Without a doubt kidney stones can be prevented. In the old days your physician might have recommended for you to drink more water and avoid sodas and tea as well as milk. Today, we have a much better understanding of the many metabolic causes of kidney stones and realize that many of the recommendations of the past were possibly wrong or incomplete.
Possible metabolic problems can include:
- Urine PH that is too high or too low
- Excessive daily urine excretion of calcium, oxalate and or phosphate
- Excessive concentration of calcium, oxalate or both
- Too little excretion of stone formation inhibitors such as citrate and or magnesium
- Too much sodium in the diet
There are other potential causes that cause kidney stones. By identifying a person’s specific metabolic causes, a urologist is able to help his patient avoid future stones.
The best means for gathering this information is to get a special 24 hour urine collection ( LITHOLINK ) . This test is usually ordered several weeks after removing the stone that brought the patient to the office.