What Are Calcium Oxalate Stones and Crystals?
Calcium oxalate stones & crystals are hard, crystalline mineral formations in the kidney or urinary tract
Urine contains many dissolved minerals and salts. Calcium oxalate kidney stones can form when your urine has high levels of these minerals and salts. Calcium oxalate crystals can start small but can grow larger in size, even filling the inner hollow structures of the kidney.
Calcium Oxalate Crystals in Urine Formation – Some crystals stay in the kidney, and do not cause any problems. Sometimes calcium oxalate crystals can travel down the ureter, the tube between the kidney and the bladder. If the crystal reaches the bladder, it can be passed out of the body in urine. If the crystal becomes lodged in the ureter, it blocks the urine flow from that kidney.
Calcium Oxalate Stones Symptoms – Calcium Oxalate kidney stones usually do not cause symptoms until they move through your kidney or passes into your ureters (the tubes connecting the kidneys and the bladder).
If a calcium oxalate kidney stone becomes lodged in the ureters, it may block urine flow and cause the kidney to swell. This leads to an ureter spasm, which can be very painful.
If that occurs, the symptoms of calcium oxalate crystals in urine may be felt.
Calcium Oxalate Crystal Prevalence & Recurrence
Crystals like calcium oxalate are very common in the US and world wide
That means 8.8% of the population, or 1 in every 11 people deal with crystals on a daily basis. Even if the crystal challenge “passes,” around 15 million people in the US will have recurrence of their crystals!* Here are some more interesting facts about the occurrence and recurrence of crystals:
- Approximately 80% of crystals are mostly comprised of calcium compounds
- Among men, the prevalence of crystals is 10.6% compared to 7.1% for women
- 50% of crystal sufferers have a recurrence within 5 years of the initial event*
- Emergency room visits for crystals increased 20% between 2005 and 2009*
- In the southeastern and central southern U.S., there is a high incidence of crystals; this region is often called the “Crystal Belt.”
Calcium Oxalate Crystals Formation in Excretory system
Calcium oxalate crystals in urine form in the urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra)
Urinary Tract
The urinary tract is the body’s drainage system for removing urine, which is composed of wastes and extra fluid. In order for normal urination to occur, all body parts in the urinary tract need to work together in the correct order. The kidneys make urine from water and your body’s waste. The urine then travels down the ureters into the bladder, where it is stored. Urine leaves your body through the urethra. Urinary tract health is essential for optimal health.
Kidneys
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. They are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of the spine behind the liver, stomach, pancreas and intestines. Healthy kidneys clean waste from the blood and remove it in the urine.
Kidneys control the levels of sodium, potassium and calcium in the blood. Every day, the two kidneys filter about 120 to 150 quarts of blood to produce about 1 to 2 quarts of urine, composed of wastes and extra fluid.
Click the link to see the most common kidney stone pain location.
Ureters
Ureters are the thin tubes of muscle—one on each side of the bladder—that carry urine from each of the kidneys to the bladder.
Bladder
Proper bladder health is important to urinary tract function. The bladder is located in the pelvis between the pelvic bones. The bladder is a hollow, muscular, balloon-shaped organ that serves as the storage pouch for urine. The bladder expands as it fills with urine. Although a person does not control kidney function, a person does control when the bladder empties. Bladder emptying is known as urination. The bladder stores urine until the person finds an appropriate time and place to urinate.
The typical human bladder acts as a reservoir and reaches its capacity between 16 to 24 ounces of urine, but the urge to urinate comes when the bladder is about one-quarter full. How often a person needs to urinate will depend on how quickly the kidneys produce the urine that fills the bladder. The muscles of the bladder wall remain relaxed while the bladder fills with urine. As the bladder fills to capacity, signals are sent to the brain informing a person that they will need to urinate sometime soon.
Urethra
During urination, the bladder empties through the urethra, located at the bottom of the bladder. The Urethra is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the urinary meatus for the removal of fluids from the body. In males, the urethra travels through the penis. The female urethra is quite a bit shorter than its male counterpart and its opening is situated between a woman’s clitoris and vagina.
Urinary tract health (and urethra health) is important because it:
- Prevents the buildup of wastes and extra fluid in the body
- Keeps stable levels of electrolytes, such as potassium and phosphate
- Produces hormones that help regulate blood pressure
- Produces red blood cells
- Helps keep bones strong
Urine Output
The amount of urine a person produces depends on many factors, such as the amounts of liquid and food a person consumes and the amount of fluid lost through sweat and breathing. Certain medications, like diuretics, and medical conditions and also certain types of food can affect the amount of urine produced. Children produce less urine than adults; the amount produced is dependent on age.
Most people urinate between six (6) and eight (8) times a day. But if you’re drinking more often due to physical activity or just trying to consume more fluids to help prevent calcium oxalate crystals from forming, it’s not abnormal to urinate as many as ten (10) to twelve (12) times a day.