with Jill Harris, LPN, CHC
Many kidney stone patients come to me after trying to lower their urinary oxalate levels on their own. They want to avoid forming more kidney stones but find the recommended dietary changes frustrating and confusing. They believe they have to limit or eliminate foods they have always enjoyed and considered healthy. As a nurse, I …
Because the pain from a kidney stone is so severe and unpredictable, those who have ever experienced even one stone dread getting another. Patients in my practice tell me over and over again how scared they are of forming another stone. I wanted to learn as much as I could about everything that bothers them …
Most of my patients come to me saying… “I finally started eating healthy, I lost 63 pounds, and then I got a stone.” Now what? It can be very frustrating to realize your “healthy” diet is the reason you made a kidney stone. I often find my job as a kidney stone prevention educator consists …
Patients ask me every day what they can do to reduce their risk of kidney stones. Here is a list of 5 things you must do if you want to prevent new stones. Learn WHY You Are Forming Kidney Stones Stone analysis, blood, and 24-hour urine tests are key to finding out why you are …
Click here to read part one. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my cancer journey was far from over. I got through the treatment, the surgeries, and more treatment — that went on until July 2015. It was rough for my entire family, but we made it, a bit tattered and worn from the emotional …
This story starts several years ago in 2009. One day I woke up and I had blood in my urine. As a nurse, I knew that this meant I either had a kidney stone or I had cancer. Turns out, it was the latter. I was diagnosed with Stage 1 bladder cancer. The surgery was …
I have heard this one million times from patients in my practice. Make stones? Drink water. Water, water, and more water. Drink it all day long, all night long. Just drink water. What about other fluids? Are they safe? Are they high in oxalate? Will they count toward your daily intake? Is caffeine a problem? Read the …
Many patients assume that they are forming calcium stones and should therefore limit their calcium intake. That assumption could not be more wrong. Low calcium diet won’t stop your stones and may even increase your risk. Lets not forget that our bones are in desperate need of calcium to avoid osteopenia and osteoporosis. But, many …
You have a kidney stone episode and your doctor asks you to collect your urine for 24 hours. Why oh why is this being asked of you? Isn’t it dreadful enough that you just had a kidney stone? The only way to find out WHY you are forming kidney stones is to complete a urine …
I thought it was time to sum things up, to offer an utterly practical guide to stone prevention. So here it is. You have kidney stones, even one, what next? There are things you need to have your physicians do for you. There are things you need to do for yourself. Then, there are things …
Who doesn’t love dessert? I, for one, thoroughly enjoy cookies, cake, and ice cream, but I keep it for here and there and not everywhere. I know that many of you love it, too, because you tell me everyday that this is the hardest thing for you to avoid. But I am here to tell …
One of the most common things I hear throughout the day when I talk about eating a low sodium diet is ‘I don’t use the salt shaker.’ Using salt shakers is the least of our problems. The message is: Salt is in everything we eat, from cereal to soda. Salt is sodium chloride. When we …
Elsewhere we have described an innovative web based course aimed at reducing kidney stone risk factors via improved diet. Briefly, the course helps patients whose physicians have prescribed diet and fluid changes implement those changes, by teaching them to choose the right foods and fluids. We have articulated the underlying science of the kidney stone …
Do you need a list? Many of you leave the doctor’s office thinking you will never be able to eat a fruit or vegetable again. If that wasn’t bad enough chocolate and nuts are gone, too. Some of this sadly is true, most of it is not. I am here to bring you good news: …
In my 24 years of working with stone formers, as a nurse in residence at Litholink Corporation and in my own practice, the number one question has always been: ‘How much water do I really need to drink?’ Maybe as important is: ‘How Do I Do It?’ Tread Slowly Many patients leave their doctor’s office …