A world of hurt (kidney stones)
 

anybody have to deal with this one?

I recently passed a kidney stone, which I can honestly say was the most pain I have ever been through. But I fear the worst is not over. I have been told that I am grounded untill the FAA decides otherwise. Has anyone had to go through this process? What steps I need to take to be proactive? Any advice would be appreciated...

DD

If you're in a hurry to get your medical back, contact a third-party pilot medical consulting organization. AOPA provides this service, and there are a number of private outfits. I have used this one: http://www.aviationmedicine.com/

I have a friend at UAL who had kidney stones...he still works there.

Not a huge deal, you may get a special issuance for a year. Upon completion of a test and some paperwork, you may be issued a restriction-free medical.

Good Luck

Thanks guys....wish me luck...

DD

Would you mind explaining your situation a little further for some of us? Do you know what caused the stone to develop? Diet or excessive consumption of anything in particular? Can you remember any symptoms you had before you knew you had it? What did it feel like before it actually passed? What can the rest of us do to avoid having to endure that horrific pain?

Sorry to hear about what happened and I hope you get to feeling better!

A friend of mine described the feeling as that of a bowling ball covered with razor blades trying to get out of his....er....ah.....euretha! When it was all done he said it looked like a teeny tiny piece of sand.

IIRC from what my buddy said, dehydration can play a role.

My buddy describes it as "A Man giving birth" is what it felt like.

Yep, I agree.

I had one a couple of years back. Once you have one, you DON'T want another one so you drink ALOT of water. Not the Diet Cokes the F/A's bring you every ten minutes, but WATER. Sometimes I have to force myself to drink even though I'm not thirsty. My doctor said the goal in to..er ..pardon me.. "Pee Clear". It's a sign you kidneys/bladder are flushed.

No more makin' gravel for me after that experience.

SF

Sorry I havent posted in a while....been down for the count.

Passed one stone. 2mm and I thought I was gonna die....aparently I got a 7mm SOB still in there. I'm going in for some procedure that is supposed to blast it with sound waves tomorrow. I guess if that doesn't work then I get "the claw". (if you dont know...you dont wanna know)

Still waiting on the chemical analysis of the first stone so I dont know what caused it but probably dehydration. I have always kept myself dehydrated. I now drink so much water, I pee every 1/2 hour! No joke!

To answer earlier questions, It started out with just a slight discomfort in my lower back one night. The pain was an anoyance but I slept most of the night. In the morning I went to the bathroom and in about two minutes I was on the floor and my crash-pad mate was calling the hospital. It was a sharp throbbing pain that was pretty unbearable. On the ride over they gave me morphine and that took care of that. After the CT scan they confirmed what they already knew. They gave me a prescription for some pain meds and told me to pee through a strainer until it came out. The next four days were BAD, BAD, BAD. Between peeing blood, passing out, throwing up, and drinking more water than a camel getting a refill, I never want to experience that again. (turns out I may have to shortly)

Thanks for the help. It turns out I wont be flying for a bit. I have to deal with the stone, then the FAA. Hopefully by the end of Oct I can get airborne again.

I will post what the doc has to say about the keeping future stones from forming. I guess there are a few different types, but for now its water. lots and lots of water.

DD

Ouch!!! Damn that sounds so painful. Good luck with that. I head kidney stones comes from like unproperly cleaned vegetables and stuff. Esp. Spinach

DD

Good luck on the second one. The bad memories came flooding back after your last post. YIKES!

If you work for an ALPA carrier, ALPA aeromedical was a GREAT help getting me back in the air about a week after I passed the stone. Use them, thats what you dues pays for. Keep drinkin' that H20!

SF

I know that Salt content is also a large factor in development of these lil **********....hope you feel better..best of luck!

I've heard from a few different people that if you get three stones over time, it's a permanent medical dequal. But it may vary based on the cause. I know a guy who has had a few and apparently his body lacks some chemical or doesn't function properly to eliminate them. So he is quite possibly done with his flying career because he will always get them.

Actually, salt has little/nothing to do with it since it easily dissolves. The vast majority of stones are Calcium Oxalate (oxaltes are found primarily in green leafy vegetables).

I had a stone while deployed overseas that required surgical removal (not fun.) After returning to the states, I did a CT scan and consult with a USAF Urologist and was given a waiver by the AF to go back on flying status. I did my FAA 1st Class a few months later. I gave copies of all the tests and reports to the AME and he sent it in and the FAA had no problem with it. I'm currently swimming in the SWA pool.

Keep drinking that water!! Statistically, 50% of men who develop a kidney stone will develop a second at a later time.

Cheers,

U2DRVR

Ditch I feel for ya...and I'm not a male. I've never had one, but I have given birth...and if you wanna compare it that way - well it seems like a good comparison. At least we have the option for medication. Anyway, if the FAA will let me fly with what I have...I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to.

Good luck with all this...and that nasty second one.
PCJ

p.s. If you see the claw...run. My husband had to result to that for his...and needless to say, he was out of commission for a while. :-p Man that's gotta suck.

FINALLY, some good news for a change!

I just got the call from the FAA saying I'm cleared to fly again! Thanks for all the help and support from everyone.

The surgery went off well (at least I think...I was knocked out). It's called a Lithotropsy and it's basically highly focused sound waves to break apart the stone. Afterwords I had about one day of pain and discomfort (and peeing a lot of sand). then it's been good ever since. The followup x-ray showed that I was clear.

