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Kidney Stones & Riding
Hi All
I've been road cycling hard core for about 4 years now and I just had my first experience with a kidney stone (not fun). The lab results came back as calcium oxalate. The Urologist is telling me I need to cut down on my calcium intake with things like green leafy veggies, chocolate (oh no!) and nuts. I'm not convinced this is the problem since my diet has not varied for many years and I do not consume lots of dairy products and I have about two salads a week. My thought is that I am loosing too much sodium and potassium while riding, and not replacing it fast enough. This would cause an electrolite imbalance. I drink lots of water and sports drinks while riding and about 4 liters or H2O daily. Am I not taking enough sodium? Anyone have thoughts on this or experienced the same? Any doctors care to comment? Thanks Howard. |
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#2
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Kidney Stones & Riding
I have had my share of kidney stones over the years including a massive episode
2 years ago of passing several. I am firmly convinced that my episode 2 years ago (I passed about 5) was caused because I was on a powerful and yucky drug called Tegretol (which I was taking for Trigeminal Neuralgia), http://www.tna-support.org/ which threw my electrolytes off balance, although the docs pooh-pooh this.. That was my first episode in many years, and it has stopped since I had brain surgery to cure the TN and am off the drug. Previous to that, I had kidney stones in my 20's and 30's. I have currently been told that the single best prevention is lots and lots of hydration, and that what you eat is much lesser significance (mine are also calcium oxalate). At one time I was taking two Potassium Phosphate (KPhos) tablets daily, but now that is dismissed as hogwash! So, the docs tell me - drink and drink to prevent. I do notice that on this web site http://yourmedicalsource.com/library...tion.html#diet that they recommend reducing CA intake! http://members.aol.com/foxcondorsrvtns (Colorado rental condo) http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox (Family Web Page) |
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Kidney Stones & Riding
howitzer wrote:
I've been road cycling hard core for about 4 years now and I just had my first experience with a kidney stone (not fun). The lab results came back as calcium oxalate. The Urologist is telling me I need to cut down on my calcium intake with things like green leafy veggies, chocolate (oh no!) and nuts. hmmm, that's a weird one. i used to get 'em like clockwork every 2 years (calcium oxalate/phosphate? not sure -- i didn't have insurance for most of my twenties) for 8 years and then they just stopped 6 years ago. i still bike just as often, hydrate about the same or not (i don't really think about electrolytes). what changed was i stopped drinking what had been a fair bit of milk & soda and became a vegetarian (ie, i'm now eating a lot more leafy veggies and nuts, thanks -- i'm a mutant who doesn't like chocolate). i still have vivid memories of being in fetal position in an observation room. yow .. then again, i do have knowledge most people my age don't have about really good pain killers. actually, my favourite memory of kidney stones is after starting to pass one (while uninsured) at breakfast i got on my bike and went downtown minneapolis and tried to buy health insurance. clearly i wasn't thinking too straight. i entered the office at lunch hour (i'm not exactly a morning person) and when the receptionist told me it would be 40 minutes i knew i couldn't wait that long (it was starting to hurt bad enuf to effect my vision) i went to work where i walked into tech-support and asked for a ride to the clinic at the U of M. someone gave me one but i got nauseous and vomit'd in the nearest bag i could grab. which turned out to be his mcd's breakfast .. i know that because his comment was: "awww, man. you owe me a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit meal." then came the demerol shot. but hey, good luck with the not getting kidney stones thing. -- david reuteler |
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Kidney Stones & Riding
howitzer wrote:
Hi All I've been road cycling hard core for about 4 years now and I just had my first experience with a kidney stone (not fun). The lab results came back as calcium oxalate. The Urologist is telling me I need to cut down on my calcium intake with things like green leafy veggies, chocolate (oh no!) and nuts. I'm not convinced this is the problem since my diet has not varied for many years and I do not consume lots of dairy products and I have about two salads a week. My thought is that I am loosing too much sodium and potassium while riding, and not replacing it fast enough. This would cause an electrolite imbalance. I drink lots of water and sports drinks while riding and about 4 liters or H2O daily. Am I not taking enough sodium? Anyone have thoughts on this or experienced the same? Any doctors care to comment? Not a doc, but oft a patient -- have had 4 or 5 episodes of kidney stones, two resulting in "procedures" to remove and/or crush them (the latter being lithotripsy; the former being blocked from memory!). I also had