Many years ago, kidney stones were considered, a disease of white man at middle aged. Especially during summer doctors are increasingly seeing a different kind of patients suffering from the extremely painful condition.
Data indicates that Kidney stones, hard deposits of minerals and salts that can get caught in the urinary tract, particularly among teenage girls and young people.
Experts aren’t sure exactly what’s the cause for this developing condition, but they speculate that a combination of factors are to blame, including increased in antibiotic at early stage of life, diets high in ultra-processed foods and dehydration due to climate change.
Kidney stones is a metabolic disorder, which is also known as nephrolithiasis. This occurs when minerals such as calcium, oxalate and phosphorus get collected in urine and form hard yellowish crystals which is as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball in worse cases. Some stones with no issue make their way out the urinary tract, but while others cand get stuck which blocks the flow of urine which cause severe pain and bleeding.
Recently hospitals have opened pediatric “stone clinics” where children have an opportunity to meet nutritionists, urologists and nephrologists, which will help to treat and prevent future kidney stones.
Kidney stones in adults are connected to conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Experts believe that kids’ unhealthy diets may play a major role for kidney stones, such as high amounts of sodium from potato chips, sandwich meats, sports drinks and packaged meals can force extra minerals into the urine that clump into kidney stones.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, children who develop a stone have about a 50% chance of developing another one within five to seven years.
Each stone that passes through the urinary tract increases their risk of developing a ureteral stricture, which narrows the tube which drains urine from the kidneys into the bladder. When this takes place, children may need to undergo invasive surgery to fix it.
There are many symptoms of kidney stones such as, pink, brown or red blood in the urine, a constant need to urinate, sharp pains around the back, lower abdomen and groin, cloudy or foul-smelling urine and irritability especially in younger children.
Some kids may not have any symptoms. However, symptoms can sometimes be “more nonspecific” in kids, mostly in young ones. Rather than back pains or nausea, they may complain about stomach aches.
Especially during warmer months drink plenty of water and make sure your urine resembles a light lemonade color, hydrate more if it’s darker in color to avoid kidney stones.
