Signs and Symptoms
Bladder stones are small particles that can form in the bladder. In most cases bladder stones develop when the urine becomes very concentrated or when one is dehydrated. This allows for the minerals like calcium or magnesium to crystallize and form stones. Bladder stones vary in number size and consistency. In some cases bladder stones do not cause any symptoms of signs and are discovered as an incidental finding on a plain radiograph. However, when symptoms do occur these may include severe lower abdominal and back pain, difficult urination, frequent urination at night, fever, painful urination and blood in the urine. The majority of individuals who are symptomatic will complain of pain which comes in waves. The pain may also be associated with nausea, vomiting and chills.
Bladder stones vary in their size, shape and texture- some are small, hard and smooth whereas others are huge, spiked and very soft. One can have one or multiple stones. Bladder stones are somewhat more common in men who have prostate enlargement. The large prostate presses on the urethra and makes it difficult to pass urine. Over time stagnant urine collects in the bladder and minerals like calcium start to precipitate. Other individuals who develop bladder stones include those who have had spinal cord injury, paralysis or some type of nerve damage. When nerves to the back are damaged, the bladder cannot empty and stagnant urine results.
Read more about this topic: Bladder Stone
Famous quotes containing the words signs and/or symptoms:
“Among all the modernized aspects of the most luxurious of industries, the model, a vestige of voluptuous barbarianism, is like some plunder-laden prey. She is the object of unbridled regard, a living bait, the passive realization of an ideal.... No other female occupation contains such potent impulses to moral disintegration as this one, applying as it does the outward signs of riches to a poor and beautiful girl.”
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)
“A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn’t enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. The spectacle is nearly always comic.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)