Symptoms & Diagnosis

The Kidney Stone Center is a collaborative effort between the WakeMed Physician Practices (WPP) urology providers. The team consists of board certified urologists, a specialty nephrologist who does the metabolic evaluations, and a specialty nutritionist who assesses the dietary/lifestyle factors that could be contributing to your kidney stones.

What is a Kidney Stone? 

A kidney stone is crystallization of compounds in the urine that results in the formation of small crystals that eventually accumulate, bind together, and form a stone. They usually form inside the kidney. Most people don’t realize they have stones in their kidneys until the stones decide to move.

Symptoms of Kidney Stones 

The signs and symptoms of kidney stones when they start to pass are very acute onset. The pain usually starts in your back, and it can radiate or migrate around to your side. Other symptoms may include:

• Pain that spreads to lower abdomen
• Painful urination
• Severe pain in the side and back
• Nausea & vomiting
• Fever and chills

Types of Kidney Stones 

There are various types of kidney stones. Knowing which type of kidney stone you have may help us determine the cause and course of treatment to prevent kidney stones from recurring in the future. Types of kidney stones include:

• Calcium stones
• Struvite stones
• Uric Acid stones
• Cystine stones
• And others

Diagnosis of Kidney Stones

At the Kidney Stone Center, we strive to offer the next available appointments for diagnosis and treatment. Depending on your history of kidney stones and symptoms, this means being able to call in prescriptions right away, bypassing the emergency room and directly admitting you to the hospital for treatment, and/or arranging next available appointments with one of our clinical support team members. The urology provider who answers the phone will discuss with you:

• How bad your pain is
• How we can manage your pain
• Give you the first available appointment

If your pain is too great to be managed with prescribed pain medications, or if you already have kidney stones and you have pain medication at home with our advice – if the treatment does not get your pain under control, then we’ll send you to the emergency room, in which case, we’ll make sure that one of our providers sees you soon.