In this episode of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast, Jill Harris discusses the types of kidney stones, focusing on uric acid stones and their potential for dissolution. Jill emphasizes that while uric acid stones can be dissolved with the right dietary changes and supplements, calcium oxalate stones cannot. The conversation also covers prevention strategies for kidney stones, including dietary recommendations and the importance of urine collection for understanding stone composition. Listeners are encouraged to utilize resources available at kidneystonediet.com for further guidance on prevention and management.
Takeaways
- Uric acid stones are the only type that can be dissolved.
- Calcium oxalate stones cannot be dissolved and require prevention strategies.
- Potassium citrate and lemon juice can help dissolve uric acid stones.
- A urine collection is essential for determining stone type and risk.
- Existing stones may not require surgery if they are stable.
- Diet plays a crucial role in preventing kidney stones from growing larger.
- Hydration and dietary management can lead to an 80% reduction in stone recurrence.
- Chanca Piedra and apple cider vinegar do not dissolve kidney stones.
- Monitoring urine pH can help manage uric acid stone formation.
- Consulting with a doctor is vital for personalized treatment plans.
00:00 Introduction to Kidney Stones and Their Dissolution
00:40 Understanding Uric Acid Stones
04:21 Prevention Strategies for Calcium Oxalate Stones
10:15 Resources for Kidney Stone Prevention
Jeff Sarris (00:00)
You clicked on this because you want to dissolve your kidney stones. Well, you better not skip this episode.
Jill Harris (00:05)
these kind of episodes always fire me up, baby. I’ll tell ya.
Jeff Sarris (00:08)
huh.
Yeah. So before we get started, head on over to kidneystonediet.com and you’re in your browser, whether you’re on your phone or on your computer, wherever you are, just so you can reference everything we’re talking about in this episode. But if you want to dissolve kidney stones, this one’s for you.
Jill Harris (00:23)
Yes, I get this. Well, there’s a lot of back and forth with this. chill. I dissolved my kidney stone with chancapiedra. I drank apple cider vinegar. I did, I did. All the things. Okay, so.
Here’s what I’m going to say, there is one kidney stone, you can believe me, you cannot believe me, but all the science will say this, there’s one kidney stone that can be dissolved and that is a uric acid stone. So that stone is very acidic. I’m just going to use very Jill terms for everything. And if you get something that’s super alkaline, it can help dissolve that uric acid stone. That makes sense.
But calcium oxalate stones and calcium phosphate stones cannot be dissolved. I’ll say it a million million times. Lots of times the lasers are not cracking these stones open. I’ll tell you right now, no, Janka-Piedra tea is, it’s not happening. So, and yes, there will be somebody in the comments that says, yes, I drank two cups and it just dissolved. No it didn’t.
not even a uric acid stone that’s not going to dissolve. That’s not doing anything. Chancapiedra could relax your ureters to help the stone pass a little bit easily, but you know the other name for Chancapiedra is it translates into stone breaker. It’s not. It’s not breaking up stones. Whatever. And you can say it, maybe you passed it, but again there’s other things you’re doing that are you’re not just drinking Chancapiedra. You’re moving, you’re drinking water, lots
of it so there’s lots of reasons it may have passed but chancal pH is not dissolving the stone. Apple cider vinegar not going to dissolve the stone. What can dissolve stones are things like potassium citrate. So first of all you want you want to get your doctor if you’ve had a stone removed and you know you make uric acid stones and you get a urine collection done and you can see that your uric acid is high in the urine collection because it will show that.
There are some, your pH may be really low, showing that you have a very acidic pH. If you have malabsorption issues, if you have Crohn’s, colitis, diabetes, there are things that can make your urine pH very low, medical conditions. There could be some pills you’re taking or medications that are increasing uric acid, all kinds of things. That’s why you need the urine collection, another plug to get a urine collection done.
So a doctor, you can ask your doctor, hey, I make uric acid stones, what should I go on? Potassium citrate. Should I try things like, there’s a product called Stone Stopper. It used to be called Moonstone. So those things can be beneficial. But you have to ask your doctor.
if those things can dissolve your uric acid stones. And just because you make a uric acid stone one time doesn’t mean you’re going to make them always. So, stone types can go back and forth. Because I’ll have a lot of people say, I was making uric acid stones, but, you know, I’m not making them anymore. I’m making calcium oxalate stones. And that’s because, here’s how that happens. Lots of times the doctor will say, you make uric acid stones, and the patient will say,
Do I have to worry about spinach and oxalate and stuff? no, because you make uric acid stones. So then the patient goes home and starts eating a lot of spinach, and the next thing you know, now they’re making calcium oxalate stones again. So you guys, you can flip-flap all the time with kidney stones. One stone can have uric acid and calcium oxalate. One stone could be calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate, so they can be a mixed stone. So, just saying all that stuff. So,
Lemons can help if you make uric acid stones dissolve a little bit of your stone. And you’ll know if a stone is dissolving, you may see fragments in the toilet. Also, when you get follow-up imaging, the doctor may say, it’s a lot smaller, so that’s great. know, I mean, so uric acid stones are the only stone that can be dissolved with you taking something like lemons.
like potassium citrate, that’s a prescription your doctor will give you. Something like Moonstopper or Litholite or all those box little supplement things can help if you make uric acid stones. So it will increase your urine pH, make your urine more alkaline and that can help get rid of those uric acid stones. It may just dissolve them a little, it may help really break them up a lot and then you can pass them.
