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For those of you who get kidney stones regularly, did upping your water intake really help ? Did you notice a difference ?

Stone Fighter #D39453Sep 28, 2026👁️ 2.7k❤️ 177

Strategy: Patient journey

I've had 2 kidney stones in the past 2 years. No pain at all, they just happened to get caught on a CT scan. I ended up needing 4 operations to get them out (they were big).

I'd really love to never get them again.

I use to drink very little water. Like 50 cl a day. Maximum 1 L if thirsty.

Comments (3)

Stone Fighter #17A9FESep 28, 2026

Water helped, but getting my hypercalciuria under control is what really made a difference. I was on HCTZ for several years and now it seems to have cleared up on its own. Fingers crossed I stay stone free. Best of luck to ya!

Stone Fighter #D39453Sep 28, 2026

Thanks a lot ! How long have you been stone free now ? And do you happen to know what the medication is called ?

Stone Fighter #17A9FESep 28, 2026

Well, only since December. That’s when I had preventative surgery to clear out whatever stones were left before they could turn into a problem. I’m pretty sure it was a generic hydrochlorothiazide. It’s a blood pressure medication, but I’m a runner and I have POTS, so my blood pressure already ran low. I’d faint a lot, and since it’s a diuretic I was peeing all the time. Totally worth it though if it sorted out the underlying issues.

Stone Fighter #914ACESep 28, 2026

Never mind the anecdotes, there’s a massive body of scientific evidence showing it does - here are a handful of studies below to look at. Staying consistently hydrated is the single biggest thing you can do to both keep kidney stones from forming and cut the odds of them coming back. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10838424/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26022722/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673625026376 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4...

Stone Fighter #914ACESep 28, 2026

Thankfully that’s not the usual cause behind most people’s kidney stones, HCT works well in a case like yours but not in the majority of cases. Thankfully they caught yours and treated it properly.

Marvin1989Sep 28, 2026

Staying hydrated made a big difference for me, though not in the way most people talk about it. Going from 50cl to genuinely keeping up my fluids day in and day out is what finally broke the cycle of stones coming back -- the consistency counts for a lot more than reaching some magic number. Your body just needs enough fluid to keep your urine dilute all day, every day, not only on the days you remember to drink. Four operations for two stones is a lot to go through. Your urologist can set ...

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