Kidney Stones - Medications
Medicine to help pass stones
Medicine you can buy without a prescription, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), may relieve your pain while you pass a stone.
Your doctor may also prescribe medicine to help your body pass the stone. Alpha-blockers have been shown to help kidney stones pass more quickly with very few side effects.3 Ask your doctor if these medicines can help you.
Understanding Kidney Stones -- Treatment
If you've had a kidney stone once, you're at an increased risk for another one. A urologist is frequently involved in deciding whether you'll need an extensive medical evaluation, including testing the amounts of various minerals in your urine, to assess further risks of stone formation. If your kidney stone is small, it may pass out of your body on its own within a few days or weeks. Your doctor may prescribe plenty of water at first -- 2 to 3 quarts a day -- and a pain medication. You may be...
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Medicine to prevent stones
Which medicine you take depends on the type of stones you have.
Calcium stones
Calcium stones are the most common kind of kidney stone.1 To prevent them, you may take:
Uric acid stones
About 5 to 10 out of 100 kidney stones are made of uric acid, a waste product that normally exits the body in the urine.1 To prevent these types of stones, you may take:
Cystine stones
A very small number of stones are made of a chemical called cystine.1 Medicines to prevent them include:
Struvite stones
Some struvite stones (staghorn calculi) form because of frequent kidney infections. If you have a struvite stone, you will most likely need antibiotics to cure the infection and help prevent new stones from forming. You may need surgery to remove the stone. Urease inhibitors may be used to prevent struvite stones.
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
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