Kidney Pain

You need to have them do a CT to check for kidney stones. I'm surprised that they didn't do that already.

Kidney stones can cause all kinds of symptoms. It depends on where the stones are and how large they are. They can get stuck anywhere and scratch things up on the way down. If they get stuck, the symptoms you get are dependent on where they get stuck. Even if you pass the stone, things will feel really tender due to scratching at least for about a week.

The fullness could be a blockage that prevents you from passing urine from one of the kidneys. Is the pain on both sides or only one (or did it start on one side)? Pain can be referred so it would probably start on one side but eventually encompass everything from the lower back to the abdomen on both sides. Usually, by the time I got treated it was impossible to tell where the pain was from. I had to learn to keep a log of any new pain, where it started and how it progressed. If the urologist suspects this they can order an ultrasound to determine if you are passing urine from both kidneys. They can actually see the urine moving from the kidneys into the bladder.

At least follow up with your primary. They should be able to ensure that you get the tests needed even if they decide to refer you to a urologist.

I went for about 4 or 5 years with a stone being passed at least 2 or three times a year. I've always passed them on my own but i was in agony for anywhere from one to three weeks. I still have at least 8 stones in my kidneys that can pass at any time. If it's a stone, you will have to let it pass. There is a good pain medication that works really well for kidney stones. It's a nasal spray, but usually only a urologist will write for it. I have found that my normal pain meds don't touch kidney pain.

Some times the stones are deemed to large to pass on your own. If that's the case, they will either try to break the stone into smaller pieces (can't do that for every stone it needs to be larger than a certain size) using ultrasound or they will actually go in and get it. That's a surgical procedure but no incisions.

It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming that all symptoms are related to lyme (or whatever your disease is) and ignore things. But not everything is Lyme. There was a person who was part of an online support group for Fibromyalgia. She was having problems with a new pain symptom. She dropped off the board and someone (I think one of nurses that was a moderator for the forum) went to look for contact information to check on her. They found out that she had a heart attack and died. Ever since them they have cautioned people that "Fibromyalgia isn't everything and everything isn't Fibromyalgia". You can substitute any disease in their. We all get caught up in feeling so bad that we ignore things. Don't. Please.

Good luck, Kim.