probably because i've been eating a lot of really awesome street food (that's admittedly sodium-rich but my choices are on me)

worst pain ever though like not even getting shot would feel this awful but hey at least i now know i'd make for a good punk screamer

anyway ended up going to the hospital and and despite being a foreigner on an L visa it was easy and affordable, and since my chinese is terrible (they naturally assumed such in advance) they had an english-speaking doctor video-call me to explain what the other doctors were doing before using one of those machines to punch my kidney stones into kidney dust

healthcare here is pretty cool, so common china W 😎 too bad i'm pissing blood

    • FourteenEyes [he/him]
      ·
      24 days ago

      in the wicked lands of East Chinesia they punch you in the kidneys just for getting sick

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    ·
    24 days ago

    Ooof, I had one kidney stone and it was the worst pain I had ever felt (gallstone was a close second)

    Glad to hear your treatment is going well

    • Midnight_Pearl [any, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      24 days ago

      thanks, and yeah it sucked major ass to be in that level of pain and not really know what it was; like it was so bad that it being kidney stones didn't even occur to me because i just assumed they couldn't be that painful.

      now that i've had them broken up, laying on a heated pillow seems to ease the pain quite a bit.

  • Jabril [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    23 days ago

    I'm not an expert but I don't think kidney stones just form due to a couple meals, do they? Would it not have been something built up over time?

    • Midnight_Pearl [any, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      24 days ago

      i did ESWL to treat it and it was only $300 USD out of pocket (including my initial imaging test and diagnosis), which is downright unbelievable when you compare that to what it'd be back home in ameriKKKa under the same circumstances

      • SoJB@lemmy.ml
        ·
        24 days ago

        That wouldn’t even cover my (US) monthly health insurance payment, and that’s before receiving any treatment at all which naturally comes with thousands of dollars in deductibles.

      • Alaskaball [comrade/them]A
        ·
        24 days ago

        Oh wow that's like what I've heard about in Korea when I was over there. Prices for Healthcare are fucking wild even in countries that technically run theirs "for profit" - bullshit that that is - when compared to the literal daylight robbery our "take an advil for your sucking chest wound" dogshit healthcare

        • Midnight_Pearl [any, comrade/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          24 days ago

          yeah i'm gonna be going back home soon and i'm just very glad my kidney stone kicked into full gear here in china and not the US

          i don't know what i would have done otherwise

  • kittin [he/him]
    ·
    24 days ago

    Im glad you suffered this medical emergency in a civilized first world nation OP get well soon and drink more tea

    • ☭ Comrade Pup Ivy 🇨🇺@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      23 days ago

      Technicaly China would be a second world (or third world) nation as the words where first world was capitalist nations aligned with the US, Second world was Communists alingned with the USSR and third world where all the nutral nations

      so assuming that China has userpt the USSR, China would be a second world contry... the whole "world" moddle of classification is not useful

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    24 days ago

    My partner has had several kidney stones and it is the worst pain they have ever had. A kidney stone almost killed them once when it was blocking an infected kidney from draining and our idiot GPs were so convinced they were just being too squeamish that they failed to ignore obvious danger signs.

    Take UTI's serious, especially when you have a history of kidney stones.

  • Hexboare [they/them]
    ·
    24 days ago

    Having had kidney stones (and ESWL) means you're more likely to have more in future, so keep up the water intake and consider carrying around some tadalafil (more effective than the more commonly used tamsulosin)

    • Midnight_Pearl [any, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      24 days ago

      oh yeah i'm gonna be making a lot of changes after this

      i don't ever wanna experience that again (thanks for the tips btw)

  • peeonyou [he/him]
    ·
    24 days ago

    My little sister gets kidney stones about once a year and has always said it is by far the worst pain she's ever had, far beyond giving birth even. I feel for ya and hope you're doing well!

    It's also good to know you can get affordable care in China!

  • LaughingLion [any, any]
    ·
    24 days ago

    damn, i was born with a bum kidney on my left side and in a three year period passed so many kidney stones, like over a dozen

    they never robotically karate chopped the stone out of my body fuck them i even had insurance