Medical Summary of Kidney Stones

            Kidney stone is a fairly common condition that affects the kidney. There is a solid piece that forms in the kidney hence the name. So, kidney stones can be defined as a medical condition where a solid piece of material forms in the kidney resulting from constituents of the urine (National Library of medicine).Another name for kidney stones is nephrolithiasis. The size of this solid may vary, it may be substantial or just a small grain sized particulate matter. It is important to understand that most of the urine elements that amount to kidney stones pass out in the discharge, but failure to do so causes the conglomeration or in other terms crystallization when these elements become concentrated in the tubules of the kidney. It results in the urinary having some form of blockage. Sometimes however, a stone will not go away. It may get stuck in the urinary tract, block the flow of urine and cause pain, this is what essentially leads to kidney stones.
             The causes of kidney stones is majorly therefore dehydration. This is a risk factor because when there is an abnormal balance between water and the dissolved components we have talked about, there is formation of calcium type lumps. Other type of material forms around them with time increasing the size of the stone (WebMD).Kidney stones can also be caused by medical conditions. Some medical conditions cause an imbalance in water and salts. Some of these conditions include the gout and inflammatory bowel diseases for example Crohns disease (WebMD). In rare cases, kidney stones can be caused by hormonal imbalance too, to be specific, parathyroid glands produce too much hormones. Poor diet might also cause kidney stones, excessive protein diet will increase the level of acidity in the urinary tract therefore causing stones with time. Lastly it is important to note that kidney stones condition is hereditary in some cases, it runs in families for a number of generations.