If I had a stone and the pain goes away, did the stone pass?

Maybe so, maybe not. Usually the advice when trying to pass a stone is to urinate into a strainer, so that you can see the stone(s) when they pass out the urethra. If you don’t use a strainer you might not see or feel small pieces. Sometimes a person who has a stone and is in a lot of pain eventually stops having pain. The pain is caused by swelling of the kidney by the urine as it backs up behind the stone. Eventually the pain can subside, even if the stone has not passed. The kidney in this situation is not able to drain urine, and it slowly starts to lose function. After a few months it can stop working altogether. It is very important to get a checkup and have the appropriate imaging studies to make sure that there is no urinary obstruction even if the pain has gone away when trying to pass a stone.

Category: Stone Disease

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