I mean you just have to talk to your doctor about that kind of stuff. your uric acid stones can be dissolved. Apple cider vinegar is not going to dissolve your uric acid stone by the way. I would use something like potassium citrate, Moonstop, Stone Stopper, is also used to be known as Moonstone, or something else your doctor may order like Lysolite or other supplements that can, that will have an alkaline, alkali.
and citrate thing that can help dissolve uric acid. there’s, there’s, those products are higher in alkaline and that going against uric acid stones will help dissolve them. Sometimes I don’t. Yeah. Yeah. Well, once they get one, does that, once they get it taken out, they’re going to know. So say you’re passing, uric acid stones can pass too in your urine, little fragments. Always bring your fragments.
Jeff Sarris (06:01)
Yeah, now how do they know what kind of stone they have?
Mm-hmm.
Jill Harris (06:16)
and your kidney stones that you pass to your doctor so you know what kind you’re passing. Also, a urine collection will tell you what type of stone you are at risk for, another reason why they’re so valuable. So whatever you do on the day of the urine collection, your urine collection will show how your urine is saturated with each crystal type and what your risk is. Some of your urine may be really saturated with your agacic crystals, some of them may be
Some of your urine may be saturated with calcium oxalate crystals, calcium phosphate crystals, all three of those crystals. So the urine collection will give you a good hint on what type of stone you’re making, but of course to be absolutely sure, you need to get your stones and or stone fragments analyzed by your urologist. Also if you’re having a stone surgery, they are usually pretty good at sending all of your fragments off to the
stone analysis place, but double check and say please send mine off, I want to know what kind of stone I’m making. That’s pretty much protocol to do that.
Jeff Sarris (07:25)
So now when people have calcium oxalate stones, they can’t be dissolved, but what are we looking at then maybe for prevention in the future?
Jill Harris (07:33)
So,
if somebody, I have plenty of patients that I’ve had for all these years that they still send me a note, I still have the same six stones, Jill, they haven’t moved, they haven’t grown because I’m still following the diet. So, if a patient, what happens is, if patients have existing stones, you may leave the earth with them. The doctors are very good, urologists are very good at saying, hey, we don’t have to do surgery.
It’s in the lower pole of your kidney. It’s not doing anything or it’s embedded here. We’re just going to leave it. They’re very good at saying, this is too big. We’ve got to break that up. It’s got to come out. The doctors are good at saying what needs to come out. And they are also very good at saying no doctor wants to do a surgery typically if it’s not needed. Many of you will leave the earth with your stones. But, and people say, well, why do I got to do the diet if that’s the case? Because we don’t want those to get bigger.
Because if you have existing stones, you don’t want the crystals that we’re always making to join the existing stones we have. So it’s really important you’re flushing those excess crystals out, you’re eating a low-salt diet, not overeating sugar, eating within your meat protein range, getting your calcium needs met, getting rid of spinach and almonds and the super high oxalate foods, basically doing the Kidney Stone Diet. So those stones you have do not get larger and then you do need a surgery, okay?
So, but if your stones move, you may have stones for 20 years, then all of a sudden they move. Those of you who have a kidney stone and you say, what the hell, how did this all of a sudden come? It didn’t just come, you’ve had that for years most likely, you just didn’t know until it started moving. There’s a lot of cadavers, people will say when I’m taking a medical history on them, no stones in my family. I’m like, well, actually we don’t know that.
there’s lots of cadavers when they open them up. There’s stones in their kidneys. They just never moved. So, I mean, you know, sometimes people do have a family history but you don’t know about it simply because nobody had symptoms of a kidney stone. So, you know, it’s just always about getting the right information to people. There’s no magic bullet here. If you have a uric acid stone, they can be dissolved. Perhaps not all of it. They could be really big, but…
They could be dissolved to the point where a doctor’s like, okay, it’s little, we’re not gonna worry about it, or it’s big, you’re not getting it dissolved, let’s take it out. I mean, it just depends. But they actually can be dissolved. How much lemon juice, how much potassium citrate, those are things your doctor will help you with.
Jeff Sarris (10:15)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And if you want to dive deeper into prevention, be sure to head over to kidneystonediet.com because we know no one wants to deal with this again. The unfortunate news is you can’t dissolve every type of stone, but the fortunate news is there is a way to prevent them and up to 80 % non-recurrence. How would you say that normally? There you go.
Jill Harris (10:37)
Reduction rate, I know
it’s always awkward. I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years and it’s always awkward. I always pause when I say that. It’s up to an 80 % reduction rate.
Jeff Sarris (10:43)
huh.
Yeah. So just head over to kidneystonediet.com right on the homepage. You can scroll down, find the Kidney Stone Diet goals. They’ll tell you everything you need to know or sign up for the all access pass and dive deep with the kidney stone prevention course, meal plans, all the eBooks, all the recipes, everything kidney stone prevention.
Jill Harris (11:05)
Do know we
have over 250 recipes in that meal plan? Isn’t that crazy? I’ve been cooking my butt off the last couple weeks. Yes, sir.
Jeff Sarris (11:08)
Wow. Yeah, it is so many and there’s new ones all the time. It’s yeah, constantly
growing. So yeah, you can find all of that with the all access pass. But anyway, thanks again for tuning in. Hopefully you have some good luck with those stones that you’re dealing with right now and we will see you next week.
Jill Harris (11:29)
Have a great week
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