You won't catch Wajiha Khan without a bottle of water, not after experiencing what she calls the worst pain of her life.
"It's just one of those things. You just want someone to rip it out of you," Wajiha Khan told Ivanhoe "It" turned out to be three kidney stones the size of a pen tip.
Duke University's Dr. Michael Lipkin says one in ten people will get a kidney stone, a hard mass formed from crystals that separate from your urine.
His top three tips for preventing these stones, is to first drink up.
"I don't care what you drink, just drink a lot," Dr. Lipkin, Assistant Professor of Urology, Duke University Medical Center said.
That means at least three liters a day, water is best. His second tip is to stock up on lemons.
"Lemon has something called citrate, and citrate is an inhibitor of stone formation," Dr. Lipkin said.
You can put them in your water or make your own lemonade. Limes and oranges also contain citrate and so do some lemon-lime sodas, like sprite or 7-up. However, the best soda to fight stones is diet orange soda. "Diet orange soda contributed the most citrate to the urine," Dr. Lipkin explained.
Finally, watch out for sodium. It increases calcium in your urine and can lead to stones. Also, it's not just what you're salting. The top unknown culprits are bread and cheese.
"In fact, a slice of pizza has about a thousand milligrams of sodium, which is about 50 percent of your USDA daily allotment," Dr. Lipkin said.
So, check your labels and drink up. That's what Wajiha does.
"I don't want another one and wouldn't wish it on anybody," Wajiha said.
Dr. Lipkin also recommends cutting down on nuts if you're prone to stones. Nuts are rich in oxalate, which can cause stones to form. If you do eat nuts, drink a glass of milk with them. The calcium in the milk will bind the oxalate and help prevent your body from absorbing it.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Dr. Michael Lipkin
Assistant Professor of Urology
Duke University Medical Center
(919) 681-5506
michael.lipkin@duke.edu
