Medications

Medicine to help pass stones

Medicine you can buy without a prescription, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), may relieve your pain while you pass a stone.

Your doctor may also prescribe medicine to help your body pass the stone. Alpha-blockers have been shown to help kidney stones pass more quickly with very few side effects.³ Ask your doctor if these medicines can help you.

Medicine to prevent stones

Which medicine you take depends on the type of stones you have.

Calcium stones

Calcium stones are the most common kind of kidney stone.¹ To prevent them, you may take:

• Thiazides.
• Potassium citrate.
• Orthophosphate.

Uric acid stones

About 5 to 10 out of 100 kidney stones are made of uric acid, a waste product that normally exits the body in the urine.¹ To prevent these types of stones, you may take:

• Potassium citrate.
• Sodium bicarbonate.
• Allopurinol.

Cystine stones

A very small number of stones are made of a chemical called cystine.¹ Medicines to prevent them include:

• Potassium citrate.
• Penicillamine.
• Tiopronin.
• Captopril.

Struvite stones

Some struvite stones (staghorn calculi) form because of frequent kidney infections. If you have a struvite stone, you will most likely need antibiotics to cure the infection and help prevent new stones from forming. You may need surgery to remove the stone. Urease inhibitors may be used to prevent struvite stones.