a secondary contributing factor: my bones weren't absorbing calcium, so they got weak while the calcium collected in my kidneys. Ended up with stress fractures all over my body (I was a runner back then), due to low bone density. What seems to have worked for me is taking a diuretic (HCTZ) and Potassium Citrate, as I haven't had a stone in years (knock on oxalate). The only change to my diet, really, was to greatly reduce soda consumption; I just don't have 'em in the house any more. (So now an occasional Coke is a real treat.) No milk, but plenty of cheese still. I was put on Fosamax for a while to rebuild my bone density; taken off it once back to normal. I've heard the reports of cyclists and brittle bones recently, so it's something I should watch, no doubt. The only other exercise I'm doing nowadays is yoga, which although weigh-bearing isn't exactly strenuous. I'd advise listening to your doc but also your gut; the dietary changes s/he recommended aren't that drastic, after all. Bill "no help but got to tell my riveting tale" S. |
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Kidney Stones & Riding
The lab results came back as calcium oxalate. The Urologist
is telling me I need to cut down on my calcium intake with things like green leafy veggies, chocolate (oh no!) and nuts. =v= I am not a doctor or urologist, so nothing I write can even be considered a second opinion, but this goes counter to what I've been told and have read for many years. Kidney stones recur if you don't change your diet, but the diet advice you got was the opposite of the advice I got! So maybe another professional opinion is called for. =v= When protein goes unused, it breaks down into compounds that take calcium from the body. The compounds are excreted as urine, passing through the kidneys along the way. This is why high-protein fad diets are implicated in osteoporosis and kidney stones. =v= We have been trained to think of calcium as something we get from milk, but too often milk contributes to an excess of protein and isn't a helpful source of calcium. The body needs calcium, so it's going to need to get it from somewhere, and the usual advice is: dark green leafy vegetables. (Spinach, the most popular dark green leafy vegetable, is high in oxalate to the point where it's not a good source of calcium either, but others such as chard, collards, and kale are just fine.) =v= FWIW, I had kidney stones 20 years ago and changed my diet, and I haven't had them since. _Jym_ P.S.: Cranberry juice is excellent for the health of your kidneys and urinary tract. Most brands have a ton of bad corn syrup in them, though. The best value is to buy it in concentrate form and make your own. |
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Kidney Stones & Riding
"howitzer" wrote in message
om Hi All I've been road cycling hard core for about 4 years now and I just had my first experience with a kidney stone (not fun). The lab results came back as calcium oxalate. The Urologist is telling me I need to cut down on my calcium intake with things like green leafy veggies, chocolate (oh no!) and nuts. I'm not convinced this is the problem It probably isn't. That advice was once de rigeur but these days is considered outdated. Get a second opinion. -- A: Top-posters. Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet? |
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Kidney Stones & Riding
On 06 Jun 2004 09:08:22 -0700, Jym Dyer wrote:
This is why high-protein fad diets are implicated in osteoporosis and kidney stones. Cites? AFAIK, there's no study on implication high protein fad diets with -anything-. Plus, what's this about 'high protein' diets. I don't know of any such diets. ;-p Low carb may cause the ignorant to =think= 'thus high protein', but that's not really correct. -B -Badger "World's most dangerous City Bike Path Rider" |
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Kidney Stones & Riding
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#10
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Kidney Stones & Riding
Originally posted by Howitzer Hi Al
I've been road cycling hard core for about 4 years now and I just had m first experience with a kidney stone (not fun). The lab results cam back as calcium oxalate. The Urologist is telling me I need to cut dow on my calcium intake with things like green leafy veggies, chocolate (o no!) and nuts. I'm not convinced this is the problem since my diet ha not varied for many years and I do not consume lots of dairy product and I have about two salads a week. My thought is that I am loosing to much sodium and potassium while riding, and not replacing it fas enough. This would cause an electrolite imbalance. I drink lots of wate and sports drinks while riding and about 4 liters or H2O daily. Am I no taking enough sodium? Anyone have thoughts on this or experienced th same? Any doctors care to comment Thank I have only had one and hope I never have another.I don't think I coul take much more pain and live. I had a lot of acid reflux at that tim and took a lot of antacid tablets (High Calcium). The doctor didn' think that was a contributing factor but I have my doubt of his opinion If I have another one maybe someone will just shoot me rather than goin thru 4 days of agony - |
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