What Are Early Warning Kidney Stone Symptoms In Women and Men

What Are The First Signs of Kidney Stones? 

Here is a list of some of the most important signs and symptoms of a stone in the kidney, along with a short description of each: ⁶

Renal colic

Renal colic, or simply kidney stone pain, is one of the most specific symptoms of a stone in the kidney. The pain correlates to the movement of the kidney stone along the urinary tract and finally lodging itself within the ureter. This movement creates a gradient of pressure within the narrow confines of the walls of the ureter, which effectively gets translated to the sensitive nerve fibres around the region. Such electrical signals transmitted via the nerve fibres reach specific brain areas, ultimately perceived as pain. 

Even though the location of the pain keeps altering with the location of the kidney stone within the body, it usually induces pain in the back, abdomen, and sometimes even the groyne region. 

Concerning the episodicity of the pain, it's best described as intermittent, which implies that the spectrum may range from debilitating episodes of pain on some days to completely pain-free days. In rare circumstances, even the smallest stones may get dislodged in the ureter and cause severe pain.

Pain or Discomfort While Urinating 

Yet another crucial finding among the signs and symptoms of kidney stones is the presence of pain or experiencing some discomfort while urinating. In medical terminology, it is referred to as dysuria and is said to be strongly associated with a urinary tract infection (UTI).

While it may be hard to differentiate between the two conditions, you may notice subtle differences in their presentation. Patients experience a typical burning sensation in the case of a urinary tract infection, whereas in kidney stones, it's a type of sharp, stabbing sensation. Moreover, UTI pain curtails the lower abdomen. On the contrary, kidney stone pain occurs in the back and the underside of the ribs. 

This distinction is crucial since the treatment modalities vary significantly for a urinary tract infection and a kidney stone. You can manage UTI medically with appropriate antibiotics. However, kidney stones may get extruded out on their own with adequate hydration or may necessitate the need for surgical methods like lithotripsy, which uses lasers to break down larger stones into smaller pieces or other invasive surgeries such as percutaneous nephrolithotomy, which involves the surgeon creating a narrow tunnel onto the kidney ⁷. 

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Increased Frequency of Micturition 

The need to use the toilet more regularly than usual might prompt the diagnosis of a kidney stone ⁸. It is one of the early symptoms of kidney stones. Usually, it implies that the kidney stone has traversed to the bottom half of the urinary tract. Urinary urgency may also point towards an underlying urinary tract infection. 

Foul-Smelling Urine 

Normal urine is said to be amber-coloured with no distinct odour. If a patient's urine is excessively cloudy or seems to emanate a foul odour, it may suggest a urinary tract infection. It's important to note that while a UTI might occur alone, it may also occur in tandem with nephrolithiasis. Recent studies have shown that as many as 18.7 to 36% of patients with a kidney stone had an underlying urinary tract infection. ⁸

Blood in Urine

Blood in the urine is one of the giveaways of kidney stones. This condition is medically known as hematuria. You can undergo a urine routine test for diagnosis. A urine sample is examined under a microscope to check for red blood cells. 

A scenario where the red blood cells are not visible to the external eye and are assessed under a microscope is called microscopic hematuria. Hematuria can manifest in several medical conditions, some more alarming than others. ⁹