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Kidney stone prevention
Over the last five years I have had five kidney stones, all of which I have passed either naturally or following ultrasound treatment - all with considerable pain. I have cut down on dairy products, no longer take milk and I drink cranberry juice to try and stop more stones from forming. What else can I do?
I had a small kidney stone in my late 20s and well remember weeping with the excruciating pain. The ultrasound treatment, as you know, felt like being thumped in the back a million times a minute and so you have my sympathy. Thankfully, I have not had one since.
Carry on drinking cranberry juice which has been shown to help reduce the formation of new stones by up to 50%. You may also like to investigate a Chinese herb called Desmodium stryacifolium which has a long history in traditional treatments for kidney stones.
Animal studies, published in the British Journal of Urology, have shown how this herb, when given to rats, increased the excretion of urinary citrate - a factor that helps prevent stone formation.
Remember though, Chinese herbalism is very sophisticated - it is not uncommon to prescribe 16 or more different herbs in a treatment - so do not try and self-dose but find a practitioner who is a member of the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine and so has been approved by that body. That way, you can rule out the very real danger of being treated with either the wrong herbs or herbs that have not been sourced from Chinese state-approved suppliers.
*The Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine is on 0700-790332