5 Little-Known Factors That Could Affect Your Chances of Having a Kidney Stone

Available for Interviews: Dr. Karyn Eilber

Karyn Eilber, MD, is a board-certified urologist, an associate professor of urology & OB/GYN at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, and is an expert in women’s health and men & women’s sexual wellness.

What Dr. Eilber Can Say about
Kidney Stones
:

“It’s worse than childbirth” is a phrase commonly used when describing what it feels like to pass a kidney stone. So what can you do to prevent this painful experience from happening to you?

    • The best prevention for getting a kidney stone is to not be chronically dehydrated. Our urine contains many minerals, including calcium which is the most common ingredient in kidney stones, but when calcium is diluted in an adequate amount of urine the crystals can’t stick together to form a stone. On the other hand, when someone is chronically dehydrated, the crystals are more concentrated and can stick together to form a kidney stone. This process happens over many weeks to months, so not drinking enough one day usually isn’t enough to cause a stone.
    • Significantly decreasing calcium, a common component in kidney stones, doesn’t decrease your chance of getting a stone. In fact, a low calcium diet can increase the risk of stones. A low sodium diet actually helps prevent certain types of stones. 
    • Some healthy foods, like spinach, contain high levels of oxalate, another common component of stones. It’s actually beneficial to eat and drink calcium and oxalate foods together so that they bind to each other in the gut before they get to the kidney and form stones.
    • Citrate, found in citrus fruit such as grapefruit, lemons, etc, can potentially block stone formation.
    • Another type of kidney stones is uric acid stones. Higher uric acid levels can result from a diet high in purines that includes red meat and shellfish. 

Regardless of the type of stone, your best defense against giving birth to a stone is staying well hydrated.

 

Interview: Dr. Karyn Eilber

Karyn Eilber, MD, is a board-certified urologist with sub-specialty board certification in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery and has over 20 years of experience taking care of women’s most intimate needs. She is an Associate Professor of Urology and Obstetrics & Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and is the Associate Program Director for the Cedars-Sinai Urology Residency Training Program. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Eilber served at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Urology Department, where she gained extensive experience in pelvic reconstruction following cancer treatment.

​Dr. Eilber’s research focus has been in the field of urogynecology, and she has published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. In addition to being a member and past president of the Los Angeles Urologic Society, Dr. Eilber is a member of the American Urological Association, the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital reconstruction, the American Urogynecologic Society, and the Society of Women in Urology. She is also a Founding Medical Partner of Doctorpedia.

Dr. Eilber earned her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, Riverside, which was an accelerated 3-year premedical program that allowed her to matriculate into the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine (UCLA). She completed a general surgery internship, urology residency, and female pelvic medicine fellowship at UCLA. 

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