Kidney Stones - Prevention

Prevention

If you have more than one kidney stone, especially if you have a family history of stones, you are more likely to have kidney stones again. But you can take steps to help prevent them:

• Drink more fluids. Try to drink enough water to keep your urine clear, about 8 to 10 glasses of water per day. Slowly increase how much you drink, perhaps adding one more glass of water a day until you are drinking 8 to 10 glasses a day. This slow increase will give your body time to adjust to the extra fluids. You are drinking enough water when your urine is clear or light yellow. If it is dark yellow, you are not drinking enough fluids. If you have kidney, heart, or liver disease and have fluid restrictions, talk with your doctor before increasing how much you drink.
• Change your diet. This may be helpful, but it depends on what is causing your kidney stones. Your doctor may do more tests before deciding whether changing your diet will help reduce your risk of developing another stone. The results of these tests may suggest that it could be helpful to do one or more of the following:
  • Increasing how much fiber you eat. Fiber includes oat and wheat bran, beans, whole wheat breads, wheat cereals, cabbage, and carrots.
  • Eating less beef, pork, and poultry.
  • Eating a moderate or high amount of calcium-rich foods, such as dairy products. Getting your recommended amounts of calcium, combined with a diet low in sodium and protein, may decrease your risk of kidney stones.⁷ In older people and younger women, one study indicates that eating more calcium-rich foods reduces the risk of kidney stones.⁸
  • Avoiding foods that are high in oxalate, such as dark green vegetables, nuts, and chocolate.
  • Not adding salt when you cook or eat. Try removing the salt shaker from your table.

For more information on diet and kidney stones, see:

Diet to prevent kidney stones

Medicine

If you get more kidney stones despite drinking more fluids and making changes to your diet, your doctor may give you medicine to help dissolve your stones or to prevent new ones from forming. You may also receive medicine if you have a disease that increases your risk of forming kidney stones. Which medicine you take depends on the type of stone you may have.

Medicine to prevent calcium stones

About 80% of kidney stones are calcium stones.¹ Calcium stones cannot be dissolved by changing your diet or taking medicines. There are medicines that may keep calcium stones from getting bigger or may prevent new calcium stones from forming:

• Thiazides (such as hydrochlorothiazide, chlorthalidone).
• Potassium citrate (Urocit-K).
• Orthophosphate (Neutra-Phos).
• Cholestyramine (Questran).

Medicine to prevent uric acid stones

About 5% to 10% of kidney stones are made of uric acid, a waste product that normally exits the body in the urine.¹ Uric acid stones can sometimes be dissolved with medicine.

• Potassium citrate (Urocit-K).
• Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).
• Allopurinol (Lopurin, Zyloprim).

Medicine to prevent cystine stones

Less than 1% of kidney stones are made of a chemical called cystine.¹ Cystine stones are more likely to occur in families with a disease that results in too much cystine in the urine (cystinuria).

• Potassium citrate (Urocit-K).
• Penicillamine (Cuprimine, Depen).
• Tiopronin (Thiola).
• Captopril (Capoten).

Medicine to prevent struvite stones

About 10% to 15% of kidney stones are struvite stones.¹ They can also be called infection stones if they occur with kidney or urinary tract infections (UTIs). These types of kidney stones sometimes are also called staghorn calculi if they grow large enough.

• Urease inhibitors (Lithostat).