by Jaimela King

Created on: October 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 23, 2008

URGENT! YOUR HUSBAND IS IN EMERGENCY! It is the kind of call that you never want to get at work. My husband was rushed to the emergency suffering from severe abdominal pains. I knew instinctively that this had to be serious since he is rarely ill. We later found out that the problem was kidney stones which have since been removed. The doctor, however, suggested that they could reoccur leading us to observe a strict herbal diet to minimize the chances of again having to deal with health emergencies associated with kidney stones.

It is good to know that one doesn't necessarily have to jump through hoops to avoid or cure kidney stones. Nature has given us everything we need to live a healthy, kidney stone free life. Unfortunately, it usually takes a trip to the emergency room for us to get the message loud and clear. Herbal remedies have a great track record when used for the prevention and cure of kidney stones.

When our daily food intake does not provide us with sufficient nutrients, there is an abundance of vitamins, herbs and minerals that we can take to supplement our diet and which ca prevent or even cure some diseases. All that is required is a little time and effort to research the herbal remedies that can make a difference to our health.

What are kidney stones anyway? As a young child when I heard talk about kidney stones among my elders, I spent endless hours trying to figure out how the heck stones got into the kidneys. I assumed that there must have been stone hidden in the food eaten and unwittingly consumed, accumulated over a period of time and when we had too many it caused a problem. I wasn't too far off; it does have something to do with what we eat, so to speak.

A person can develop one of four types of kidney stones. The cystine variety is one of the least common. This type is not the result of the food we eat but rather, hereditary in nature. Cystine kidney stones result from a large excretion of one specific type of amino acid. Other types are calcium, struvite and uric acid. These are formed by either a mixture of ammonium, magnesium and phosphate or uric acid which result from a high intake of protein. The kidney stones become highly concentrated and turn into crystals which combine to form stones.

Causes can range from too little fluid intake to limited activity high protein consumption, gout and chronic urinary tract infection, to name a few. Unless your kidney stones have progressed to the surgery stage, there are things that you can do naturally,

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