# Does weight loss surgery increase kidney stone risk? Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/does-weight-loss-surgery-increase-kidney-stone-risk/ Published: 2021-04-27 --- [![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=cWO_QEpJGMo)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/does-weight-loss-surgery-increase-kidney-stone-risk/id1528474326?i=1000518836935&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0HgjoYFuGNvLMg3KeE54yO)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) April 27, 2021 --- ![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 Harris answers a couple listener questions about the connection between bariatric surgery, gastric bypass, and kidney stones.\ \ Have a question? Leave us a voicemail at (773) 789-8763.\ \ • [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com/)\ • [Kidney Stone Prevention Program](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention)\ • [Oxalate Food List](https://kidneystonediet.com/oxalate-list/)\ • [Free KSD Resources](https://kidneystonediet.com/resources/)\ \ Find the full transcript at [BYLT.co/show/kidney-stone-diet](https://bylt.co/show/kidney-stone-diet) ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Bariatric Surgery and Kidney Stone Risk Questions - 00:02:22 Weight Loss Surgery Malabsorption and Kidney Stones - 00:05:18 Calcium Sources and Supplementation After Bariatric Surgery - 00:08:21 Choosing Between Urologists and Nephrologists for Stone Prevention ## Transcript ### Bariatric Surgery and Kidney Stone Risk Questions 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris [Music] Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast, a show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris. 00:00:22 Jill Harris And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. 00:00:25 Jeff Sarris Yeah, and we're here with a twofer, two for Tuesdays today. Hey, it's actually Tuesday when we release the podcast. 00:00:30 Jill Harris Oh, I like that! And it is, it happens to be Tuesday. We're not even lying. 00:00:35 Jeff Sarris So, yeah, we have a couple questions that are along a similar, similar line of thinking, so we're going to play both of them. 00:00:43 Jill Harris All right. Okay. 00:00:45 Jeff Sarris And here we go. "Hi, this is Kathy in Chicago, Illinois. Can you address why I'm having kidney stones ever since I had gastric bypass surgery? Thank you." Yes, we have gastric bypass and then Lucy. 00:01:01 Jill Harris Kathy. I'm going to write her name, I want to remember, go ahead. 00:01:04 Jeff Sarris Yeah, let me just pause that for a second. 00:01:09 Jill Harris But go ahead, so what if I'm moving around, they're used to me. It don't matter, I don't care. 00:01:14 Jeff Sarris "Hi, this is Lucy from Indianapolis, Indiana. I got oxalate calcium kidney stones for the first time in my life at the age of 67. It happened to be one year after my bariatric dietitian dieted me into taking two calcium supplements daily, almost three years from my RNY. I know for a fact I had no kidney stones prior to this. Would you please talk about ways to get my calcium along, which is better: milk or alternative milk products like coconut and oat milk? Thank you." 00:01:50 Jill Harris All right, so that was, you see I laughed because I like to remember people's names. That was Kathy and who else? 00:01:57 Jeff Sarris And Lucy, Lucy from Indianapolis. 00:02:00 Jill Harris Okay. Okay, guys. First of all, you know, I, here's what I'm going to say. Always, you know, Jeff surprises me with these questions. I'm not prepped or anything. It's just to keep it fresh and happy and fun. He just tells me what, you know, two seconds before he plays these, so let me get my thoughts around this. ### Weight Loss Surgery Malabsorption and Kidney Stones 00:02:22 Jill Harris It is, it is, there is a nice amount, unfortunately, of people that do get kidney stones after their gastric bypass surgeries. So, gastric bypass, bariatric, Roux-en-Y surgeries, these are patients, we'll just categorize them as weight loss surgeries. So, after, you know, those weight loss surgeries are not for the faint of heart. When I worked at University of Chicago 100 years ago, that's what I did. I was on that floor where, it was abdominal surgeries, and gastric bypasses 20 years ago, that was a big deal. So, these, you know, these patients go through a lot. So, it's a big decision to have a gastric bypass. And there's a lot of things that, that, there's a lot of side effects from these surgeries. Kidney stones is one of them, unfortunately. I've had a lot of patients in my career that have had a gastric bypass and then now they're coming to me and they're like, "Well, nobody told me I was going to have kidney stones." You know, I'm not going to comment on that, but unfortunately it is a, it can be a side effect. And it is because things have been cut, you know, the malabsorption issues are going on. You're not absorbing, maybe you're absorbing, most of the time you're over-absorbing oxalate. Calcium is an issue. So, there's a lot of malabsorption issues. Your intestines have been cut into, some of these surgeries. Your stomach is the size of an egg. There's, it's a very invasive surgery, so there's absorption issues. Some of you, in the Kidney Stone Diet, we will give 100 milligrams of oxalate on a daily basis. That's your allowance for gastric bypass patients. Hi, Lu. Many of you… 00:04:11 Jeff Sarris See his tail wagging. 00:04:12 Jill Harris Yes, I know. Yes, honey bunny. You're, the doctor may say for you it's going to be 50. So, listen to me, because this is important. You need to ask your doctor, "Doctor," first of all, you all need a 24-hour urine collection. You need that. You may be dealing with a bariatric surgeon that may be not well-versed with kidney stones. So, who, first of all, you know, what I would ask my patient, who are you dealing with? The gastric, your, your surgeon for the gastric bypass or the bariatric surgery, or are you talking to a urologist? So, let's get that straight. If you're talking to a urologist, the urologist will do a 24-hour urine collection. Please ask if that has not been offered to you. And you want to make sure that you get the recommend- recommendation for what your oxalate should be. So, it may not be the 100. You may, a lot of my gastric bypass patients only have 50 milligrams of oxalate a day to have, so get that straightened out, please. ### Calcium Sources and Supplementation After Bariatric Surgery 00:05:18 Jill Harris You know, so it depends who you're talking to and what they tell you, so get that straightened out. Do get a 24-hour urine collection. As