Eight-year-old with kidney stone: US case study

Eight-year-old Matty has had four experiences with kidney stones. The first was in 2007 and the last in April 2008. When he experienced his first kidney stone, everyone including the emergency room doctors thought it was his appendix.

"It felt really painful and intense," Matty said. "I was really scared because it was hurting a lot."

 

Not just an adult thing
 

His father Darryl Billemeyer said it was frightening to see his son crying in pain. When it was later diagnosed as due to kidney stones after ultrasound tests at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Billemeyer was shocked as he had thought that this was "more of an adult thing."

Matty needed surgery initially. Subsequently, the stones passed during urination.

Dr John C Pope IV, an associate professor of urologic surgery and pediatrics at the Monroe Carell Jr Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, said, "When we tell parents, most say they've never heard of a kid with a kidney stone and think something is terribly wrong with their child."

No more processed food high in salt
 

As for Matty, he now takes diuretic pills to increase urination, brings a water bottle to school everyday, and has given up favourite foods all high in salt content, eg sausages, pickles and packaged ramen noodles.

"Salt wasn't something we really thought about," said Billemeyer. Both he and his wife are full-time teachers. As working parents of five sons, family meals previously included quickly prepared processed foods like canned spaghetti or chicken nuggets. Matty's diagnosis put a stop to that.
 

Case 2: Tessa
 

In February 2008, 11-year-old Tessa began having back pains. An aspiring ballerina with a heavy dance schedule, she was used to occasional aches and strains. But this one was so intense that her parents took her to the doctor.