# Does potassium citrate prevent future kidney stones? Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/does-potassium-citrate-prevent-future-kidney-stones/ Published: 2020-10-13 --- [![Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Podcast-1-1024x1024.jpg)](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast/) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws8I6qC-UMA)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/does-potassium-citrate-prevent-future-kidney-stones/id1528474326?i=1000494589925&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DYkrepXafBPyE0eVYkEaJ)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) October 13, 2020 --- ![Jeff Sarris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Jeff-Sarris-150x150.jpg) Jeff Sarris Host ![Jill Harris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Jill-Harris-150x150.jpg) Jill Harris Host In this episode of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast Jill answers a listener question.\ \ [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com/)\ [Kidney Stone Prevention Program](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention)\ [Oxalate Food List](https://kidneystonediet.com/oxalate-list/)\ \ Find the full transcript at [BYLT.co/show/kidney-stone-diet](https://bylt.co/show/kidney-stone-diet) ## Chapters - 00:00:00 How Potassium Citrate Prevents Calcium Kidney Stones - 00:02:24 24-Hour Urine Collections Before Taking Potassium Citrate - 00:04:35 Requesting a 24-Hour Urine Collection From Urologists - 00:06:40 Communicating Dietary Commitment and Using Patient Resources ## Transcript ### How Potassium Citrate Prevents Calcium Kidney Stones 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris SPYR. Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast, the show about reducing your risk for kidney stones and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris. And I'm here, as always, with our resident kidney stone prevention expert, Jill Harris. Hi, Jill. 00:00:27 Jill Harris Hi Jeff, good to see you. 00:00:28 Jeff Sarris Good to see you. And we are going to dive right back into another listener question. So, my urologist is putting me on potassium citrate. Does this help prevent future kidney stones? 00:00:43 Jill Harris Okay, that's a great question, and one I'm asked a lot. So, it can be very helpful in stone disease, very helpful. So, there's a this molecule in our body called citrate, and sometimes it's a little low. And it could be low Because we've had a gastric bypass surgery, we have bowel disease like Crohn's or colitis, we've had some bowel surgery. So, we're not making enough citrate. We're not absorbing it, we're not making enough, and citrate's role, and I want everyone to remember that I always bring this stuff it's I'm I'm bringing hard science down in a very down home kind of way. So, sometimes I'm explaining something and Dr. Coe's like, "Really, Jill?" But it works! People get it, it don't matter. If you want hardcore science, hardcore science, Go to my mentor site at kidneystonediet.uchicago.edu, Fred Coe, Google it. Anyway, so citrate is this molecule that surrounds itself around calcium, kind of like that, in the kidney. And it's like, it's protector. And when we have enough, it keeps other minerals and salts from connecting to calcium. If we don't have enough citrate, the doctor may say, "You don't have enough citrate, and we need to give you a supplement." A supplement is deemed a supplement when two of those when those things naturally occur in the body, so you get potassium, you have citrate, so it's a supplement, actually, but it does need to be prescribed, typically, by a doctor. And so, that will raise your urinary citrate your urine citrate. ### 24-Hour Urine Collections Before Taking Potassium Citrate 00:02:24 Jill Harris So, people will say, " well, can I take lemons?" Sometimes your citrate is so very low that a lemon is not going to hit it. You'll lose your teeth enamel before you get your citrate level up enough. So, there's a few things, though, I'd like to say about potassium citrate. Don't ask your doctor for it unless you've done a 24-hour urine collection. It's very important. Some people will be put on potassium citrate without having done a urine collection. So, my question to my patients is always this: How do you know if the dose is right? How do you know if you even need it? So, you know, I'm going across the lines a little by saying that on YouTube, but it really is important. As a patient, myself, I always try to push myself in doctors' offices to find out: Why am I being prescribed this? How is this going to help me? How do you know I need this? So, it's the same thing, and I'm saying this because often patients are Told to do things without having a urine collection. So, you could say, "Well, Jill, you're telling people to do the Kidney Stone Diet, and I haven't had a urine collection." The Kidney Stone Diet is a healthy diet for anybody, so I feel very happy about that. But if a pill is being put into your treatment plan, which for kidney stone patients, sometimes medications must be brought in. Please make sure you've done a urine collection to see if that warrants a pill. You may now be taking a pill that's very expensive and can cause GI issues, i.e. Diarrhea and reflux, if you're prone to those things, Without even knowing if you need the pill or it will help you. So, that's very important, and that's why I'm always screaming about urine collections, which of course, we'll talk about in another episode, but so potassium citrate can be extremely helpful in kidney stone kidney stone disease to help urine calcium that's too high. Also, sometimes to raise pH levels, and of course, citrate levels. So, that's why it can be A great tool in kidney stone prevention, but you need a urine collection to know if that tool is going to be helpful to you. ### Requesting a 24-Hour Urine Collection From Urologists 00:04:35 Jeff Sarris For sure. And should the patient then expect to ask for one? Like ask for a urine collection? 