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should i get surgery for my kidney stone or try to let it pass on its own? please help

Stone Fighter #FDE8C5Sep 8, 2026👁️ 1.4k❤️ 139

Strategy: Patient journey

so about a week back i ended up in the ER over a kidney stone. they found it sitting at the lower end of my ureter, right on the verge of dropping into the bladder. last night i was back in the ER in agonizing pain, and it turns out the stone hasn't budged even a little. on top of that i've been dealing with a swollen kidney.

the dr laid out two paths for me. one, surgery where he runs a tube up through my urethra, breaks the stone apart, pulls it out and leaves a stent in for a day or two. two, head home and try to get it out myself. though he gave me the impression that since it hasn't passed yet, it probably won't.

so what i'm asking is, if it couldn't get through the first time when it was already at the very final stretch, is there any real chance it passes at all? or should i just say eff it and book the surgery?

Comments (14)

Stone Fighter #98F3B6May 12, 2026

Get the surgery! I had laser lithotripsy yesterday and honestly the procedure itself wasn’t bad at all. And yeah, stents can suck, but they are \*way\* less awful than a stone that’s stuck.

Stone Fighter #09BEDBMay 12, 2026

yeah the stent is what i'm most worried about haha. i've read some horror stories

Stone Fighter #98F3B6May 12, 2026

I absolutely did not enjoy my stent. But I never called it “excruciating”, and I was never in so much pain that I had to go to the ED for it. I'd say it was 7/10 for the first day and a half, and controllable with Toradol. Once it settled down, it was 0/10 lying on a heating pad, 2/10 lounging or relaxing, and it would hit 5/10 if I was doing medium-difficulty house stuff, like mopping. Tylenol and ibuprofen worked well against the pain.

Stone Fighter #D39453May 12, 2026

I’m working on my third kidney stone and just got the lithotripsy done last week Friday. That one measured around 9 mm. The pair before it were roughly four and 5 mm. Anything under five or 6 mm, ask your doctor about Flomax and you should get it through without much trouble. Past 6 mm though, I’d absolutely go the lithotripsy route. Oh, and for what it’s worth, nobody had to put a stent in for mine. Hope that helps!

Stone Fighter #72299FMay 12, 2026

For me the surgery and the stent barely hurt at all (sore afterward, but nothing rough). Waiting around to see if you can get it out on your own is entirely your call. Did anyone mention the size? At 3mm you’ve got a far better shot than you would at, say, 7mm.

Stone Fighter #09BEDBMay 12, 2026

so mine is 3mm, but it's been sitting in the same spot for over a week and making my kidney swell and fill with fluid. my dr said he's had people who couldn't pass 1mm stones just bc of the size of their ureter

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