
Elizabeth Weinandy, RD
- Registered dietitian
When you’re passing a kidney stone, you want pain relief fast. But you also want to make sure you don’t have to experience that pain and other distressing symptoms again.
At The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, our kidney stone specialists provide care to treat your acute condition while also creating a plan to manage and prevent kidney stone disease in the future.
Our multidisciplinary Metabolic Stone Clinic combines the expertise of doctors in nephrology (kidney care), urology and nutrition to monitor your health and help you make lifestyle changes to prevent kidney stones or reduce their impact.
The Metabolic Stone Clinic provides coordinated care for people with kidney stones, especially those with frequent or rare kidney stones. Within the clinic, urologists, nephrologists and dietitians who are skilled at kidney stone prevention and management work collaboratively, allowing you to receive seamless care no matter what’s causing your kidney stones.
A kidney stone is a mass of crystalized minerals or salt that forms inside your kidneys. A stone typically doesn’t cause symptoms until it eventually moves from your kidneys to the bladder to pass out of your body when you urinate. Passing kidney stones can be extremely painful.
Metabolic disorders and other medical problems, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, can lead to developing kidney stones; however, if these risk factors are properly managed, the likelihood of getting kidney stones decreases by 70%.
The team at Ohio State’s Metabolic Stone Clinic can help you manage these risk factors, helping you prevent kidney stones from even forming in the first place.
Ganesh Shidham, MD, a nephrologist, discusses why kidney stones are becoming significantly more common, and what you can do to protect yourself.
There are five main types of kidney stones, all of which can be identified and treated at the Metabolic Stone Clinic. Identifying the type of stone helps doctors know how to best treat you.
The five main types of kidney stones:
Anyone who has a kidney stone or has had one in the past can be seen in the clinic. People who might benefit the most from the care at the Metabolic Stone Clinic include individuals with:
The Metabolic Stone Clinic offers services in every facet of kidney stone care, from diagnosis to treatment to prevention.
The Metabolic Stone Clinic offers the latest technology in kidney stone diagnosis and provides comprehensive evaluations and care. The main strategies for diagnosing kidney stones include:
If you’re currently symptomatic with a kidney stone, your visits will most likely begin with a urologist to receive the treatment you need to pass the stone or relieve symptoms.
If you’re not experiencing symptoms, you’ll visit a nephrologist to evaluate your medical history and possible causes of kidney stones. Then, our multidisciplinary team will work to create a treatment and prevention strategy, which might include the following:
You’ll be monitored at the Metabolic Stone Clinic, including urine collection, every few months for the first year of treatment, and then every six to nine months for follow-up appointments as needed.
Working with a collaborative team of experts at an academic medical center within a dedicated, specialized clinic can have many benefits, including:
Your primary care doctor, urologist or nephrologist can refer you to the Metabolic Stone Clinic.
You can also call the clinic at 614-293-4837 for more information or to make an appointment.