Recently a doctor in Fiji urged people to drink more water to prevent kidney stones.
That was good advice. It will often, but not always, prevent kidney stones.
In 1996, after living in Fiji for a little more than a year, I had kidney stones. It is one of the most painful medical conditions there is. I found it more painful than a broken bone.
Later, a doctor in New Zealand told me that unless I drank more water he’d be seeing me again. I began drinking more water and never again had kidney stones.
Later, I learned that I had not been treated properly at the Lautoka Hospital.
They failed to tell me that I should drink large amounts of water to attempt to flush out the kidney stones.
The doctor had been removing kidney stones from other patients with open surgery, but I learned that he had not been using the proper instruments to do so. The proper instrument is a dormia basket.
Lithotripsy, which uses ultrasonics to break up kidney stones, is the treatment of choice and may be available in Fiji, but it does not always work. It is best to try to prevent kidney stones by drinking plenty of water.
