Kidney Stone Treatment : Homeopathy Articles

:: Avoid surgery for kidney stones

What is renal calculus or kidney stone?
Renal calculus, in simple terms, kidney stone, consists of aggregates of crystals and small amounts of proteins and glycoproteins, which may damage kidney. But there genesis is poorly understood till date.
Crystalline component usually consists of calcium oxalate(more than 50% of cases),calcium phosphate(10%),magnesium ammonium phosphate(10%) or rarely cystine and uric acid.

Why is it formed?
Though not exactly known, many causative factors have been suggested as follows:
Recurrent urinary tract infection
Deficiency of vitamin A
Improper calcium metabolism
Climate or occupation giving rise to excessive sweating
Prolonged immobilization or
Prolonged retention of urine.

What are the symptoms?
Intermittent dull pain in loin or back aggravated by movement, is usually the presenting symptom in more than 50% of cases.
If stone or calculus gets lodged in ureter, then, severe Renal Colic, that is, excruciating loin to groin pain, may also present the case. The pain increases and reaches the peak within a few minutes making the patient very much restless. This is often associated with pallor, sweating or vomiting. Patient may groan in agony.
In some people, haematuria (bloody urine) or dysuria (painful urine) is the presenting feature.

How to detect?
Apart from clinical examination done by doctor, X-ray or ultrasonography is done to confirm the diagnosis. Urine test usually detects red blood cells and proteins in urine.

Treatment options-
1. Apart from immediate pain relievers, patient may have to undergo endoscopic removal of stone using a lithotriptor which fragments the stone and then removes. These treatment options are costly and further, the recurrence rate cannot be diminished by these methods.
2. Offcourse, drinking at least 10 to 12 glasses of water daily is the most important and easy treatment option.

What Homoeopathy offers?
For stones upto 0.5 to 0.6 cms., Homoeopathy has a scope to replace surgery.
Homoeopathy offers a wide range of medicines for kidney stones.The medicines act in 3 steps-
A) Alleviates pain.
B) Crushes the stone
C) Expells the stone through urine.
According to Homoeopathic principles, there are certain inbuilt tendencies in human beings which lead to such conditions. The medicines check the unbalanced homeostasis(harmony) of the body besides acting locally. As the medicines are able to harmonize the tendencies, they are very much capable of preventing the recurrence.
And all this happens without a single side effect!
There are medicines like Calcaria carb, Lycopodium, Thuja, Cantharis,
Berberis vulgaris, Hydrangia, Occimum can, Cannabis sativa, Sarsaparilla, Natrum sulf, Pariera brava, etc. when taken under proper medical guidance and with regularity, have the power to replace surgeon’s knife.
The constitutional doses (the ones those act on the person as a whole) have
the potential to prevent the recurrence, once the stone is expelled.

Other preventive measures-
1. Foods containing excess calcium oxalate like spinach, tomatoes, radish, mushrooms, excess tea-coffee, chocolates, cheese, pastries, etc. should be minimized.
2. Water consumption schedule should be scrupulously followed.
3. Citrous fruits (pineapple, grapefruit, lemon) should be eaten.
4. Body weight should be kept under check as obese people are more prone to calculi. So exercise is vital.

Published in Indian Express.