Oxalate stones in your kidneys Envelope shaped Calcium oxalate crystals

Written by Dr harold Gunatillake –Health writer

As you grow up you could manufacture stones (calculi) in your body, such as in organs like the gall bladder, kidneys and so on. Our discussion today is about kidney stones emphasis on oxalate stones.

Most kidney stones include calcium stone which are radio-opaque and seen on plain X rays. They are mainly oxalate stones a naturally occurring substance in food-vegies fruits nuts, chocolate and so on as oxalic acid.
One cannot pin-point the cause or causes that create kidney stones. Taking too much of calcium do not produce calcium oxalate stones, either. These stones form when your urine contains more crystal-forming substances that you eat. High doses of taking vitamin D supplements, intestinal bypass surgery and several metabolic disorders can increase the concentration of calcium or oxalate in urine.

Taking certain medicines can make you more prone to kidney stones which includes water tablets (diuretics), some chemotherapy medicines for cancer and some medicines to treat HIV.

There is a variety of stones called Struvite stones formed due to infection of the urine, they grow quickly and become quite large, without any symptoms.

Excess uric acid as in gout can form uric acid stones. People who don’t drink sufficient quantities of water do get these stones. Genetic factors do take part in forming these stones and excess protein diets do give rise to uric cid stones.

Cystine stones are formed in the kidneys due to a hereditary disorder that causes kidneys to excrete too much of certain amino-acids.

Have you noticed a weird feel after eating raw spinach in salads? It is due to a gritty film formed on your teeth due to the high concentration of oxalate in spinach leaves. Oxalate acid helps as a defence mechanism against insects that try to eat the leaves says Jim Correll, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Arkansas.
Spinach is filled with other micro-nutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, folate iron, vitamin C, phosphorus, potassium and calcium.

Prof Correll said that when you chew spinach, the oxalic acid combines with calcium which leads to the formation of calcium oxalate a crystal that doesn’t dissolve in water. So, it is inferred by eating a lot of spinach which is good for you, can cause the deposition of calcium oxalate crystals in the cavities of the kidney. Drink plenty of water to prevent such an occurrence.

The other foods mentioned earlier such as nuts, chocolate wheat bran, beets, rhubarb, strawberries, tea wheat bean and all dry beans except lima and green beans have high concentrations of oxalates and contribute to stones in the kidneys.

By boiling or steaming the spinach or adding onto curries as in Asian cuisine the oxalates can be destroyed. Squeezing lemon juice when added to salads dissolves oxalic acid.

Passing out kidney stones

In the early part of the century people having kidney stones were given oil to drink and made them to skip daily.
Subsequently, they were removed by open operation.

A device called the Dormia basket was used to extract stone lying in the ureters by allowing the stone to drop into the basket and was pulled through a cystoscope.

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a high energy shock waves sent in through a machine to break the stones and then you may pass out tiny broken fragments when you pass urine.

Another method is where a telescope is passed through the bladder and ureter and a laser beam is used to break the stone and to pass in your urine.

The latest method described is a spin on a moderate intensity roller coaster where they have found a 60 percent success rate when small stones were involved. This method was described by researchers at Michigan State University and Matt Lauer, laments the prospect of both riding a coaster and passing a stone, comparing it to a “male version of child birth.”