My husband was told yesterday his left kidney is completely blocked by a stone. He had a partial blockage a couple of years ago, and had to have it removed. He will be referred to a surgeon tomorrow. But tonight he went and bought magnesium, marshmallow, and hydrangea herbs. He was told it was "guaranteed" to dissolve the stones. I did a google search and most of the sites I returned were herbal sites, so of course they say this works. I'm curious if anyone has tried this and did it in fact dissolve your stone? Any input appreciated!

Well it has been my experience that once you have a stone that there is nothing that "dissolves" it once it had formed. Except laser (ESWL) I am going to be on medications that help to prevent formation of the stones, (I have calcium oxalate stones mostly) but like I said, in my experience I have always had to have surgery and there is no quick fix to dissolve them. I wish there were. Best of luck to you and your husband.

I am going to be on medications that help to prevent formation of the stones, (I have calcium oxalate stones mostly) but like I said, in my experience I have always had to have surgery and there is no quick fix to dissolve them. I wish there were. Best of luck to you and your husband.

Hi Boos,

I don't understand how you can go on medication for the calcium oxalate stones, my urologist said there is no medication for this type of stone.

Are you talking about maybe a thiazide diuretic, which is a water pill. My urologist told me that she may put me on that but told me that wouldn't cure my stones.

Let me know what the medication is, I am really wondering and curious.

Thanks.

I have had kidney stones for about three years... I think. I've had all the symptoms for that long, anyway, but was only recently diagnosed. X-ray and IVP in mid-June showed four fairly large (ranging from about 7 to about 15 mm) stones in the left side of my "horseshoe" kidney. (I found out I had that kind of kidney from the IVP).

I do NOT want to do the lithotripsy. I looked for an herbal "fix" on the internet too. I kept coming up with this stuff called Lithonal. I've have read only good things about the product, but a few negotives about the company that makes it. I began taking it following the directions on the bottle. I have been on it for about 8 weeks now.

I went back for a follow-up visit with my urologist last Thursday. I told him I had been taking an herbal remedy and had been drinking lots of water. I had also had a few painful episodes followed by passing very dark urine. I asked the doctor for another x-ray to see if there was any change in the stones. He agreed but said there was no known chemical that "dissolved" or "shrunk" kidney stones. I had the x-ray about 30 minutes later and went back with it for him to review. I was excited when he showed it to me and compared it with the IVP done 7 weeks earlier. The stones to me seemed visibly smaller and I saw only two stones and the two Wellbutrin tablets I had taken 3 hours earlier which were now in my intestine and located over the kidney. He said he saw 4 stones. I asked him about the shape of them and didn't it seem odd that they were tablet-shaped, EXACTLY the same size/shape, and much brighter than the other two stones. The two that I'm sure were stones were cylendrical and smaller than in the previous x-rays AND in ALL of the pictures of the stones in the previous batch they were spherical NOT tablet-shaped or cylender-shaped. He just shrugged and said kidney stones could be any shape.

My doctor then proceeded to tell me about lithotripcy and that he had tenitively scheduled me for August 23rd. I agreed at the time, but backed out at the hospital just before they were going to draw blood for the routine tests before surgery. I kept thinking, "I KNOW those were the tablets and NOT stones." Even if the tablet-shaped things WERE stones, they were much smaller than the largest stone.

SO, I think the stuff is working. I think I have passed the two smallest stones and the other larger ones are shrinking. (I wish I had skipped my Wellbutrin dose that morning!) I will insist on another x-ray at my next visit before agreeing to lithotripcy. (I will post after my next visit.) I have also had no pain other than the three major episodes when I think I passed parts of the stones.