Having kidney stones is not a pleasant experience, and neither is passing them out. When a patient gets sick with kidney stones, the pain can be excruciating. Sometimes, the medical professional might assist the patient in passing the stones through the urinary tract, but in more severe cases, surgery may be needed to remove the stones.
What’s worse is that a person who develops kidney stones is likely to have a recurrence of them in the future. This is because the conditions that caused the stones to form in the first place are likely to stay with the individual.
Needless to say, everyone who has had a brush with kidney stones or who has heard about it wants to know how to prevent it. There are lots of advice on Google! You can find tons of information there. Most of the online resources addressing kidney stones will tell you that drinking lots of water helps to prevent kidney stones or the recurrence of them. For example, this website, hosted by Harvard Education, lists drinking lots of water as the number 1 preventative measure:
But is that really so? Can drinking lots of water help to prevent the occurrence of kidney stones? While drinking lots of water ‘may’ help to prevent kidney stones, it is not always the case.
Meet Jenny (Not her real name)
I met Jenny- the young, vibrant, volunteer, during my travels throughout the Rupununi Savannahs of Guyana, South America. She was working as a volunteer teacher at St. Ignatius Secondary in the Rupununi Savannahs.
One day, I was taking a taxi to neighboring Brazil when the taxi driver received a call. He explained that he had to turn back to pick up a ‘regular customer’ who was a volunteer – who had just landed via Trans Guyana AirWays at the Lethem Airport – from Georgetown.
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I’m not in a hurry. You can go get your customer and then we come back.’
Turns out that the passenger was Jenny. Jenny got into the taxi and we greeted each other. Before we could even start a conversation, the taxi driver asked, ‘so are you better now?’
‘Much better,’ laughed Jenny. ‘I’m not dying anymore!’
That was the kind of joke that caught my attention.
‘You are not well?’ I turned around and asked Jenny.
That was when she narrated her harrowing stories about having kidney stones and the ordeal she went through to pass them out.
‘You have to drink lots of coconut water, Jenny,’ I advised her.
Both Jenny and the taxi driver laughed. They thought I had said ‘water.’
‘I drink about 2 gallons of water a day!’ exclaimed Jenny. ‘And I’ve been doing this for years.’
‘You’ve ever seen Jenny without a bottle of water?’ the taxi driver added.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Drinking lots of normal water is good, but I said “coconut water.” ‘
At that point I realized something. The dominant advice of drinking lots of water doesn’t always work. At least it didn’t work in Jenny’s case.
Of course, I’m not discouraging you from drinking lots of water! It’s a really good thing. However, it didn’t work for Jenny. And this is a case study. Perhaps, though, this is one of those ‘exceptions’ to the rule which was overpowered by all those ‘other factors.’ Or perhaps it’s one of those ironies of life, of which I’ll tell you more later.
Tip: If you want to prevent kidney stones, we recommend drinking a cup of coconut water daily or at least 2 times per week.
Disclaimer: This article expresses the opinion of the author at the time of writing. However, the author’s opinion is subject to change without notice. The contents of this article is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical attention.
