Kidney Stones and foods

 Written by: Wahida Sabir

Kidney stones are hard deposits made of minerals and salts that form inside kidneys. If we do not pay attention to our foods during kidney stones, we might suffer from more health problems.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some patients and a physician about this disease.

Shir Ahmad, a resident of Badghis province says, “I am suffering from kidney stones and I suffer more if I eat heavy food like beans, eggs, onions, and some vegetables.”

A woman, who doesn’t want to mention her name in the program, says, “I am suffering from kidney stones and stomach pain too. If I eat beans and peas, my pain increases and it forces me to cry.”

Doctor Gholam Nabi Sayar, an internal medicine specialist at Jomhoriat Hospital, Kabul city says,  “Excessive use of foods that have calcium, protein and oxalate acetone, such as beans, meat, cheese, vegetables, cauliflowers, milk, and butter, causes the formation of kidney stones, and if a patient uses too many foods, it causes pain in both sides of the stomach. Burning during urination, gonorrhea, urinary incontinence, even nausea, and vomiting, and whenever the disease is not treated, it might cause insufficiency or even kidneys failure.”

What do some patients think about the causes of this disease?

Tawos, a resident of Chaharasiab district, Kabul province says, “As beans and beef are heavy foods and affect kidneys and the patient suffers more from pain.”

Shir Ahmad says, “When I was eating beef and other heavy foods, I was suffering more from kidney pain.”

Doctor Sayar says, “Kidney stones form when urine contains more crystal-forming substances, such as calcium, oxalate and uric acid, than the fluid in the urine, can dilute. At the same time, the patient’s urine may lack substances that prevent crystals from sticking together, creating an ideal environment for kidney stones to form.”

How do some patients treat kidney stones at home?
A woman from Parwan province says, “It is my fourth year that I am suffering from kidney stones. when I eat vegetables and fruits like apples and pomegranates, I feel less pain and when I had an ultrasound exam, one of my kidney stones had passed and another one remains.”

Shaima, a resident of Ahmad Shah Baba Mena, district 12, Kabul city says, “I was suffering from the kidney stones. The doctor advised me to drink more water and other liquids and I did. When I examined, the stones were passed.”

Doctor Sayar says, “Kidneys need more water. We should drink more water and other liquids. We should drink soft water. Soft water is free from dissolved salts and metals as calcium, iron, or magnesium, and avoid drinking hard water that soap doesn’t lather in it.

Small stones could be passed by drinking liquids and the patients should reduce eating heavy foods like beans, spinach, beef, butter, cheese, ladyfingers and if the patient feels pain, he/she should go to the doctor for essential treatment.”