I'm not sure what has happened, but I'm bleeding internally, a LOT, starting today. I went to the doctor today who ran some tests but couldn't quite see what has happened. She said I was okay to go home tonight but if I have to go to the bathroom more than once every 1/2 hour to come to the E.R. I'M SO WORRIED! I don't feel pain in my stomach at all, but I think something has happened! I exercised last night. Could that have done anything? I was just on the elliptical machine for 1/2 hour and on the bike for 15 minutes.

Do Kidney stones cause you to bleed if they are still in the kidney? Mine MUST still be in the kidney, if they are indeed there, because I don't have pain. I DO have a history of passing very small stones, though. So small, in fact, that often I have to have them surgically removed from the ureter because they keep cycling around at the bottom and not passing. It's an anomaly even to my doc.

I DO have a history of passing very small stones, though. So small, in fact, that often I have to have them surgically removed from the ureter because they keep cycling around at the bottom and not passing. It's an anomaly even to my doc.

I just want to point out that if you have a history of kidney stones, then this was always MUCH more likely to be the cause of your bleeding than your band. It's so common for new bandsters to assume that just because they've had surgery every little thing they feel in the months afterward has got to be band-related.

It's important that we don't forget about the rest of our bodies just because a surgeon has put a band of silicone around our tummies!

Well Alexandra, you were right. Today my friggin' kidney stone reared it's ugly head and is trying to pass. I'm so very angry at the doctor's office right now for being so nonchalant about blood in my urine. The E.R. doc told me basically that everything the other doctor told me pretty much didn't make any sense. He said just what you folks said: Blood in urine should not occur from a surgery unless it was a surgery of the kidneys or some function after the kidneys. I know all docs can make mistakes, but why would my first doctor just brush it off with an, "oh well, it must be related to your surgery"?

I know they probably couldn't do anything even if they DID know it was a stone, but at least I'd know it was coming and could've been better prepared for it by having some Percoset on hand or something.

I just had to vent. Thanks for being there, everyone! You really show so much support and care for people that it literally brings tears to my eyes right now (could also be the kidney stone pain).

Wow Puddinpie. Thanks for the update. I'm sorry for the pain but at least the bleeding is explained. Yeeeoowwch!! Wishing you pain-free Stone Passsages!!!

I doubt this is your problem and I know I sound stupid for worrying about it when it happened to me, but anyways, I hadn't had a regular period in a while and once I started losing weight after my surgery they came more frequently and I thought my band was messed up the first early one I got and thought I was bleeding internally. I, of course, wasn't, but it did scare me to start normal periods again and that tends to happen when you are losing weight quickly like you do right after surgery. Just a thought...

Okay, I have to ask. What is it like to pass a kidney stone and what is it????

Here's how you can simulate a kidney stone (requires a helper)

1. Have your assistant take a sharp kitchen knife and place it just below your kidney

2. Tell your assistant to repeatedly stab you in the same area. They can't let up or the pain will not be as intense as it needs to be

3. Keep this up for several hours (I'd say at least 8 hours).

Glad to hear you are doing better! You make us proud passing that puppy! You are a stronger woman than me.

Be well...

Let me elaborate on what a kidney stone is:

A kidney stone is when your body has a buildup of either Calcium deposits or uric acid in the kidney. After a certain length of time the kidney releases the "stone" of calcium or uric acid. The stone looks like a porcupine, hence the excruciating pain as it passes through the ureter. The ureter is a tube that goes from your kidney to your bladder. The pain doesn't really occur when the stone is still in your kidney, it occurs when it passes through the ureter.

I hope it was the last stone you ever pass in your lifetime! Please take it easy with everything & as always drink drink & drink.

My Father (who passed 22 stones in his life) used to decribe them as a baseball made up of razor blades all facing outwards & passing it through a straw - it was the second time I had ever seen him cry.

I sure hope your feelig better now PuddinPie.

Oh you poor thing! I cannot imagine the pain you have suffered and am so sorry for you.

I suffered with gallbladder attacks for over a year before seeing a doctor who knew what the heck he was doing. I am still so grateful to him, and the surgeon who removed my gallbladder. It was a horrible experience in and of itself, let alone what you are going through!

Oh myyyyyyyyy! That does sound painful indeed!!! I am soooooo very glad I have never had one of these (knock on wood). I am such a baby that I cry over a urinary tract infection.... I couldn't even IMAGINE this!!!

oh, don't forget that once it gets to the bladder it wants out of there too...

I had a really bad kidney stone attack and went to the doctors, wher they told me that I had a simple back ache. I knew what the problem was...

I brought them the stone saying something like "well, here's my back ache."

It is actually of size??? How big?? A pea size???

My sister had kidney stones once. She was doing Adkins, but not very well. She was eating fatty gross meat all the time, very few veggies and no Fiber, not enough Water. That's not really Adkins. Anyhow, she got stones. She's no wimp and she was brought to her knees. It was horrible to watch. Here's the kicker, though.

She has 4 ureters, not just 2. They discovered it during her stone episode, and she shares this hereditary feature with my cousin, that we know of. They both have 2 lobes in each kidney, and each lobe has it's own ureter to the bladder. Double the chance for traveling little glass shards, ouch! We had kidded that she could donate 2 kidneys and have 2 left, and make a bundle on the black market. Wonder if that is something to solve her financial woes and get her a band? Kidding.

Anyway. Ouch is right. And Princess, I don't think they have to be all that big to be painful, but some are big enough to fish out of the toilet? Some are never found. But you know they are gone because the pain is gone.

Just how big is a "big" kidney stone? One that's worthy of fishing out and taking back to the doc to say "here's my backache!"?