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Kidney Stones Increased Risk |
Kidney Stones Increased Risk Kidney stones are a bothersome and oftentimes painful result of a crystal formation in your kidney from the chemicals found in your urine.
These chemicals, usually calcium oxalate, have crystals that bind together to form these kidney stones that may be as big as a golf ball or as small as a grain of sand. The formation of these kidney stones are often attributed to a few factors like a decrease in fluid intake, the lack of physical activity for a few successive weeks, recurring infections of the urinary tract and even a blockage of the urinary tract.
These factors can contribute greatly to the formation of these kidney stones.
While not all people are prone to developing kidney stones, you can go one step further in your prevention of such a painful and bothersome problem with some preventive measures as well as by knowing the other possible causes for the development of these stones.
The increase in the risk factors for getting kidney stones can be greatly reduced if you know what may trigger the formation.
Some of the risk factors you can easily avoid include the ingestion of oxalate rich foods. Since the crystals that form these kidney stones often come from calcium oxalate, eating foods with this chemical in abundance may indeed increase your risk of developing kidney stones.
Some of the foods that are known to have a rather high oxalate content include chocolate, nuts, coffee, beans, tea and cola as well as dark green vegetables.
You should also drink lots of water and avoid dehydration since this is also another culprit in the formation of kidney stones in a person's body. There are also certain medications that can trigger the formation of these stones.
An example of a medication that is known to cause kidney stones to form is indinavir.
Weight gain is also viewed as another possible cause for the formation of these kidney stones. Since an increase in weight can trigger insulin resistance which can then result in an increase in calcium in the urine, the risk for kidney stone development increases too.
A high BMI or Body Mass Index showed an increase in a person's tendency to get kidney stones in their body.
While there are factors that you can prevent to help you avoid getting kidney stones, there are factors that you cannot avoid. One such factor is the person's gender and age. Women who are going through a postmenopausal stage in their lives are going through a time when estrogen levels are low. This can trigger the development of kidney stones. Other possible causes that you cannot prevent include a prolonged period of bed rest due to illness, diabetes or obesity induced insulin resistance, heredity and a whole lot of other possibilities.
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