The Doc says that the majority of stones are created by dehydration. Some are calcium, some are uric acid. Mine were calcium and they tend to be harder than the others. He also recommended keeping my pH balance up. I kinda lost him there for a minute but basically the higher the pH, the more the stone can be disolved into your system (or at least keep them from forming). With this in mind, he sayed to drink juices like Cranberry and Black Cherry. I hope this helps everyone in the future....I am now a firm believer in water and hydration.

Details:
Total days off without pay - 2 months (almost to the day)
Total medical bills - $13,000 (insurance wont cover because the policy started two days after the initial E-Room visit)
Time it took the FAA to review my case once all paperwork was in - 15 Days
Water Drank - Lets just say ABQ is now in a drought:)

Cheers!
DD

$13,000 in bills? Holy crap! Too bad about the insurance not covering it. I guess timing really is everything.

Ditch, I'm really glad to hear you survived that whole ordeal! Good to hear the surgery went well and I hope the recovery isn't too bad.

This also raises an interesting point in so far as hydration. I have heard that over hydration can actually be a problem. I don't know the specifics but I -think- it amounts to not having enough electrolytes in your system if you pee too much and it is always clear.

When I served in the military I was -always- drinking water to stay hydrated for PT and 'humps'. At one point during the school of infantry I was drinking a gallon jug of water at night before I went to bed. Generally on average I would wake to urinate (Had to go BAAAAd) at least twice per night during any kind of training event or school (And yeah, it was always crystal clear). I never really noticed any adverse effects from my non-stop water drinking 'habit' but I was told that over-hydration is a bad thing.

If it were me I would continue to drink lots and lots of water. Electrolyte deficiencies sound a lot more bearable than kidney stones! ;)

Thats a good point Spartan...I used to work at the Grand Canyon and every summer people would get themselves into trouble when hiking. People think they have to drink tons of water (which is true) but they are only getting half of it right. Everyone is so surprised to hear that one of the most important thing to bring with you on your hike is some sort of salty snacks (trailmix etc...). It's true...you can create an imbalance in your body. People can end up overhydrating and having seizures!

I dont want to underemphasize the importance of hydration, but your right, you have to balance it out. God does that mean I have to eat those friggin pretzels all the time now?:)

yeah....right now that's about three quarters of my salary! It's a hard hit and it's going to take a while to dig myself out again.

Timing is definately everything...if it had happened two days later I wouldn't owe anything, and if it had happened a month earlier my last employer would have paid me while I was out and covered the expenses. oh well...

Wow, I knew kidney stones were bad I didn't realize they were THAT bad. I just downed a nalgene full of water after reading this thread. I'm think I'm going to keep doing that.

I did the kidney stone thing a year ago last June. It was 3 months and a day from start to requal. I had to laugh, crew sked wanted me back within an hour of getting my medical faxed in! I ended up going non-current by a day. That triggered a sim event. A mom on my son's baseball team said she'd rather give birth again than have a stone pass. She oughta know, she's had 4 boys and two stones!

In my case it took two blasts to crack the 23mm marble I had left in me. I squirted the 2mm one out in the beginning of the adventure right after a dinner out. I almost passed out while driving home on the freeway. The hospital was at the next off ramp 1/4 mi ahead. Thank you sweet Jesus! The emergency room nurse said that's she's seen bikers and construction worker types crawling around on the floor crying from the pain.

I agree, the lithotripsy procedure was nothing, it's passing the small stones & fragments that gets your attention. It felt like a really bad back ache on my lower left side that got worse very quickly, probably only 45 minutes until the little stone passed. The fragments from the second ECSWL passed at a little league game the night after the second blasting. It took several hours for the fragments to flush out. Yeah I was talking to God alright. The morphine based pills from the doc didn't even touch the pain. The only thing that worked well was to get into a hot bath. As hot as I could stand. I spent most of the night doing just that. Surprisingly it did the job...

The ALPA Aeromedical contractor in Colorado didn't have the inside track at all. They told me I'd have to do a chemical study, send in documentation to the feds, etc. They made it sound like I was signing up for the space program. My AME said all I needed was a clear x-ray or CT scan. The FAA went with the x-ray...with the caveat that if a stone returns, my medical is automatically pulled. My AME being a Flight Surgeon for decades provided me with the right answers. Thanks Doc!

Suffice it to say drink lots of water and don't hold yer pee. Seriously!

Tailwinds~

Holy mother of pearl!;)

I thought I was tough....nope:)

Man sorry about your ordeal and especially the bills you got to pay. That really sucks!

My father had kidney stones and so did a good friend to my parents. They both used the same procedure as you did and their stones were mainly calcium. My dad's doctor recommended to stay away from tea and coffee - I believe they're de-hydrating so even though you're drinking liquids, you're actually depleting H2O from your system. He said that if you must drink it – take at least 2 glasses of water for each cup of tea/coffee, preferable right after you drank the tea/coffee. Cranberry juice, etc were very good, he said. My dad simply stopped drinking tea and water all together - it's been 12 years since his stones. I’m sort of following his regimen to avoid having to go through the hell he went through.

Also, once a year he gets an ultrasound to see if he’s got any kidney stones. Insurance won't pay for it but he's doing it for his own peace of mind; also, if they were to find something, they'll treat it before it causes any major pain - so far nothing.

My mom's friend was told pretty much the same, lots of water, etc, etc. She (supposedly it's more common in men than women, can't remember why) has two kids and said she'd rather give birth to 10 more “super-sized” children than have to deal with kidney stones all over again. She said that although giving birth hurt really bad it was like vacation comparing to having kidney stones.

Good luck to you, hope you'll never have to experience that again!