00:04:42 Jill Harris You know, a lot of my day is telling patients to please go to their doctor when they have the appointment or if they've already had their appointment, "Jill, my doctor told me not to worry about a urine collection until let's see if I get another stone." So, here's what I will say to that. Why would you ever wait to see if somebody gets sick again Before you do testing to see why they're getting sick to begin with? So, I it's where I get very serious very quickly. People are like, "Are you making money off these damn urine collections?" No, I don't make any nickels off anything, humph, as far as telling people what they should be doing, right, or asking for at a doctor's office. I don't make any nickels. We want you to do a urine collection to make sure we can rule other medical concerns out. Sometimes there's things going on In other medical conditions that are causing these stones. And also, what is wrong What is going on in your diet that could be causing this issue? So, they're very important. You know, a lot of people get thrown on oxalates and they've really never needed to lower their oxalate. And they certainly needed to the extent to where the doctor's saying, and they certainly needed to lower salt and sugar, or lay off the meats. So, I mean, you know, just lower it, not have to give up meat. So, I'm just saying, the urine collection is It'd be like saying, my doctor said That's that I'll just one more stupid analogy, Jeff, I know I go long. It's like my doctor saying, "You know what, Jill? You've had rectal cancer. And you have these tumors. And it went into your liver now. But, you know what? We're just going to wait to see if it goes to your lung, and then we'll start chemo." And people will say, "Well, that's a little dramatic, Jill, we're talking about a kidney stone." I don't care what we're talking about. Please ask your doctor to do a 24-hour urine collection so you can find out why you're making stones. It's important. Push back if they say no. ### Communicating Dietary Commitment and Using Patient Resources 00:06:40 Jeff Sarris And there's also a resource on the site, if I remember correctly, about that you can present to your doctor with some questions or use when you talk to your doctor with some questions, correct? 00:06:49 Jill Harris Yes, there's on kidneystonediet.com, there's a there's one section of my website that just says it's resources, and they're free resources to you. And you know, there's a pamphlet that you can give to your doctor. You can go on Dr. Coe's site, too, and say, "This is the reason for urine collections." Most urologists will do them if you ask. Most will, some you'll have to push back. But you I'll give this one bit of advice, too. I find that doctors always say yes when patients say to the doctor, "I am very anxious about making another stone, and I am very interested in doing everything I can through diet to prevent them." When doctors realize that you're on board to change diet, because most people don't want to change their diet. If they did, I'd be a very wealthy person, and I'm not, because they'd all come for me for help. But people don't. They don't want to change their diet. It's very difficult to change your diet. And so, they don't. So, doctors often will tell me, "Well, Jill, why should I bother? Why should I waste their time doing a urine collection, and me going through this, because they don't change their diet anyway." Tell the doctor you're going to change your diet because you never want to go through this again. They'll order it for you, I promise. 00:08:00 Jeff Sarris Yeah, I think that's a wonderful point to make because like medicine tends to be what's used. Like because we're not saying that doctors aren't don't have your best interest at heart. 00:08:09 Jill Harris Absolutely, we're not saying that. 00:08:12 Jeff Sarris Yeah, it's purely a matter of okay, how can how can we implement the how can we adjust their future path to improve? So, yeah, if you go in and say, "Hey, I am ready. I'm ready for this. I want to 00:08:25 Jill Harris Exactly. 00:08:26 Jeff Sarris I want to make a change." Yeah, that's that's a wonderful point. And I think that's actually a great point to end this episode on. So, yeah, thanks again, Jill. And this again is the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast. It's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. We have a video version on YouTube, so please subscribe and comment and review if you if you feel compelled, cuz it really helps us reach more people. So, thanks again, Jill, and we will talk again next time. 00:08:52 Jill Harris Thanks, Jeff. See you soon.