There are 2 people in this world. Those who have had a kidney stone, and those who have not. It started early Thursday morning. I was visiting an old friend from college. I had some moderate pain in my right abdomen. I thought I had to shit. I bounced out of her place at 8:30am so I could get home to take a dump. The pain would come and go. I got home, took a dump, and went about my business. Everything felt fine. Went to the gym, had a good workout. Later that day another friend came to visit, looking for her birthday dick. I serviced her and sent her on her way. Then I stopped at the Chinese buffet but ate very little because I knew I had a weigh in with my trainer the following morning.
Thursday night I’m planning to go to bed around midnight. I’ve already showered and brushed teeth. I got in bed and that’s when the pain rolled in full force. It wasn’t crippling, agonizing pain. It was very high discomfort. I got up and walked around. I laid on the sofa because it offered different support than the bed. I repeatedly went to the toilet thinking I had to shit. I would have pegged the pain at 7/8. Mind you, I’ve had a third degree burn before. But what was unique about this pain is that it was constant. It didn’t throb. It didn’t spike up. No matter how I tried to change positions on the sofa, I got no relief.
The next thing I noticed was extreme sensitivity to hot and cold, plus a very mild nausea. Just sitting down on the sofa and putting my legs out on the cushions that were room temp enough to make me shiver. But once they’d warm up, it became unbearably hot. I sat up, my legs were freezing and sweat was dripping off my forehead. I started hyperventilating. When I noticed this I got scared. I sat down again, and stayed very still. The breathing slowed down. I laid down again and shut my eyes. The pain eventually subsided a lot to the point where I almost fell asleep. When I came to, it was about 3am. I decided to get in bed. I took a few sips of ginger ale, and climbed in. Within 3-4 minutes, the pain was back in full force.
The problem with pain like this is that it takes a mental toll on you. It wears you down. And eventually, what you thought was 7/8 becomes 9/10. I started thinking about possible causes for it. I had been dieting aggressively, with low carb. Several in my family have had gall bladders removed. I thought it was a gall bladder issue. I called my parents who were on vacation because my father is a physician. I asked for his suggestion. He told me to drive to the ER. I told him driving wasn’t an option. He said call the ambulance.
I sat for a few minutes to mentally pull myself together. Packed a shaving kit with essentials, got dressed, locked up the dogs, and called 911. All the movement upped the pain. I locked the house and went outside to wait in the driveway. They arrived 2-3 minutes after I went outside. I climbed in myself and sat on their stretcher thing.
At that point a started to tear up. I was exhausted, in severe pain, and I was finally in a place where I didn’t have to maintain such a rigid composure. They asked some questions and checked vitals. Then they gave me some fentanyl. The first shot helped, but it wasn’t until I got the second that it really took the edge off. This was the only time I felt any relief from the pain. And fentanyl only lasts about 15-20 minutes.
The best part about coming to the Er by ambulance is that you go to the front of the line. Within minutes of my arrival I had a room in the ER. They had me put on a hospital gown an get into their bed. As soon as I got in, they wheeled me up for a ct scan. Again, minutes later they had me back in the room. I was really hurting again and on the verge of tears.
Then we had a shift change and in comes nurse ratchet. I want morphine. Nurse ratchet wants me to answer questions. By the third one, I looked at her, said “use your best judgement, pick up the needle, and squirt that shit in.” She got kind of pissy with me. But eventually gave me the stuff. At some point, the attending nurse practitioner stopped by for about 10 seconds and said “it looks like you’ve got a kidney stone, what’s your pain level?” Here’s where I fucked up. I told her 7/8. The reason why is because I’ve seen enough medical shows on tv and only the junkies with non life threatening issues go to the Er claiming pain of 10. I thought If i said 10, they’d view me as a junkie, and not give me good shit. By saying 8 and having a small stone, they figured I didn’t need much. I don’t really know. All I do know is that with all of the opioid insanity today, we’re allowing politics and pop culture to impact the standard of care.
The gave me morphine twice, but not enough to produce any noticeable relief in pain. At 9:30am they gave me some toradol which is a non narcotic NSAID. That shit worked surprisingly well. Within minutes, I felt almost instant relief, and I fell asleep. I woke around 10:45 with no pain. Called in the nurse, who sent the aid. They unhooked me from some stuff so I could piss. Within 20 minutes I was outside on the curb waiting for uber.
Since Friday I’ve mostly had soreness on and off in that area. The gave me a strainer to piss through to try and catch the stone for analysis. But I haven’t caught one, and have given up trying. Toradol is very effective at reducing the inflammation in that area, but it does cause upset stomach and bloating. I haven’t taken any today.
I’m sure the low carb diet played a role in this. The problem with this dieting is that it’s very easy to become dehydrated for prolonged periods. I’ll have to figure out a better approach to this because I’m honestly at a point where I find high carb foods to be a turn off. I can’t stand that bloated feeling.
