arteriole in a person's brain or spine. These can be caused by many things, but the largest causes are atherosclerosis and atrial fibrillation. Atherosclerosis is most commonly blamed for clots that cause heart attack, but can also cause ischemic stroke. Atrial fibrillation is a dysrhythmia in the heart where the atria are not able to push blood down to the ventricles of the heart. This inability allows blood to churn in the atria and, if untreated, the blood can form small clots that can become dangerous if they are pumped out of the heart.

Ischemic strokes cause symptoms and possibly death due to the fact that they are depriving areas of the brain of oxygenated blood. If the clots are not dissolved soon, permanent damage, and even death, can occur.

Hemorrhagic strokes are caused due to aneurysms (weak areas on blood vessels) that burst or tear. The risk factors for these strokes are atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, and cancer. The first two factors can cause aneurysm due to weakening of the blood vessel walls. Cancer can cause hemorrhagic stroke when a tumor bursts or bleeds, especially if it is in close proximity to a blood vessel.

In hemorrhagic stroke, several things can cause symptoms. The blood that is now irritating the surrounding brain tissue can cause symptoms relative to that area of the brain. Lack of oxygenated blood to areas of the brain, caused by less blood remaining in the vessels, can cause relative symptoms. Also, if a bleed is aggressive or allowed to go untreated, blood can displace brain tissue and ultimately will lead to death. Patients with hemorrhagic stroke can only receive definitive treatment from a neurosurgeon, since repair of the affected vessel is imperative.

Initial Care For Someone Who Has A Stroke

The immediate care for a person with stroke is to call 911. In most areas of the US, if a person with ischemic stroke does not reach a stroke center within 3 hours from onset of symptoms, they cannot receive certain care that can dissolve the clot. For those with aneurysm, if they do not reach a neurosurgeon immediately, their symptoms will be permanent and death can occur.

After you have called 911 and prepared the person for transport to the hospital (gathered medications, etc), supportive care is all that can be given. Do not let the person walk without assistance (preferably keep them still) withhold food and water (they will need to have empty stomach for certain tests or if immediate surgery is needed) and keep the patient calm. They are anxious enough by having the symptoms, do what you can to keep their anxiety at a minimum.

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How To Know If You Are Having A Heart Attack

Nearly a half a million Americans die each year from Heart Attacks. Although there has been a rise in public education over the past 20 years to teach the public what the symptoms of heart attack are, one of the first things said by patients with a heart attack is "I'm not having a heart attack." In fact, the number one reason for prehospital death of heart attack victims is that people deny they are having one and assume the pain will go away, and wait too long to call 911. This makes understanding body language of utmost importance when identifying heart attack and heart attack symptoms in some family members.

One of the most worrisome issues that emergency medical care providers deal with is that many patients with heart attack do not have the classic symptoms of a heart attack. This problem can lead to misdiagnosis, delay in treatment, or unnecessary treatment.   Therefore, knowing both typical and atypical symptoms of heart attack is important.

How can you know if you are having a heart attack? What are the normal symptoms? And what factors can change your symptoms or mask your symptoms?

Classic Signs Of Heart Attack

The most widely associated symptom of heart attack, chest pain, is actually the most classic sign. Almost every person experiencing a heart attack has chest discomfort of some sort. Some have classic mid chest pain, some feel tightness, some even feel a "lump" in their chest. Not every patient feels the classic "elephant sitting on my chest."  Of course, not every chest pain is a heart attack, but as this is the most common sign or symptom, it should be treated with caution, especially when it begins without exertion, persists, and/or is combined with other signs or symptoms.

There are many other classic signs and symptoms of heart attack, and most of them can happen in varying degrees. Here is a sample of what you should be looking for:

• Nausea / Vomiting
• Diaphoresis (very heavy sweating)
• Paleness
• Pain or tingling radiating down one or both arms
• Pain radiating to the neck or jaw
• Pain in the back
• Trouble breathing
• Irregular heart beat, racing or skipping
• Weakness
• Anxiety
• Denial

As you see on the list, one of the most common signs of Heart Attack can be denial. Many patients, especially males, tend to deny that they are having a heart attack and write their symptoms off as something else. If you are feeling one or more of these symptoms, especially if they begin without exertion and/or are persistent, you may be having a heart attack. However, even if you do not have these classic signs, you still may have a heart attack. Below you will see that sometimes heart attack symptoms can be masked or changed.

Factors That Mask Heart Attack Symptoms

Although not all heart attacks are the same, there are specific conditions/factors that can change symptoms or mask them altogether. The most common factor to change symptoms is sex of the patient. One of the most difficult heart attacks to notice in the field is one occurring in a woman with atypical symptoms. Sometimes women may have stomach pain, lower back pain, headache, or even no pain whatsoever. Understanding body language with these patients may do no good.  More subtle indicators, such as anxiety or a general malaise may be all that exist.

Another factor is existing medical condition. Patients who have diabetes very commonly will not experience pain during heart attack, simply feeling like they have a cold or flu with nausea and sweats. People who have had stroke may not experience pain the way they may have before the stroke. These factors and others can make early recognition difficult at best. However, most of the the time, even if pain is absent, patients will still have a feeling of anxiety and will experience weakness.

What To Do If You Are Having A Heart Attack

The first thing anyone should do when they suspect they may be having a heart attack is to call 911. Ambulances are equipped with important medication that can help lessen or even reverse damage done by heart attack if given early enough. They also have specific tools that to help you should you begin to have an irregular heart rhythm that deteriorates, which is one of the leading causes of death from heart attack.

Some people say to take aspirin when you think you are having a heart attack. On the ambulance, you will be given 324 mg of aspirin, but if you are at risk of heart attack, you can consult your primary care physician as to what he would have you do in the case of a suspicion of a new onset heart attack.

Other people who have history of heart attack or angina may have been prescribed nitroglycerin tablets to take should they experience pain. If this is true for you, take the nitro as your cardiologist has prescribed. They should have told you how many to take and when to take them. Do not deviate from the prescribed amount, because this medication can cause a dramatic lowering of your blood pressure that when done improperly can cause more damage to your heart.

Also, be sure not to accept Nitroglycerin from someone else who has a prescription for it. If you have not been prescribed Nitro and take it without medical personnel checking your EKG, there is a risk you could have a dangerous drop in blood pressure that could cause death. This can happen if your blood pressure is already low or if you are having a specific type of heart attack.

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