Bladder stones

Bladder stones are caused by conditions which stop you from emptying your bladder fully, such as an enlarged prostate or damaged nerves.

The main symptoms of bladder stones include pain in your lower tummy or lower back, pain when you pee and blood in your pee.

Small bladder stones can come out when you pee and may not need treatment. If you have a large stone, you may need surgery to remove it.

Drinking plenty of fluids, peeing when you need to go and eating a healthy, balanced diet can help prevent bladder stones from coming back.

If you’ve had bladder stones, there is a risk they may come back.

There are things you can do to help, such as:

• drink plenty of fluids
• pee when you need to go – do not hold on or wait to pee
• if you feel like you still need to pee after peeing, try again 10 to 20 seconds afterwards
• eat a healthy balanced diet, including plenty of fruit and vegetables, to avoid constipation

The main symptoms of bladder stones are:

• pain in your lower tummy (abdomen)
• pain or burning when you pee
• peeing more often then usual, including at night
• blood in your pee
• having difficulty peeing or not being able to pee at all
• having frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs)

These symptoms can also be caused by other conditions.

Bladder stones are more common in men but women can get them too. Children can get bladder stones, but this is rare.

• you have pain in your lower tummy, that's not getting better
• you have pain when you pee
• you need to pee more often than usual
• you're having difficulty peeing

If a GP thinks you might have bladder stones, you may need tests such as:

• tests on a sample of your pee
• a blood test
• scans such as an ultrasound or CT scan
• a cystoscopy – where a long, thin tube with a small camera inside is passed through the tube you pee through (urethra) into your bladder

Small bladder stones sometimes come out when you pee. But larger bladder stones will usually need to be removed.

You will also need treatment for what is causing your bladder stones to stop them coming back.

Surgery to remove bladder stones

The most common type of surgery for bladder stones is a cystolitholapaxy (sometimes called an endoscopic lithophany).

For the procedure:

1. You have a local anaesthetic (where you’re awake) or a general anaesthetic (where you’re asleep), so you should not feel any pain.
2. A thin tube with a camera at the end (cystoscope) is passed into the tube you pee through (urethra) and up into your bladder to find the bladder stones.
3. Small stones are flushed out using liquid.
4. Larger stones are broken up into smaller pieces with either a crushing device, sound waves or a laser and then flushed out.

A cystolitholapaxy usually takes between 15 minutes and 1 hour.

After the procedure, you may have a catheter put in to help drain urine from your bladder until you can pee normally again (usually a few days later).

You may need to stay in hospital for 1 to 3 nights after the procedure.

If you cannot have a cystolitholapaxy, you may be offered a different type of surgery.

A doctor will talk to you about the risks and possible side effects of surgery.

You can get bladder stones if you have a condition that stops you from emptying all the pee from your bladder. Over time, the minerals in your pee clump together and form stones.

Conditions that can stop you from emptying your bladder fully include:

• an enlarged prostate – where the prostate blocks the tube you pee through (urethra)
• bladder prolapse (cystocele) – where muscles around the bladder have weakened and the bladder is pushing down into the vagina
• damaged nerves in your bladder (neurogenic bladder) – this may be because of injury to the spine or a condition such as spina bifida or motor neurone disease
• small pockets in the lining of your bladder (bladder diverticula)
• constipation

If you’ve had bladder stones, there is a risk they may come back.

There are things you can do to help, such as:

• drink plenty of fluids
• pee when you need to go – do not hold on or wait to pee
• if you feel like you still need to pee after peeing, try again 10 to 20 seconds afterwards
• eat a healthy balanced diet, including plenty of fruit and vegetables, to avoid constipation