The first time I got a kidney infection, it was the weirdest thing. I'd been running around and doing my thing all day -- it was late summer, so it was hot. I have the worst shag carpet, so even wtih teh upright vacuum, I found myself using the hose attachment on my hands and knees trying to get the pine needles out of the carpet. That night, Kerry and I went to the grocery store, and I had this little stitch in my side, only it was on the back of my side. I thought I pulled something while I was vacuuming. I thought, "ah, I'll walk it off," and trucked on through the grocery store. From there it just got worse adn worse until Kerry threatened to throw me over his shoulder and force me to go to the ER.
I think it was a year, maybe two after that, that I got my first kidney stone. I thought it was the same deal again -- doc knocked on my back, I said ouch, got some antibiotics and called it good. But it wouldn't go away. Turned out to be a stone.
The year after that -- the same time of year, even, and this IS that time of year -- I had another one. This time I knew what it was though. Went to the doc, peed in a cup, got some antibiotics (just in case, because they're little infection farms), and some vicodin, and went on with my life.
Both times, believe it or not, I worked all the way through the mess. Luckily I can do a lot of my work from home, but I still went to meetings and such, although it took copious amounts of tylenol.
I found that Gatorade made me feel better pretty consistently. There are a few symptoms I notice when they're kicking up. First, I get the back/side/front, and sometimes into the hip crampy-ness. It actually feels like someone is squeezing your kidney like a sponge. And when I try to pee, I feel like a hamster water-bottle -- you know the kind with the little ball bearing at the end of the tube. When they actually pass, that's not the worst part (not for me, and a couple have been like 3mm, so not tiny). Not pain wise. It feels freaking CREEPY, though. I wander around shuddering for a couple hours. In fact I just twitched even thinking about
it.
Funny story -- the first one I passed, I felt it actually "move into place" while I was sitting at a city council meeting. The administration at the time was NOT friendly toward the project I was working on, so there I am, with a kidney stone trying to push its way outta me, and I have to keep a neutral face in front of all these people who would like nothing better than for the work I'm doing to fail. Somehow I still managed to drive to Walgreens to refill my vicodin and drive home before I went to the bathroom.