Hi! I started having pain in my right kidney exactly three weeks ago. It has been there continually for the entire three weeks, but the severity of it has been up and down throughout that time. Sometime after that, I started having cloudy urine off and on.
On Sunday, February 21st, I had a 2+-hr bout of the *worst* pain I've ever had, in the lower left abdominal/groin area. When I say that this was the worst pain I've ever had, I mean that it was worse than childbirth and c-sections (I've had two of each), knee surgery, erythema nodosum, and the only thing that has ever felt nearly that bad was a nearly-ruptured appendix.
After a couple of hours, a Vicodin, and two aspirin (I was desperate!), I was finally able to settle into a position and stay still. I later assumed that I must have experienced my first-ever kidney stone, but to my knowledge I never passed anything (but I had started my period at that time, so it's hard to say whether or not I passed anything).
I was doing much better by Monday, and I didn't have any pain (beyond the continued kidney pain) until Thursday. The groin pain started again, and by Friday I was in a lot of pain. Apparently I was really out-of-it also according to the other moms at my kids' school - my speech was really slow, I wasn't making a lot of sense, my arms felt heavy, and I was just in really bad shape. My hubby came to pick up the kids and me as it was clear that I was unable to drive safely, and he took me straight to the doctor. She noted right away that my right kidney was really tender from both the front and the back, I had blood in my urine, and they said that I had a kidney infection and was probably dealing with more stones. I started on Cipro on Friday and was knocked flat for the entire weekend. I never had a fever, btw. The doctor called the other day and they didn't find any specific bacteria in the culture, but she said to continue on the Cipro.
I've been on Cipro since last Friday and I'm still really wiped out, though that part is slowly improving. But my right kidney still hurts, the cloudy urine is starting again off and on, and I'm starting to get the left-side groin pain again (that went away on Saturday). The doctor wants me to get an ultrasound.
I scheduled the ultrasound, but we have a PPO and money is a big issue right now as we have four kids and things are just tight at the moment. The ultrasound will likely cost at least $550 out of pocket. On top of that, one of my kiddos started running a fever tonight and I'm expecting the others to follow suit within the next day or so, since that's usually how it works around here. ;-P Other than my own discomfort, is it a huge problem if I delay the ultrasound? Is there a risk of anything beyond the stones, that could be causing the kidney pain? I don't want to mess up my kidney, but if it's just a matter of waiting a bit longer, I don't want to pay a lot of money to find out that I have a stone that needs to come out. I guess I'm trying to figure out if there is anything else that I might need to be concerned about, that could have something to do with the pain. There is tenderness in both the front, under my ribcage, and in my back - right where my kidney is. The doctor was very clear that it's definitely kidney pain. However, my kidney function tests came out clear and nothing was amiss in my CBC, other than the elevated WBC.
Is it safe to wait a bit on the ultrasound to see if this works itself out on its own, and just make friends with ibuprofen in the meantime? It doesn't kill the pain, but it helps.
Thanks for any input.
