While rarely harmful, kidney stones can cause debilitating sleep-depriving, doubled-over pain after they leave the organ for which they are named and start their journey through the body before an eventual exit. Larger stones can require medical intervention. Another problem is that once a patient has had a stone, there is a strong likelihood of recurrence within a few years. The team recommended medications such as thiazide diuretics, alkali therapy and allopurinol, saying these “may be helpful”, as could diets with “normal to high calcium” intake. “The trial results show that despite the importance of high fluid intake to prevent stone recurrence, achieving and maintaining very high fluid intake is more challenging than we often assume for people with urinary stone disease,” said Duke urologist Dr Charles Scales.

Source: The Star March 31, 2026 16:33 UTC