Celebs With A Stone

Two names too famous to need any introduction.

But do you know what the two had in common, apart from renown?

Both shared a stone.

And this stone was not of the sparkling variety that sends a wave of thrill through your heart. Something that you would like to treasure. This was a stone they would rather not have.

They both had kidney stones.

But these were not the only well-known people who suffered from kidney stones.

The list of stone sufferers includes such prominent people as Alfred Hitchcock, Michelangelo, Bing Crosby, Caesar Augustus, James I of England, Russian ruler Peter the Great, Indira Gandhi, Lyndon B. Johnson and others.

With so many big people with kidney stones, you may wonder if this malady has something to do with name and fame?

No, that is not so at all.

We know of so many famous kidney sufferers not because they were the only victims of this disease. But because they were famous.

Every little or big thing about such people gets written about and remembered - be it a cough or a kidney stone. Ava Gardner having a kidney stone treatment must have been frontpage news throughout the world in its time. But what if her hairdresser had the same problem? Would anybody care to write or read about it?

This is the reason we have such a long list of kidney sufferers though this illness has been around since centuries, affecting all kinds of people throughout the world.

Kidney stones form in your kidney from the waste materials of your body which does not flush out. At their smallest, kidney stones can be grainlike particles and pass out without you knowing about them. But they can grow to be quite big too and can cause pain when they block a part of your urinary system.

You don't if the stone is quite small. It is only when they can't be flushed out naturally that you may feel pain in your side and back which is one of the symptoms of kidney stones.

Who gets kidney stones?

Anybody can get them. This malady is prevalent all over the world in all countries and cultures. Take for instance USA. According to an official source, the percentage of people with kidney stone has been increasing. In 1970s less than 4 percent of the population had this problem. By the early 1990s, the portion of the population with the disease had increased to more than 5 percent.

Fortunately, yes.

In the past people who had this condition had to suffer its effects - some very badly.

But we are lucky. With the progress of medical science, there are a number of kidney stones treatment procedures available, some of which don't require surgery.

So if you have any symptoms of kidney stones, don't delay seeking appropriate medical help from your physician.

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