Life Has It's Moments Of Irony

[tex]

Hi All,

I believe it was last week that I wrote a post about the fact that most deaths due to allergic reactions are attributed to medications. The greatest risk by far comes with contrast chemicals that are added to our bloodstream intravenously as an enhancement for scans. The second greatest mortality risk is apparently associated with antibiotics.

We never know what tomorrow may bring. I woke up this morning about 4 am, feeling constipated and extremely uncomfortable. Since constipation can get out of hand in a hurry with an ileostomy, I immediately suspected a blockage, either due to something I shouldn't have eaten, or a stenosis or twisted gut. I changed my appliance pouch, so I could monitor output, but there was no more output after I changed it. The one I changed out appeared to contain approximately a normal amount though, so my gut had obviously been working during the night.

The puzzling part was a dull, kind of a burning pain in my lower right quadrant, that seemed more severe at my back. I shrugged it off as part of the constipation problem, since my kidneys seemed to be working just fine. So after the sun came up, off I went to the ER.

Naturally I had to drink more contrast solution that I thought I could keep down (since I was already slightly nauseated, and that made the bloated feeling of constipation much worse). But of course the irony came a few hours later, as I was assuring the technician who was doing the scan, that I wasn't allergic to intravenous iodine contrast chemicals. Life can be cruel at times. About all we can do is hope that we aren't allergic.

To cut to the chase, the problem turned out to be a kidney stone. I'm not aware of anyone in my family who has ever had a kidney stone problem. I don't eat any high-oxalate content vegetables (because of the ileostomy), and the only calcium supplement is in a multivitamin, so what caused the stone? Luckily it's only about 2 mm in diameter, so passing it shouldn't be a big deal, but I'm puzzled about why it formed in the first place. I use a lot of almond milk, and the Silk Almond Milk seems relatively thick, so I'm wondering if that could be the problem.

Anyway, it was great to walk out of there without any major surgery. When I went there, I was reasonably certain that I would be looking at a resection of what's left of my gut before I was discharged. But the scan of my gut looked fine, so I'm a happy camper. I even left without any new prescriptions. It doesn't get much better than that.

Tex

[dfpowell]

Tex,

Glad it was not more complicated than a kidney stone, which can be pretty painful. There are different kinds of kidney stone so the cause is varied depending on the type you are forming. If you google oxalate kidney stones you can get an idea of what foods to avoid and that a low calcium diet , among other factors, will contribute to that type of stone. If they would have you collect the stone, when you pass it, perhaps you could have it analyzed.

[TXBrenda]

A friend of mine cannot drink regular tea. She has to drink black tea to keep from having kidney stones. I'm not sure if she can drink green or white tea. You are right, you never know what will happen next.

Glad things turned out well.

[UkuleleLady]

I'm so glad you're ok, Tex, and I hope the stone doesn't cause you a lot of pain.

Nancy

[humbird753]

Tex, I am so glad to hear you are okay. Hope you begin to feel better soon. I can see why you thought you'd end up having surgery before leaving the hospital. So in comparison to that, I'm sure you are thrilled.

Paula

[JFR]

Tex,

My favorite children's book is entitled "It Could Be Worse". I suppose that could be said about your latest hospital adventure. I am glad you are home and I hope you are not in too much pain.

Jean

[Zizzle]

Wow Tex, what a scare! Glad it's *only* a kidney stone!
I'm gonna guess it's a uric acid stone, given your IBD and relatively high meat consumption. Don't know your urine output or water consumption, but I gather you sweat a lot in the Texas heat.

http://www.webmd.com/kidney-stones/tc/t ... c-overview

[nerdhume]

Sorry to hear you have to endure yet another problem, hope it passes without too much pain, also very glad it wasn't more serious.

[Gabes-Apg]

Tex,
Very ironic indeed.

Will biopsy of the stone be able to confirm what caused it?

Rest up, healing hugs
Xo

[Martha]

Dear Tex,

I'm so glad you're okay, and didn't have to have surgery or even more medicine. I read on another thread where you said you just got home from the ER, and I thought, "Oh no, what's wrong with Tex?"

