Could my 4mm stone have passed without me noticing?
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- Patient journey
Hey everyone, I'd love to hear from people who've been through something similar.
I'm 30 weeks pregnant and ended up at the hospital last Monday morning in agonizing pain — like writhing around, couldn't catch my breath, throwing up bile. After a few hours of no pain meds while they checked on the baby, they moved me from Labor & Delivery over to the ER. Got a CT scan and they officially found a 4mm kidney stone sitting right near the entrance of my bladder, with fluid backing up into my right kidney. No other stones growing. They sent me home with oxycodone and anti-nausea meds. The ER team said it should pass within 24 hours. A couple days later I also got prescribed a muscle relaxer and something to help flush it all out since I was still getting these pulsing waves of pain in my right kidney area (though nothing bad enough to need the oxy anymore).
They warned me a 4mm stone would hurt coming out but shouldn't get stuck. My meds are a 30-day supply but they said it absolutely shouldn't take that long.
Now it's been a full week and I'm still getting occasional pulsing aches in my right kidney area. I haven't felt any pain while peeing and haven't spotted the stone. So I'm stuck wondering — did I somehow miss it completely? Is it still sitting right before my bladder? Or is it chilling in my bladder now?
Of course being pregnant (and chugging like 160oz of water daily) I'm peeing constantly anyway. Sometimes it feels like I need to go again right after, but that could just be a pregnancy thing. I'm just really confused right now.
Comments (3)
I dealt with a 5mm stone for about six weeks. Went in for surgery two weeks back to take it out plus another one in my kidney, and turns out the 5mm had already passed on its own. They told me I'd definitely feel it coming out but I honestly didn't. Same as you, my pain came and went so I could never really tell. So yeah, there's a solid chance you already passed that 4mm without realizing it. Could also still be hanging around though — if the pain goes away for good that's a pretty good sign...
I had a 6mm stone on both sides last year and one of them actually passed in the 5 days between my CT scan and my surgery date, and I didn't even notice. So yeah it definitely happens.
From what I've experienced, once the stone makes it to the bladder things get a lot easier. Passing them never really hurt. The awful part was always the journey down to the bladder.
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