The Role of Medication in Managing Kidney Stones

If you’re wondering about treatment options for kidney stones, medication is often the first line of treatment. They are useful in helping you pass the stones naturally and even break the stones into small pieces over time. Medication is generally used for people who have smaller stones or in cases where patients are not ready for surgery. 

There are also a lot of myths surrounding kidney stone medicine and how they can dissolve kidney stones completely. This is in fact only partially true. Kidney stones made of uric acid can only be dissolved through medication. So, now that you have your feet wet about kidney stone treatment using medication, let’s dive in and learn more about medicine used for kidney stones, how they work, their efficacy, and side effects.

Medicines Used In Treating Kidney Stones

Pain Relievers

The first type of medication used for treating kidney stones is pain relievers. They help reduce the pain you experience when passing kidney stones. Based on your case, doctors might prescribe over-the-counter pain medication like ibuprofen or naproxen, or more powerful opioids. This is one of the primary medications used for treating kidney stones in conjunction with dietary changes.

For most, kidney stones pass naturally over time and dietary changes help accelerate the process along with more hydration. Pain relievers are used to lower the discomfort of the process. Unless, you have larger stones that can’t pass with just dietary changes, these are the only medications you will need to treat your kidney stones.

Pain relievers are used to treat all types of kidney stones. However, the other medicines listed below are generally used in specific cases. The medications used to treat kidney stones differ based on the type of your stone and its composition. But, first, let’s learn about the side effects of pain relievers.

Side Effects

• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Heartburn
• Nausea
• Heart problems
• Problems with your liver and kidneys

These side effects can occur only when you consume these medicines for a long time in large doses.

Alpha Blockers

Alpha-blockers are also common medicines used for treating kidney stones. In general, alpha-blockers are used to dilate the blood vessels and reduce blood pressure. They are very useful in treating people with heart problems and especially heart pain. For treating kidney stones, alpha-blockers that widen the ureter are used. These medicines relax the muscles in your ureter to make it wider.

A wider ureter allows the stones to pass through more easily without any problem. They can also help reduce the pain you experience when the stones are passing. These medicines are typically used when doctors suspect your kidney stones are larger than 5mm in size. So, you need to go through kidney stone diagnosis either through various scans or by testing the stones you have already passed before you are prescribed these medicines.

Side Effects

As these medicines are used to reduce the blood pressure, they can lead to side effects like

• Dizziness
• Weakness
• Headache
• Feeling like your heart is pounding

Metolazone

Metolazone is the generic name for a type of medication known as thiazide diuretics. These medicines are used to increase your body’s expulsion of water and salts. In short, they increase the flow of urine in your body. These types of medicines are used in conjunction with high levels of hydration regularly to pass kidney stones from the body.

Thiazide diuretics are considered the best medicine for kidney stones made of calcium. These medicines help reduce the amount of calcium in your urine, and can even be used to prevent or stop kidney stones from reoccurring. However, that is only for people who have excess amounts of calcium deposits in their urine. 

Like alpha-blockers, these medicines can also lower the blood pressure in your body, which prompts doctors to not prescribe alpha-blockers and metolazone together to patients. Thiazide diuretics also affect the potassium levels in your blood, so it's crucial that you disclose any cardiac problems you have to your doctor before they prescribe these medicines to you.

Side Effects

• Headache
• Difficulty getting an erection (for men)
• Dizziness
• Gout
• Muscle cramps
• Lack of energy during the day

Chelators

Chelators are interesting medicines that can be used to treat and even prevent kidney stones. These chemicals enter your body and latch onto other compounds. When chelators latch onto other compounds in your body, your body is compelled to expulse the compounds. So, these medicines are used as per the composition of your kidney stones to help remove them from your body.

These medicines are useful for a variety of health problems along with kidney stones. And they are available in different types to treat the different types of kidney stones. For example, citrate-rich chelators are used to treat calcium kidney stones. Similarly, other compound-rich chelators like penicillamine are used to treat cystine kidney stones.

These medications are effective in removing the stones from your body, however, they are not generally prescribed by doctors unless they test the composition of your kidney stones.

Side Effects

• Joint pain
• Fever
• Breakouts on your skin like lesions
• Swollen glands
• White spots on your lips

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are used for the treatment of struvite kidney stones because they are caused by urinary tract infections. Antibiotics are used to treat the infection and reduce its reocurrance. These medicines kill the bacteria present in your urinary tract and reduce the amount of ammonia in your urine. 

The functionality of antibiotics can help prevent further stones. However, they don’t do anything, in particular, to help pass the stones in your urinary tract already. So, these medicines are used in conjunction with dietary changes to help remove the stones from your body.

The antibiotics that will be used in your case depend on your doctor’s discretion. Do mind that antibiotics should be taken in moderation as they have serious side effects that can hinder your regular lifestyle. Antibiotics are also not suitable for all types of kidney stones and having too much of them can increase your chances of getting calcium oxalate kidney stones.

Side Effects

• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Yeast infection
• Coughing or wheezing
• Rashes on your skin

Ending Note

If you are trying to find kidney stone treatment without surgery, the medications discussed in this article are your best bet. However, it should be noted that they have limited success in helping you remove the stones from your body. The medicines are often used by doctors to stop them from recurring or prevent them in the first place. If you have kidney stones or know someone who does, visit MASSH today. We offer minimally invasive treatment for kidney stones that are highly effective in treating all types of kidney stones. For more information about our treatment processes, check out our website.