I had my J pouch surgery in 2002, and i apparently slowed my drinking of water over the years, so i had a bad kidney stone in a couple of years ago (had surgery, etc.).  They wanted me to take citrate (potassium or other) to help (i had/have low citrate levels in urine), but i just drank more water and was clear in my yearly visit and hopefully it will continue to do the same.  So far, so good.  Doctor approved my plan after i was clear, etc.  Remember - stones will vary, so not all fixes work for everyone.  But, i think water pretty much should help for all (or at least not hurt).  So, my plan and recommendation is to:  DRINK, DRINK, DRINK and WATER only/primarily is best.  

As an aside, i just got a low bone density test, so i'm starting to take calcium citrate powder capsules.  we'll see how that goes.  it's tough for us b/c like most, i don't have any green leafy veg.  i had one piece of romaine a couple of months after my surgery and ended up in the ER.  Back then, Doc said i should avoid all leafy greens, etc.  Bc of the scar tissue, high chance of it getting stuck.

WILLR6,

They make powdered greens and liquid green drinks so you can still get the nourishment that leafy greens provide. Or you can juice and/or blend them yourself.  Just test them slowly as even pulp is roughage so you'll need to see how your gut handles it. It's really important to get the vitamins and minerals they provide. 

Debbie

well low and behold i check in too site and see all this stuff on kidney stones i was up until recently oblivious to!!! had my first ever kidney stone about a month ago 10 years after creation of pouch..It was worse than having a baby had to go to hospital after getting tons of pain killers after 24 hours it evacuated.. just thought it was one of those things..never related it to pouch .so now i have this concern reading all this about type of stone,calcium or not,and so on..i went to hospital as i said and they never tested stone..no one at time related it to anything..i did not go to doctor there after..seemed plenty of people have them with a colon..it certainly is an experience i do not look forward to it was simply awful pain..

so question i have should i be drinking tons of water whether its pouch related or not? sharron mentioned not to have mineral water ..i do and have sparkling water was in fact something i called a treat in my restricted eating drinking life we face with problem pouches like i have had for 10 years..i also take calcium because i have osteo porosis and have bone loss i do not want to get worse...so whats  the best thing i can do under circumstances..

wondering to i have appt with my l.a. pouch doctor down the road should i mention my kidney stone incident to him ..do not go to a urologist in years to busy with pouch doctor!!!

thanks

rebe

one more thing about kidney stones is there someone i should see to be tested  every so often for development of more stones meaning is there a test to find them before they go crazy?

thanks again

rebe

scott you said something about vitamin d..we people with low bone density need to take that..sounds like i just take my chances..because one is dmned if we do damned if we don't!!!yikes!!!

You can't treat (prevent) every different kind of kidney stone with specific measures at the same time! It would drive you crazy. If you at least had an x-ray the doctor should be able to tell you if the stone showed up or not. Some stones are visible on x-ray and others are not. That would narrow it down, at least.

The vitamin D issue only applies to oxalate stones, and it's not that you can't take vitamin D, just that you should take the calcium supplement (without vitamin D) at a different time (as I understand it). A low oxalate diet can help, too, but it's complicated.

Drinking plenty of water is important for all J-pouchers, but it's even more important for those prone to kidney stones. Stones form when *something* is concentrated in the urine, leading to crystal formation. Plenty of water ensures that nothing is in high concentration in the urine.

thanks scott as always you are very helpful.

I had kidney stones last year for the first time. (I have had the pouch since 1987)  Since that time I reduced my consumption of gatoraid/poweraid and am drinking a lot more water with lemon juice on a daily basis. Scott F's comments about concentration of urine and increasing the amount of water you drink is spot on.

No one has posted on here for years so don’t know if anyone will see this. I have my first kidney stone and have had my jpouch for over 20 years. It is 5mm. It is a sill question, but am wondering if a stone could cause any kind of partial blockage with pouch??  

I found everyone’s posts on here so interesting and helpful.  And kind of scary. 😱

Hello, My first thought was no.  But I did a Google search of "can a kidney stone cause a bowel blockage" and there may be some occurrences. Do you have both? It seems like a good question for your doctor. I wish you the best.

Thanks for the reply Jim!  I am for sure going to ask.

Hi Banditgurl, I don't see how a 5 mm stone could cause a bowel blockage. Even if a fistula formed between the urinary tract and bowel and allowed to stone to pass into your intestines, a 5 mm stone would not be large enough to cause a blockage in the bowel, unless you had constrictions that caused the opening to be less than 5 mm. It would possibly get stuck in one of the catheter openings though! I highly doubt the two are related. Good luck to you.
Debbie

Thank you Debbie That makes sense.