Nephrolithiasis also called as renal lithiasis is the kidney stones wherein hard deposits of stone like particles are found in the kidneys. They are actually not stones but are unused minerals and salts formed in the urine, which unite to form small stones. When urine concentration gets higher than normal it allows certain chemicals and salts to crystallize thus forming nephrolithiasis.
Kidney stones are generally harmless except causing pain when they pass through your kidney. In most of the cases, drinking plenty of water and taking pain-killers are enough for treating nephrolithiasis. However, in some cases, surgery has to be done for removing stones from the kidney.
Symptoms :
Often, nephrolithiasis will not cause any symptoms. It will cause moderate to severe pain if the stones move around within the kidneys or gets into the ureter tube. There can be severe pain at your back region below the ribs. The pain will be felt progressive spreading from lower abdomen till the groin. The intensity of pain will increase gradually and pain will spread like waves or ripples. Pain will be felt while urinating and urine will be dark red or brown in color with foul smell.
For some people there can be nausea, vomiting, fever and chills and the person will feel like urinating often. There can be bloody discharge in urine and difficulty in passing urine.
Causes :
There is no one single cause for nephrolithiasis since several factors play important role for causing kidney stones. If the urine contains lots of calcium and uric acid which combine to form crystals then it causes stone formation. Normal urine should be more diluted form than containing solid substances. If more and more crystals are formed it will combine together to form stone.