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Kidney Stones

Although kidney stones are often silent, when they begin to move from your kidney to your bladder, the pain they cause can be excruciating. The discomfort is usually felt in the mid back on your right or left side , and often extends around the front to the pelvic area. It may also be associated with microscopic or visible blood in your urine.

Testing for kidney stones using kidney x-rays is usually fairly straightforward. Most kidney stones are made of calcium oxalate. The amount of calcium in your diet has no effect on your risk of kidney stones and therefore calcium does not need to be avoided. The good news is that recurrent calcium kidney stones can be effectively prevented using a simple nutritional intervention.

In repeated studies, taking magnesium 200-400 milligrams a day plus vitamin B6 10-25 milligrams a day decreased repeated kidney stone formation by approximately 90%. As this level of magnesium and vitamin B6 intake is a good idea for most Americans and may also decrease the risk of heart attacks and many other problems, it is reasonable to take as part of your daily nutritional supplementation even if you do not have kidney stones. In addition, getting plenty of water keeps your urine diluted and makes it less likely that minerals will crystallize out to form stones in your kidney.