far as Lucy's, I think it was, she wanted to know should she get it from coconut milk? Should she get it from regular milk? I always say if you can tolerate dairy and you use dairy, get it through dairy. It's, it's, it's okay to use coconut milk. It is supplemented. It's already broken down in there. It's a little easier for us to digest, but definitely I would say what would be best is to get it from dairy, but if you don't do dairy, use your other alternative milks. You could do coconut, pea, flax, oatmeal, oat milk, sorry, not oatmeal. Okay, so you can use those milks. Again, gastric bypass patients, people who have Crohn's disease, people who have ulcerative colitis, bowel disease, things that, people going through chemo, like when I went through my chemo when I had an ileostomy because of my rectal cancer, I had malabsorption issues and those kind of patients, patients like me, can also make kidney stones because of that. Thank God I did not. I feel very lucky that I didn't because my family has kidney stones. There are people in my family that has them, so I was very worried about that. So far, so good. But so, as far as how much calcium you guys should take, also, please talk to your, for bariatric patients, you, you may need to take more calcium and in supplement form, depending upon your situation. You need to discuss that with your doctor, okay? So, you may say, "Oh, Jill always says I can't take pill supplements," but you guys are special. You are special and you may need doses of, by pill, for calcium supplements. So, please know that, talk to your doctor. It's very important. It's very, I love these questions. They're very good. Thank you, Kathy, thank you, Lucy. These are doctor questions, though. But, yes, it is common to get kidney stones. Not common, but it is definitely known. It's a risk factor of those surgeries, absolutely. 00:07:33 Jeff Sarris Yeah, I mean, I think that's, it's wonderful having the voicemails because that's not something we would necessarily touch on coming up with, with topics for the episodes, so it's, it's great to have them reaching out and asking. And you mentioned a urologist versus the bariatric surgeon, say. Typically, they might not have both of them, they won't have both of them in the room or anything. So, what would you recommend, would they reach out to a urologist specially? 00:07:56 Jill Harris Yes, I think that's, thank you, Jeff. I think that's wonderful. So, it depends. So, the, you know, your, your gastric bypass surgeon, your bariatric surgeon is not going to really deal with your stones. Although, and also, some bariatric patients, they haven't seen their surgeon, their bariatric surgeon, in years, so they don't, they don't go back to them at all. ### Choosing Between Urologists and Nephrologists for Stone Prevention 00:08:21 Jill Harris But maybe they're passing stones and they don't have a urologist yet. I would say you need to talk to a urologist or you need to deal, maybe talk to a nephrologist. But typically if you're having kidney stones, you have a urologist. The urologist is the surgeon that is dealing with kidney stones. A nephrologist is a, is a doctor, an internal medicine doctor, that is dealing with the kidney. But they may do stones, they may do diabetes, they may do different things. So, make sure that if you're looking for a nephrologist, you're looking for somebody that really loves the kidney stone prevention gig. That's a specialty of theirs. Just don't think you order a nephrologist and they're going to be experts in kidney stone prevention. They could be, you know, metabolic defects, they could be chronic kidney disease, they could be diabetes. So, look into, when you're looking for a nephrologist, cause a lot of people say, "Should I have a nephrologist?" If your urologist refers you to a nephrologist, then, yes, because the urologist is saying, "I don't know what to do here. Look, I'm the plumber, you need to deal with somebody who's going to deal with the prevention side." Some urologists are very comfortable with prevention. You've got to know who you're dealing with, okay? If you need a nephrologist, make sure they, they deal with kidney stone prevention. Make sure that's a thing. So, when you're looking for a doctor of any sort, go on a website, look at their areas of clinical interest. We all have our specialties. People come to me and ask me about all kinds of stuff. I'm like, "I do kidney stones. That's what I do." Again, you don't ask the electrician to come fix your toilet. Everybody specializes in what they specialize in, so know that and find the best doctor for you. But as far as the gastric bypass patients, you will need somebody. I would suggest, you know, talking with the urologist, if you already have one because they took out your stone. If they're not well-versed in gastric bypass stuff, you can go back to your gastric bypass surgeon, or you can seek out a nephrologist that can help you, okay? I, I would, I would say nephrologist might be best for you. 00:10:28 Jeff Sarris Yeah, I think that's wonderful advice because that is, it's such a just black box when it comes to a lot of the medical space, and I think it's important to like know that everyone is, has their specialty. Because, like, you have sort of general practitioners, but or general doctors, or whatever the right terminology is. But, yeah, it's, it's a lot to cover, and these are all very specific things like you've spent decades dedicated to this. There's so much to learn. But, yeah, so thanks again, Kathy and Lucy, for your questions. And if you have a question you would like answered on the show, the phone number again is 773-789-8763. And for more about the Kidney Stone Diet, head over to kidneystonediet.com and you can check out the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, and you can find the Kidney Stone Diet meal plans. You can find the free weekly email newsletter, a bunch of free recipes, so much information on there, and even resources to have better doctor's visits, things that Jill's put together to really help you every step along the journey, tons of free stuff, and then the few paid programs to really dive deep. So, again, yeah, thanks everyone for listening. And if you're enjoying the show, be sure to subscribe, check out the YouTube channel, and if anyone you know who's suffering with kidney stones, definitely, definitely let them know about the show, 'cause we want to help as many people as we can. Sweet. 00:11:50 Jill Harris Thank you, Kathy. Thank you, Lucy, so much for your questions. 00:11:53 Jeff Sarris Yeah, so we will see you all next week. 00:11:56 Jill Harris Bye!