Because a lot of us get scared even with the smallest cut on our body and have read so much about the side-effects of surgery like people say one puts on weight, the marks never disappear, one gets lazy forever, and so on, that we are just not ready for any surgeries on our body, irrespective of the consequences.
Before getting into the details of such methods, let’s look into some preventive measures of stones because, as they say, ‘Prevention is better than cure’.
How to Prevent Stones?
- Drink as much water as possible. Probably water is the only thing, excess consumption of which does no harm to the body. Apart from all the beauty related advantages like glowing skin, blemish free skin, acne free face, etc., water also helps in the passing of urine thereby clearing all the minerals and particles that may turn into stones.
- Regular intake of calcium-rich diet like cheese, milk, yogurt, curd, etc. reduces the chance of kidney stones significantly.
- High intake of sodium increases urine calcium which may lead to kidney stones. Sodium is mostly found in junk food and canned vegetables.
- High intake of animal protein via fish, pork, poultry or beef also increases the amount of uric acid thereby resulting in kidney stones.
Non-Surgical Stone Removal Treatments
In these methods of stone treatment, a laser technology is used whereby stones are either crushed into fine particles via shockwaves or removed straightaway.
Following are the two major non-surgical treatments available:
It is a shock wave treatment procedure whereby the hard stones are crushed into fine sand like particles which are then passed through the urinary tract and ultimately disposed of the body in the form of urine. Sometimes, due to the composition, the stones become very hard and it is not possible to break them by shock waves in one go. Therefore, multiple sessions are required.
Even though it’s a non-surgical method, yet anaesthesia is given to the patient because the shock waves cause severe pain that is unbearable by humans. This method is not perfectly suitable in all the cases and largely depends on the size, exact location, composition and the quantity of the stones present. However, the doctors don’t advise to use this one in case the size of stones is bigger than 6-8 mm. The recovery time post-treatment varies from 1-2 weeks.
Yet another effective non-surgical method for the treatment of kidney stones is this wherein a small instrument called Ureteroscope is sent to the bladder via the urethra which then breaks down the stones with the help of Holmium Laser.
However, it is only effective if the stones are located in the middle and lower urethra. The smaller crushed particles find their way out via normal urinary passage. The instruments are sent in the body via natural openings and hence no incision is required. The success rate of this treatment is significantly higher.