How kidney stones affect pregnancy

When many families want to have children, they will go to the hospital for a physical examination. At this time, they will find that they have stones in their bodies and don’t know whether they should be treated. Once kidney stones appear, it is recommended not to have children but to cure the kidney stones first. The presence of kidney stones can cause women to have secretory metabolism, which is not conducive to the discharge of eggs and will also affect the later development of the fetus.

When pregnancy is complicated by kidney stones, the stones themselves have no obvious adverse effects on the pregnancy and fetus. If there are no symptoms, the pregnancy can continue and further examination and treatment can be done after delivery. If the symptoms are severe, they are often accompanied by renal colic, stone infection, and pyonephrosis, which can cause renal parenchymal damage and seriously affect the health of the mother and child. In the case of kidney stones, anesthesia, radiological examination or invasive treatment will have adverse effects on both mother and child. When pregnancy is complicated by stones, it is not advisable to perform more invasive treatments such as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Therefore, since your pre-pregnancy physical examination revealed mud-like stones in both kidneys, I think it would be best for you to see a urologist as soon as possible and have the stones treated before pregnancy. Strict contraception should be observed during treatment. It is best to undergo treatment after the menstruation is over and there is no sexual intercourse to avoid accidental pregnancy during treatment.

At present, the cause of kidney stones is not fully understood. It is currently believed that the formation of kidney stones is mainly due to metabolic disorders of the body, such as hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, endocrine disorders, etc.; secondly, it may be related to urinary tract infection. In addition, the formation of some urinary stones is related to hereditary diseases, such as cystinuria, familial xanthinuria, etc. In fact, kidney stones during pregnancy are extremely rare. Because the level of progesterone in the body increases during pregnancy, it also promotes urinary tract expansion, so small stones are easier to expel than when you are not pregnant.

If you become pregnant but there is not enough time to treat the stones, conservative treatment is the first choice for pregnancy complicated by stones. The treatment method should be determined based on the size of the stones, the location of the obstruction, whether there is infection, whether there is renal parenchymal damage, and the clinical symptoms. 1. If the symptoms are mild, the stones in the pregnant woman's urinary tract are small and painless, and there is no bacterial infection, they can be treated after delivery. In principle, for patients with small stones that have not caused serious renal damage, comprehensive stone removal treatment is adopted, including drinking more water, increasing the amount of activity appropriately, infusing diuretics, antispasmodics, analgesia and anti-infection measures to promote stone removal. 2. Clinically, about 30% of patients eventually require surgical treatment due to failure of conservative treatment or stone obstruction, resulting in severe infection, acute renal failure.

During pregnancy, small and medium-sized stones can be expelled by drinking more water and exercising more, and you should avoid holding your urine frequently. Eat a balanced diet, limit the intake of high-purine and high-protein foods, avoid eating too salty foods, eat more black fungus and fresh fruits and vegetables, and have regular pregnancy check-ups.