My Torments and Victories with Kidney Stones

This was the article I wrote for Dr. Dave Klein's "Vibrance" e-zine which can be found at www.livingnutrition.com

I was terribly woken up one early morning in the autumn of 1998 with a searing pain on the right side of my lower back and right side. The pain was excruciating, making me vomit and almost faint. I had a searing urge to urinate; my urine was pink indicating blood. My husband rushed me to the emergency room of our nearest hospital which was 45 minutes away. The whole trip, I was screaming with unbearable pain-worse than the childbirth pains I had experienced 2 years earlier. My poor son, strapped into his car seat and having been rudely awakened was also screaming with terror, not understanding what was going on with his mother.

The nurses and doctors took one look at me and rushed me off to have x-rays taken.
The x-rays showed nothing, but the doctors informed me that I had probably passed some kidney stones.

One and half years later, in the spring of 2000, I was once again awoken with the same horrible, horrible pain. “Oh my God, not again!” were my only thoughts in between bouts of vomiting and screaming.

Off to the hospital again and more x-rays were taken. This time the x-rays showed that I had 6 kidney stones. Three were trapped in the passage between the kidney and the bladder and three more were still in my kidney. I was rushed off immediately for surgery to remove the stones blocking my passage. The stones left in my kidney would have to wait while I recovered from my first surgery. Until surgery, I had to keep a catheter in place to keep the passage open to be able to urinate-boy was that a lot of fun (NOT!). Several months later, I was finally treated with ultrasound to blast the kidney stones out of my kidney. While visiting me in recovery, my adorable son kicked one of the nurses, thinking she was the cause of my pain.

So what did cause this? My urologist said that she didn’t know what causes kidney stones, but that they were made principally of calcium. A friend, who’d also suffered with kidney stones, told me that she had cut out milk and cheese and that seemed to work for her. I thought about my habits prior to these events. I had never paid much attention to nutrition and health, except in my ever constant battles to not gain excessive weight in my youth. I was never anorexic, but like most young women I wanted to be slim and attractive. Things changed when I discovered that I was pregnant. I started reading parenting magazines, pregnancy magazines and pregnancy and parenting books. These publications were readily available at my gynaecologist’s office. One thing that stood out in all my readings was the importance of calcium for strong bones for both me and the baby. I had never much liked milk, but once I got pregnant I got into the habit of drinking one huge mug (the equivalent of at least 4 cups) of warm milk every night as well as in the morning when I awoke. After all, I needed 8 cups worth everyday to meet the government RDAs, right? I gained 65 pounds during my pregnancy.

Were my milk drinking habits the cause of my kidney stone problems? At the time, my only concern was for the pain. I did not want to experience that pain ever again so I dropped the milk considerably to one cup a day; but, I did not completely ban it because I was still concerned about osteoporosis since my mother had just been diagnosed with that disease. I knew I wasn’t meeting government recommendations for calcium so osteoporosis was still a big concern. Today I know that those recommendations are completely wrong and based on the unnatural eating habits of most of the population, as well as being hugely influenced by powerful industrial lobbies. Osteoporosis seemed far away and I thought it was better to avoid the kidney stones now and deal with osteoporosis later. It seemed the lesser of two evils.

Have I ever come a long way since those thought processes occurred to me!?!!! And what’s worse is that I have now learned that milk causes both of those diseases!
Imagine, thinking I had to choose between having one horrible disease or another when radiant health is the real choice?!!!

Yes, radiant, vibrant, and optimal health is my choice now. What’s more, it gets easier and better every day that I follow my natural diet as outlined by Dr. Douglas Graham’s “The 80/10/10 Diet” and a natural hygienic life style. My only regret is that I did not discover this sooner.

So much has changed for the better since becoming an 811rv (80/10/10 raw vegan) in May of 2007.

It’s hard to begin listing the benefits I’m experiencing because there are so many and they are so far reaching. Of course, there are the visible, superficial benefits of losing almost 50 pounds and dropping my body fat percentage to the teens which I’m very happy about. I’m pretty tanned now too which looks great. My skin and hair are now naturally, inexpensively managed and look great. I exercise more and can even run now. I sleep better too. These are all great, but there are also many other added benefits like the knowledge that I’m acting in a more compassionate manner to all life forms: human, animal and plant. Also, that my footprint on our planet is a healthier one. I have such a better outlook on life in general now that the mysteries of being healthy have largely been explained.

Of course there are many people to thank for my successes, not least of which is Dr. Klein and this magazine. Thank you so much!

If you want to follow my story, please join me on my blog or Dr. Graham’s forum or Dr. Klein’s forum as well. I love sharing this information with as many people as possible because health is truly our only wealth.

Ciao.