I’m sure some of you have had kidney stones before, and can chime in with your own experiences. Some of will have one eventually. And some of you will never experience this.
They say passing a stone is as bad or worse than child birth. It wasn’t the level of the pain that had me at the point of tears many times that day. It was the constant, unrelenting, and inconsolable nature of the pain. It exhausts you mentally and physically.
Thursday night I’m planning to go to bed around midnight. I’ve already showered and brushed teeth. I got in bed and that’s when the pain rolled in full force. It wasn’t crippling, agonizing pain. It was very high discomfort. I got up and walked around. I laid on the sofa because it offered different support than the bed. I repeatedly went to the toilet thinking I had to shit. I would have pegged the pain at 7/8. Mind you, I’ve had a third degree burn before. But what was unique about this pain is that it was constant. It didn’t throb. It didn’t spike up. No matter how I tried to change positions on the sofa, I got no relief.
The next thing I noticed was extreme sensitivity to hot and cold, plus a very mild nausea. Just sitting down on the sofa and putting my legs out on the cushions that were room temp enough to make me shiver. But once they’d warm up, it became unbearably hot. I sat up, my legs were freezing and sweat was dripping off my forehead. I started hyperventilating. When I noticed this I got scared. I sat down again, and stayed very still. The breathing slowed down. I laid down again and shut my eyes. The pain eventually subsided a lot to the point where I almost fell asleep. When I came to, it was about 3am. I decided to get in bed. I took a few sips of ginger ale, and climbed in. Within 3-4 minutes, the pain was back in full force.
The problem with pain like this is that it takes a mental toll on you. It wears you down. And eventually, what you thought was 7/8 becomes 9/10. I started thinking about possible causes for it. I had been dieting aggressively, with low carb. Several in my family have had gall bladders removed. I thought it was a gall bladder issue. I called my parents who were on vacation because my father is a physician. I asked for his suggestion. He told me to drive to the ER. I told him driving wasn’t an option. He said call the ambulance.
I sat for a few minutes to mentally pull myself together. Packed a shaving kit with essentials, got dressed, locked up the dogs, and called 911. All the movement upped the pain. I locked the house and went outside to wait in the driveway. They arrived 2-3 minutes after I went outside. I climbed in myself and sat on their stretcher thing.
At that point a started to tear up. I was exhausted, in severe pain, and I was finally in a place where I didn’t have to maintain such a rigid composure. They asked some questions and checked vitals. Then they gave me some fentanyl. The first shot helped, but it wasn’t until I got the second that it really took the edge off. This was the only time I felt any relief from the pain. And fentanyl only lasts about 15-20 minutes.
The best part about coming to the Er by ambulance is that you go to the front of the line. Within minutes of my arrival I had a room in the ER. They had me put on a hospital gown an get into their bed. As soon as I got in, they wheeled me up for a ct scan. Again, minutes later they had me back in the room. I was really hurting again and on the verge of tears.
Then we had a shift change and in comes nurse ratchet. I want morphine. Nurse ratchet wants me to answer questions. By the third one, I looked at her, said “use your best judgement, pick up the needle, and squirt that shit in.” She got kind of pissy with me. But eventually gave me the stuff. At some point, the attending nurse practitioner stopped by for about 10 seconds and said “it looks like you’ve got a kidney stone, what’s your pain level?” Here’s where I fucked up. I told her 7/8. The reason why is because I’ve seen enough medical shows on tv and only the junkies with non life threatening issues go to the Er claiming pain of 10. I thought If i said 10, they’d view me as a junkie, and not give me good shit. By saying 8 and having a small stone, they figured I didn’t need much. I don’t really know. All I do know is that with all of the opioid insanity today, we’re allowing politics and pop culture to impact the standard of care.
The gave me morphine twice, but not enough to produce any noticeable relief in pain. At 9:30am they gave me some toradol which is a non narcotic NSAID. That shit worked surprisingly well. Within minutes, I felt almost instant relief, and I fell asleep. I woke around 10:45 with no pain. Called in the nurse, who sent the aid. They unhooked me from some stuff so I could piss. Within 20 minutes I was outside on the curb waiting for uber.
Since Friday I’ve mostly had soreness on and off in that area. The gave me a strainer to piss through to try and catch the stone for analysis. But I haven’t caught one, and have given up trying. Toradol is very effective at reducing the inflammation in that area, but it does cause upset stomach and bloating. I haven’t taken any today.
I’m sure the low carb diet played a role in this. The problem with this dieting is that it’s very easy to become dehydrated for prolonged periods. I’ll have to figure out a better approach to this because I’m honestly at a point where I find high carb foods to be a turn off. I can’t stand that bloated feeling.
I’m sure some of you have had kidney stones before, and can chime in with your own experiences. Some of will have one eventually. And some of you will never experience this.
They say passing a stone is as bad or worse than child birth. It wasn’t the level of the pain that had me at the point of tears many times that day. It was the constant, unrelenting, and inconsolable nature of the pain. It exhausts you mentally and physically.