I had a terrible bout with kidney stones this past summer. I had one on the right side that passed & a very large one on the left that I had to have surgery to have a stent put in & then SWL (shock wave lithotripsy). It broke the stone up & some of it passed, but then I had to have a second surgery with another stent & then laser to continue breaking up the rest of the stone. My last x-ray on Oct. 22, 2014 showed that I am now stone free. I understand from my urologist that I need to drink maybe as much as 3 qts of water a day, which I get about 78 oz now. I am trying to work up to 96 ozs. My question is: I have read in Dr. Whitaker s book, published in 1995, that 1000 mg of magnesium citrate & 100 mg of vitamin B6 daily will prevent me from ever getting another kidney stone. Do you agree with this? Can those amounts of magnesium & B6 hurt me? I am a 70 year old female & have never had a kidney stone till now. email address: YYYY@YYYY
Hi, welcome to ChatDoctorLooking to your history, i, as a nephrologist, understand your concern. Stones which are obstructed in urine passage, first, require its complete removal to relieve obstruction. Then, it requires evaluation of cause of kidney stone and type of stone. Adequate water intake with salt restriction, decrease intake of nonveg protein and normal calcium intake are the general measures to prevent kidney stones. Magnesium, citrate and It B6 can prevent stone formation. So, it is safe to take above medicines in recommended doses to prevent kidney stones. I think this would be helpful to you. Best wishes. TC. Chat Doctor. 