The pain from hell

If the Devil were to ever write a script for a journey through HELL, he would end it with THIS , the piece de resistance, the final blow of a harrowing journey, the epitome of pain...

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After a good night's sleep, you're awoken by what seems like a gas bubble in your tummy. You ignore it thinking it will wobble around for a bit and leave in due course. You want to go back to bed to catch that extra few winks, and yet you find yourself in the loo with the gas bubble growing in size. Its a strange bubble, you think. Its not really in the tummy. Its to the side. And its somewhere in between, not entirely on the front side, a bit at the back as well.

You have a glass of water.

You pick up the toothbrush to start brushing. You lift your hand towards your mouth to start. Suddenly, it seems the gas bubble has just had an explosion, ripping through your inners. A wave of pain, no, a TSUNAMI of pain plunders through the side of the tummy and the lower back.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!

You fling the toothbrush back on the wash-basin platform and rush towards the pot. The water you just had rushes back out in a concoction of bile juice and such yuck tasting liquids.

The pain, if anything, is increasing. You squat on the floor, because you feel you won't have enough energy to stand up. You take a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize yourself, trying to figure out what's happening. You're CLUELESS. The pain has gone on for too long and its about time it eases, you think.

Hah! Fat chance!!

It spreads to the groin now. Its like you're being stomped, repeatedly, on the balls.

You are EXTREMELY LUCKY if there's someone around to take you to a hospital. If not, you have to get there yourself, to take a strong dose of painkillers before even attempting to figure out what's going on.

You stutter to the hospital in a daze. The doctor's probably seen this one before and puts you on IV with a couple of painkillers thrown in.

Finally, after nearly 2 hours of excruciating pain, the painkillers take effect and put you in a deep sleep.

You wake up with your body feeling numb, your head, heavy & your eyes like they have 10 kilo weights attached under each of them.

--

Anyone who's felt this pain knows that what I've described above is no exaggeration. An ultrasound scan revealed an 8mm kidney stone, on its journey from the kidney to the bladder.

Kidney stones can develop quite quickly in the summer. A diet of spicy food and less water is the ideal setting for this to happen. Throw in a lot of traveling, and you can be sure of being on the verge of 'The pain from Hell'.

The cure is to drink tons of water, AVOID orange juice, spinach, oily foods, nuts and tomatoes! And there are a few natural remedies available to dissolve the stone - water boiled (and subsequently cooled) with yarrow leaf, marshmellows, a mixture of olive oil & lemon juice, all serve well. And then of course, there's BEER. :-)

To avoid getting kidney stones, ensure you have a lot of water, at least 4L a day, and stay away from the spicy stuff, especially during summer!