Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are caused by the formation of crystal like substances inside your kidney. When those crystal substances come together and grow, they form stones inside your body. These stones can be inside your kidney, or they can try to travel down the ureters tubes which carry urine to your bladder. When these stones are too large to pass through the narrow tubes, severe pain results and sometimes a full blockage will occur as well.
There are four types of kidney stones which can develop, but one of those is caused by a rare hereditary disease. Of the other three though, the most common type of kidney stone seen in 80% of cases, is a calcium based stone.
The cases of kidney stones has increased over the last thirty years, but it's not quite known why. Some speculate that dietary changes play a major role in this increase, while others think it may be due to improvements in the ability to diagnose problems like this. Whatever the reason, there are things you can do to help prevent kidney stones, and sometimes the stones can be dissolved by natural means as well.
The risks of getting kidney stones is thought to be hereditary though. If someone in your family has a history of kidney stones, you're more likely to have the problems too. Anyone who has had kidney stones at least once though, has a greatly increased chance of getting them again. And anyone with a chronic kidney disease is also more at risk for getting recurring kidney stones.
Kidney stones are more common in men than women, and certain medications can make the risks higher. Dehydration however, is one major factor in the development of kidney stones, and that's actually what causes some medications to have this effect on people. If the medication dehydrates you, or you're dehydrated in general from not getting enough fluids each day, then kidney stones can form simply because there's not enough fluid to dilute the substances inside your body which make the stones form.
So the biggest, and completely natural way to prevent kidney stone formation is to simply drink enough water or other fluids. Drinking plenty of water helps keep the calcium deposits from being able to gather together into stones, so they'll be continuously flushed out of your system before problems can arise.
Since most kidney stones are calcium based though, you can help prevent the formation of these types of stones by drinking lemon water. Put a bit of real lemon juice in your tea each morning, or mix it into a glass of water, and drink it when you first get up each day. This small amount of lemon juice will help prevent stones from forming, and it will help dissolve any stones which have already started forming.
In fact, lemon juice is the number one home remedy for dissolving existing kidney stones. Some people mix two ounces of fresh lemon juice with two ounces of virgin olive oil, then drink that down. The pain caused by the kidney stones is usually gone in less than an hour, and the stones dissolve within 12-15 hours after that.
Not everyone can stomach the olive oil though. It makes them very nauseous. Drinking simple lemon juice by itself is usually enough in most cases though, so you can leave out the olive oil if need be.
This remedy usually works with just calcium based stones, and since it dissolves the stones, not everyone will feel the kidney stones pass. Some people feel as if their urine is gritty or sandy though, and this is because the dissolved pieces of the stones are being passed in your urine.
Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.
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