Would you ride a roller coaster if it could help you pass a kidney stone? Photo by Tommy Alven / Shutterstock.com
You want that kidney stone out, and you’re hoping that it will pass on its own. Because of that, you may have looked online and found some pretty wacky ways to get a stone out of your body without medical intervention. Here are three of my crazy favorites. I can’t guarantee that they’ll work, but they are fun to think about.
Roller coaster stone buster
A recent study suggested that kidney stone sufferers may be able to get more than a thrill on a roller coaster. In fact, those jolts and turns could perhaps help you pass a kidney stone—painlessly—but be sure to sit in the back.
Researchers took 60 kidney stones on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The stones were suspended in urine and placed inside of a dummy at kidney height. Turns out that if the dummy was placed in the front of the roller coaster, about 17 percent of the stones passed, compared to about 64 percent in the back of the coaster. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
Romancing the stone
While you are trying to pass a kidney stone, you might also want to think about dimming the lights, putting on some sexy music, and getting busy with your partner.
One study conducted by researchers from the Clinic of Ankara Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, suggested that a little amoré at least three to four times per week can help with the spontaneous passage of kidney stones. In this study, 75 participants were split into three groups: one was asked to have sex at least three to four times per week, one group received a medication called Tamsulosin, and a third received the standard medical treatment for kidney stones. Two weeks later, researchers found that 26 of the 31 sex group participants were able to pass their kidney stones.
Everybody jump!
Those who have been desperate to get their kidney stones out have also resorted to jumping jacks to try and jostle the stone loose. As I’ve said before, whatever works. One of my patients, a Marine, told me that jumping up and down and jumping rope helped him to pass his stone.
Beer? Really?
From the first moment you show your first symptoms of a kidney stone attack, it is extremely important to start drinking a lot of water to help pass it. While you are drinking ample amounts of water, you may want to throw in a beer or two (or you can combine the beer and water with some love-making).
One Finland study showed that drinking a pint of beer a day can actually help lower the risk of kidney stones by up to 40 percent. That is because alcohol is a natural diuretic, which stimulates your urine flow. AS a result, this increase in urination prevents kidney stone crystallization and allows you to excrete the minerals and reduce your risk of kidney stones forming.
These creative attempts at passing your kidney stones are not really going to hurt most people. However, if a month has passed since your pain started and you still haven’t passed the stone, you probably won’t.
Besides, after about a month of pain, medications, and trying to get that little bugger out of you—especially for stones that are bigger than 5mm—most patients have had enough and want some additional medical intervention.