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00:17A sharp pain in the back or side, nausea and difficulty urinating.
00:23For many people, these are the first warning signs of kidney stones, a condition Dr. Vimal Tithahal, urologist at Medical
00:31Valley Hospital, says is affecting more people worldwide.
00:35Kidney stones are hard mineral deposits that form inside the kidneys and can vary in size from tiny grains to
00:41larger stones that may block the urinary tract.
00:45So kidney stones are calcili, renal calcili, are very common in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:50Actually, across the world, there's something called a stone belt, which for easy explanation is the hotter part of the
00:56world.
00:57And the stone belt would increase our risk of forming kidney stones just by temperature.
01:01And it affects about 10 to 20 percent of Trinidadians.
01:05So at supersaturation, you have what urine and we have something in the urine, generally oxalate is the most common
01:11cause of kidney stones,
01:12having supersaturation where it's able to now recrystallize and form those stones.
01:17Other causes are infections, and infections are a common cause, especially in the female population, as well as stasis.
01:24According to Dr. Tithahal, diet also plays a major role in increasing the risk of kidney stones.
01:30Oxalate is the most common cause of kidney stones, estimated about 70 to 75 percent.
01:35And if the viewer is going to just Google what a high-oxalate diet is, you're going to see everything
01:41Trinidadian that we love.
01:43From literally badgy, come straight down to canned tuna.
01:46Kidney stones are also more common in men and persons with diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.
01:53Still, he says, one of the simplest preventative measures is proper hydration.
01:59Hydration status is the easiest way.
02:01So you want to have at least two litres a year in a day.
02:04And an easy way to measure that, and this changes regarding the size of the patient,
02:08but let's say a bladder holds 300 milliliters of fluid, by then you have to pee very badly.
02:14Then you should be passing urine about seven times a day, give it a take.
02:17Seven by three is 2,100.
02:18So you need to have about 700 of a full bladder.
02:22But most of us don't pee when our bladder is bursting, right?
02:25We go to pee before that.
02:28So we're looking at about eight, nine times you should be passing urine.
02:32Treatment, he explains, depends largely on the size of the stone.
02:37Smaller stones may pass naturally, while larger ones may require medical intervention.
02:43Six millimetres and less generally is the magic number for which you will more than likely pass out your stone.
02:48Anything more than six millimetres, the chances drop precipitously.
02:53At one centimetre, you're probably not going to pass that stone.
02:56If it is the patient passing out your stone and it's stuck there,
02:59or the patient isn't just excruciating pain for which medication won't work,
03:04then we pass a camera through the bladder up to the kidney and we laser the stone.
03:09Dr. Sita Hall is urging members of the public not to ignore persistent pain or urinary symptoms,
03:14saying early diagnosis can reduce complications and improve treatment outcomes.
03:20I am Charlotte Kisto with tonight's Health Watch.
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