How I move my stones along.

So I have had around 40 stones. I am 58 and it started for me at age 16. I am now able to pass most of them with simple tricks I figured I will share:

1) Understand there are two major types of Stone pain as it begins it's journey to your bladder. The first type is pain as it's scrapes and scratches and stretches your ureter on the way down. This can be sharp pains, dull aches or often "referred pain" that manifests in many unpleasant ways. For me (58M), I often have pinching pains along my urinary tract, including Nasty pinching pains in the penis, or even severe testicle pain. These pains are never where the stone actually is and are different and equally unpleasant for women.

2) The second, and often far worse pain, is when the stone is stuck and blocks your ureter completely. Urine and pressure backs up all the way to your kidney causing intense kidney pain in your back or all along the ureter. This is awful.

3) In both cases when experiencing PAIN, you want to keep that stone from getting stuck, and keep it wiggling enough so that the Urine can squeek by. I do this with Movement and vibration. Ever hear the old adage about roller coasters helping with kidney stones? It's true. Same thing.

4) I dance. First. I repeatedly rise up on my toes and drop (stomp) onto my heel, giving the biggest jolt I can. I don't Jump, but heal stomp. 5 minutes at a time while that wave of pain is happening.

5) I alternate this with the "twist and shout". Twist back and forth. Stretch toward the ceiling and back towards your back. You are stretching and moving the Ureter. The worst thing to do is sit motionless. Usually the pain hurts the same whether you are sitting or moving... so MOVE and Stretch. Again, 5 minutes at a time.

6) My wife punches my gut. Not super hard but hard enough to jolt that Ureter. 10 times or more. She does this with love. You can't do it yourself because you tense up and it doesn't work as well.

7) Lastly, I use a massage gun for 15 minutes. Those big ones with the soft spherical tip. Again, I deeply massage my belly from ribs to groin on the affected side. This is the single best thing that I have found. Helps them move along quite nicely. I usually do this while there is a lull in the pain. You know it's working if you feel slight sharp pains inside as it scrapes its way along. This also helps Urine squeak past avoiding the worst pain.

8) These things don't always work, and I recently needed Uretospcopy Last week, again. But 4 out of 5 times, I am good to go after about 6 hours. Then a few days later... PLINK!.

9) Late Addition. During this phase, my Doctor has given me a prescription for bottles of Flomax (tamsulosin to open the pipes) and Toradol (Keterolac... a pain med). For those repeat sufferers like us, many docs will give you a prescription to "hold in reserve" for when the stones start their Journey. If you are a repeat sufferer like me, just ask your doctor and most are pretty sympathetic. I found having BOTH makes a WORLD of Difference. (Keterolac is best, other pain meds, including heavier opiods, often don't do much... but Keterolac seems to hit the Urinary Tract just right).

When you are desperate... give it a try. Works for me.