Calcium stones are the most common type of kidney stone. They are formed from the calcium oxalate found in different foods but also can use the calcium oxalate from your liver secretions.
There are also struvite stones, which are typically caused by an infection; uric acid stones, the product of not watching your fluid levels and developing the condition known as gout; and cysteine stones, which come from a hereditary disease to the kidneys that causes them to secrete excess cystinuria, an amino acid that leads to stone formation.
Finally, there are phosphate stones, which occur when phosphorus levels are too high and congeal in stones.
There are no statistics for how many people get kidney stones. But the New York Times has reported that people are getting them earlier and earlier in their lives, with roughly 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women estimated to get the stones at some point. The Times noted that rising levels of obesity may be a leading cause of the earlier onset of kidney stones. Meat consumption is believed to lead to kidney stone formation.
Symptoms of Kidney Stones
Most kidney stones arrive without warning but quickly make their presence known. That’s because they typically form in very tender and crucial areas of the body, moving around in the kidney and potentially passing into the ureter, a tube that connects the kidney and bladder.