(no subject)

[rm]

So I keep getting these twinges in my right back/flank, and they hurt, but it's not sharp pain so much as sudden crampy/achy pain. It's been going on all day sometimes every few minutes, sometimes not fora couple of hours. Can't think of anything I did to the muscle, but lord knows I do enough crap.... It was realy bad this morning, seemed to get better after I hydrated and wasn't much during the day. Now it's bugging me a lot again, so I'm hydrating more. I did just put the heavy/copious laundry in, but I keep dreading it's some sort of kidney infection thing.

Someone please tell me I just strained something.

I did go out drinking and didn't have enough water yesterday, but I don't have a fever or anything else going on.

Comments

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Is there visible urine in your blood? Uh, reverse that. I just had a beer.

(I've found the hard way that if your toilet is not white you often can't tell there is blood unless you pee in something else! TMI? Sorry.) If your pee is pink ish, brownish, or cranberry colored go to the nearest ER because it could be a kidney stone or a nasty UTI. And the pain my go way up and you'll want to be somewhere where they can a) give you serious pain meds and b) look at the stone and see how big it is in case you need surgery.

I've passed stones lots of times. Either way push clear fluids and have some cranberry juice, which will help with a UTI/bladder infection. If you start vomiting or the pain becomes so bad you are disoriented go to the nearest ER.

Have Patty gently touch your back where your kidneys are. If you throw up or the pain increases that sounds like a passing stone.

Hope it's not. They are annoying!

[6-bleen-7.livejournal.com]

I've passed a couple of kidney stones, too. The pain from a kidney stone feels very deep—more visceral than muscular—and will often cause involuntary clenching of the abdominal muscles on the side with the pain. I've never felt "achy" pain with a kidney stone, but "crampy" would fit for the mildest pain. In my experience, the pain is usually quite sharp even when (relatively) mild.

Don't think you can affect much by pressing from the back, since the kidneys and ureters are well protected from that direction by the lower rib cage and strong back muscles.

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

all of my doctors for my four stones have thumped on my kidneys from my back to see if it made it hurt worse.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Me too. I've lost count of them though. I think I had 12. The last one was enormous and required surgery. They found a tumor in my neck that was causing me to form so many stones. Do they know what's up with yours? 4 seems like a lot. :/

[6-bleen-7.livejournal.com]

The doctor was probably trying to set up vibrations in your kidneys/ureters without punching you in the stomach. Sorry, should have been more specific—I was referring to pressure and palpation.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I get the ache--different people feel different things. Also when they prodded my back (which is standard part of diagnoses for kidney stones--I'm an EMT) I saw spots and threw up. I had one fully obstructed kidney though and was peeing cranberry color. It was a lot of fun.

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

I thought the same thing than imaginarycircus thought: possible kidney stone. It happened to my better half once.

Take good care, eh?

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

if flushing your kidneys doesn't seem to fix it (drink about a gallon of water throughout the day), you may want to go to the doctor so they can test your urine for blood - small amounts of blood are not going to be visible in the toilet bowl - and also for infection. about three days of antibiotics will clear up a kidney infection. if it's a stone, you'll be drinking a gallon of water every day until it passes and probably will not need to go to the hospital or a urologist unless the pain is really severe. if however it does get really severe, go so they can give you a CT and look at the size of the stone.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This makes whatever the fuck it is seem less alarming to me.

[apel.livejournal.com]

Are you sure this really is from your kidneys? How about sciatica? It's pretty common.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

I suspect you just strained something. I pulled an abdominal wall muscle a bit ago and have the same twinges that migrate/radiate to the flank and back.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Like, I'll feel fine, and then bam -- it's not that it hurts real bad so much as it makes me hunch of a bit for a second, and it sort of spooks me. And no fever, no blood in teh urine, none of this other stuff peopel are talking about. I'm just nervous because a) I'm like that and b) I did have a kidney infection once about 15 years ago.

I almost wonder if I did something funny last night. Patty picked me up and swung me around in teh bar at one point, and we were playing pool, which is all about stretching one's back at stupid angles, but I'm just used to shit hurting not coming and going like a twitchy eye.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

A pulled muscle, though, can linger and go away and then suddenly clench up again just like what you're describing--unless you have other symptoms or the pain gets steadily worse, I wouldn't start thinking in terms of something else. (Though I got just as paranoid about my own symptoms.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's nice just not to be laughed at. I'm always very detailed in my alarmist nature.

And this shit did start being all interesting again when I started up the laundry. And I know being dehydrated can aggravate a pulled muscle too....

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"It's nice just not to be laughed at. I'm always very detailed in my alarmist nature."

As the original "You're sure this headache isn't a brain tumor, completely sure?" person, I'd never laugh at anyone's health worries.

[guitargltz.livejournal.com]

I was in the hospital last week for Kidney stones and I didn't have a fever or any other symptoms besides the pain. I hope that isn't what you have because it was awful! Good Luck!!

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you strained something to me, or like it's one of those irritating nonspecific neuralgia things. Happens pretty routinely, even to athletes.

If it were an infection, odds are good you'd at least feel feverish, even if you weren't running a sufficient fever that a thermometer told you so. And you probably wouldn't feel fine otherwise: infections tend to give a girl a kind of nonspecific feeling of malaise, even if there aren't more specific and acute symptoms yet. Certainly I'd pay attention to make sure things didn't get scarier and worse; but otherwise, I'd do the classic surgeon's-family thing and wait a week to see if it goes away by itself.

[stardust9121.livejournal.com]

I just have a bad back in general - with my genes, I'm kinda doomed that way - and sometimes I have days like that, with recurring muscle twinges/spasms. For me, it goes away on its own, if that makes you feel any better.

Whatever it is, drinking more water is always a good idea.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Take calcium. If you strained something, it will help your muscles heal faster. (In general, people don't get enough calcium even if they are into milk.)