Sorry about the kidney stone, though.

Martha

[Polly]

Bummer, Tex! There should be a rule that those with MC are immune from other conditions! LOL!

Kidney stones can be more painful than childbirth, so I am keeping fingers crossed that it passes without further ado.

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Hi Everyone,

Well, the pain was mostly gone by the time I returned home yesterday. My gut seems to have resumed working normally again, and I had a good night's sleep, so I'm assuming that the stone has passed into my bladder. I will also assume that I would have noticed if it had moved out of my system, so that wonderful experience is surely still ahead of me.

I was kind of surprised that a kidney stone could shut down my motility, though. That makes me wonder if my gut is adhered to my right kidney or ureter, so that any inflammation is instantly transferred.

It's also interesting what a strong effect the kidneys have on blood pressure. I have noticed that for the past roughly 10 days leading up to this, my blood pressure (which is normally in the 105–115 mmHg range) has been fluctuating higher, and yesterday (and last Thursday) it was in the 140-something range. This morning, with the stone apparently out of the ureter, my blood pressure was a surprising 95 mmHg (as low as I can ever recall seeing it).

I have no idea if I'll be able to "capture" the stone when it decides to exit, but I note that yesterday's blood test results show that my calcium level is very near the top of the normal range. I also received my vitamin D test results from ZRT Labs yesterday, and I was surprised to see that my level was 58 ng/mL. That's way down from 95 ng/mL, which was my test result last May, despite the fact that I have been taking 3,500 IU if vitamin D supplement daily, all summer long, plus what I thought was more-than-adequate sun exposure.

Since Gabes reported this same phenomenon (a huge drop in vitamin D level over a period of a few months, despite taking a supplement), and my test results also show reduced kidney function, that makes me highly suspicious that kidney dysfunction might play a role in purging vitamin D reserves. But of course that's just speculation, based on a very limited database (n=2) of epidemiological evidence.

I find it very disturbing though, that vitamin D levels can be depleted so quickly, despite what should be more-than-adequate supplementation. To be honest, I was afraid that my vitamin D results were going to come back way above range (which would have explained the high calcium level, since overdosing vitamin D can lead to hypercalcemia), so I was somewhat shocked to see the relatively low level (low based on my expectations and preferences).

Maybe it's the physical stress (IOW, the problem is not just limited to kidney dysfunction), as Gabes proposed, that causes the huge drop in vitamin D level. But here's why I believe that kidney dysfunction may be at the root of this problem. As discussed in the book, the kidneys are where the conversion from the inactive form of vitamin D to the active form, is completed. So if there is an inflammation issue in the renal system, it would certainly stand to reason that the kidneys might be programmed to convert copious amounts of vitamin D into the active form, in order to help suppress the inflammation as quickly as possible. Every adverse event gives us an opportunity to learn more about our body, doesn't it? There's that silver lining again.

Based on these results, I'm going to guess that prior to the kidney stone acute issue, my vitamin D level was much higher (leading to a calcium buildup), and when the kidney stone issue swarmed on me, this process somehow purged my system of a heck of a lot of vitamin D in a hurry. Obviously this is just a WAEG though, so please don't consider it to be a proven explanation.

Polly, I sure hope that the pain doesn't approach that level, but there's not much I can do about it if it does.

Love,
Tex

[nancyl]

Hi Tex,
So glad you are feeling better.

Nancy

[Gabes-Apg]

Wow about the Vit D, my vit D level was at its worst when I had the kidney issues.

And like you, it is surprising how quickly the level can drop with a situation like this.
Having balanced cells for the body to function properly is a delicate thing!!

Are you taking CoQ10? It is good for kidney.
Interestingly I have been taking the upper range dose of CoQ10, 300ug for almost 12 months, and a hair analysis test done last week showed me as just enough... Similar for the zinc, mag and Vit D3, it showed that I am using all that I am taking.

[megamoxie]

Tex-
I'm inclined to agree with Polly that MC is enough and we shouldn't have to endure other issues, too... I hope you soon feel much better, and that you don't have to suffer too much more to get there! Glad that you seem to be in such good spirits about it all.

Meg