Ouch, that hurts: A rise in pediatric kidney stones is NOT connected with an increase in infant vaccines...or is it?

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http://www.opednews

com/articles/Ouch-that-hurts-A-rise-i-by-Jane-Stillwater-081030-825.html

Ouch, that hurts: A rise in pediatric kidney stones is NOT connected with an

increase in infant vaccines...or is it?

By Jane Stillwater www.opednews.com

I'm not supposed to be writing up this story. This is a bad idea. " Don't do

it, Jane! "

First of all, I don't want to antagonize Big Pharma. According to

congressional records, large pharmaceutical companies are struggling as it

is -- what with all those senior citizens breaking the law and running off

to Canada to get their prescriptions filled instead of spending that money

here at home -- and if I go about irresponsibly accusing Big Pharma of

making money at the expense of our children as well, I could run the risk of

hurting some corporate feelings.

We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we.

Second, I shouldn't be writing about this for personal reasons. Although

kidney stones usually only occur in middle-aged people, they are suddenly

becoming quite common in American children and my neighbor's child, a

beautiful wonderful six-year-old girl, just got struck down with kidney

stones too. Kidney stones are supposed to be the most painful thing that can

happen to you this side of being in labor for two days before giving birth

to a 15-pound infant. And my neighbor's child is a bit shy and doesn't want

me to mention her name in my blog. I may want to be famous but she doesn't.

She likes Hannah Montana a lot and would not mind being secretly famous --

but not just for having kidney stones!

But I keep thinking that I have to write up this story anyway -- if it will

possibly in any way prevent other little girls like my neighbor's child from

going through this kind of torture.

" Just keep your mouth shut, Jane. You are NOT a scientist! "

Not being a scientist, how can I in any way prove that there is a connection

between the horrifying rise in pediatric kidney stones and the horrifying

rise in the amount of injected vaccines given to babies, as many as five

shots in one day? I can't.

But in any case, parents should be made aware of this horrible new

development -- that is currently being blamed on salt.

Here's an article about it from the New York Times:

A Rise in Kidney Stones Is Seen in U.S. Children, by Laurie Tarkan,

published on October 27, 2008

To the great surprise of parents, kidney stones, once considered a disorder

of middle age, are now showing up in children as young as 5 or 6.

While there are no reliable data on the number of cases, pediatric

urologists and nephrologists across the country say they are seeing a steep

rise in young patients. Some hospitals have opened pediatric kidney stone

clinics.

" The older doctors would say in the '70s and '80s, they'd see a kid with a

stone once every few months, " said Dr. Caleb P. , a urology instructor

at Harvard Medical School who is co-director of the new kidney stone center

at Children's Hospital Boston. " Now we see kids once a week or less. "

Dr. C. Pope IV, an associate professor of urologic surgery and

pediatrics at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in

Nashville, said, " When we tell parents, most say they've never heard of a

kid with a kidney stone and think something is terribly wrong with their

child. "

In China recently, many children who drank milk tainted with melamine - a

toxic chemical illegally added to watered-down milk to inflate the protein

count - developed kidney stones.

The increase in the United States is attributed to a host of factors,

including a food additive that is both legal and ubiquitous: salt.

Though most of the research on kidney stones comes from adult studies,

experts believe it can be applied to children. Those studies have found that

dietary factors are the leading cause of kidney stones, which are

crystallizations of several substances in the urine. Stones form when these

substances become too concentrated.

Forty to 65 percent of kidney stones are formed when oxalate, a byproduct of

certain foods, binds to calcium in the urine. (Other common types include

calcium phosphate stones and uric acid stones.) And the two biggest risk

factors for this binding process are not drinking enough fluids and eating

too much salt; both increase the amount of calcium and oxalate in the urine.

Excess salt has to be excreted through the kidneys, but salt binds to

calcium on its way out, creating a greater concentration of calcium in the

urine and the kidneys.

What we've really seen is an increase in the salt load in children's diet, "

said Dr. Bruce L. Slaughenhoupt, co-director of pediatric urology and of the

pediatric kidney stone clinic at the University of Wisconsin. He and other

experts mentioned not just salty chips and French fries, but also processed

foods like sandwich meats; canned soups; packaged meals; and even sports

drinks like Gatorade, which are so popular among schoolchildren they are now

sold in child-friendly juice boxes.

Children also tend not to drink enough water. " They don't want to go to the

bathroom at school; they don't have time, so they drink less, " said Dr.

Neu, medical director of pediatric nephrology and the pediatric stone

clinic at s Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. Instead, they are

likely to drink only once they're thirsty - but that may be too little, too

late, especially for children who play sports or are just active.

" Drinking more water is the most important step in the prevention of kidney

stones, " Dr. Neu said.

The incidence of kidney stones in adults has also been rising, especially in

women, and experts say they see more adults in their 20s and 30s with stones

in the past, it was more common in adults in their 40s and 50s.

" It's no longer a middle-aged disease, " Dr. said. " Most of us suspect

what we're seeing in children is the spillover of the overall increase in

the whole population. "

The median age of children with stones is about 10.

Many experts say the rise in obesity is contributing to kidney stones in

children as well as adults. But not all stone centers are seeing overweight

children, and having a healthy weight does not preclude kidney stones. " Of

the school-age and adolescent kids we've seen, most of them appear to be

reasonably fit, active kids, " Dr. said. " We're not seeing a parade of

overweight Nintendo players. "

Dr. Slaughenhoupt has seen more overweight children at his clinic. " We haven

t compared our data yet, " he said, " but my sense is that children with

stones are bigger, and some of them are morbidly obese. "

Dr. Pope, in Nashville, agreed. His hospital lies in the so-called stone

belt, a swath of Southern states with a higher incidence of kidney stones,

and he said doctors there saw two to three new pediatric cases a week.

" There's no question in my mind that it is largely dietary and directly

related to the childhood obesity epidemic, " he said.

Fifty to 60 percent of children with kidney stones have a family history of

the disease. " If you have a family history, it's important to recognize your

kids are at risk at some point in their life, " Dr. said. " That means

instilling lifelong habits of good hydration, balanced diet, and avoiding

processed high-salt, high-fat foods. "

There is also evidence that sucrose, found in sodas, can also increase risk

of stones, as can high-protein weight-loss diets, which are growing in

popularity among teenagers.

A common misconception is that people with kidney stones should avoid

calcium. In fact, dairy products have been shown to reduce the risk of

stones, because the dietary calcium binds with oxalate before it is absorbed

by the body, preventing it from getting into the kidneys.

Children with kidney stones can experience severe pain in their side or

stomach when a stone is passing through the narrow ureter through which

urine travels from the kidneys to the bladder. Younger children may have a

more vague pain or stomachache, making the condition harder to diagnose.

Children may feel sick to their stomach, and often there is blood in the

urine.

One Saturday last February, 11-year-old Tessa Cesario of Frederick, Md.,

began having back pains. An aspiring ballerina who dances en pointe five

nights a week, she was used to occasional aches and strains. But this one

was so intense that her parents took her to the doctor.

The pediatrician ordered an X-ray, and when he phoned with the results, her

parents were astonished. " I was afraid he was calling to say she pulled

something and wouldn't be able to dance, " said her mother, Theresa Cesario.

Instead, they were told that Tessa had a kidney stone. " I thought older men

get kidney stones, not kids, " Ms. Cesario said.

The treatment for kidney stones is similar in children and adults. Doctors

try to let the stone pass, but if it is too large, if it blocks the flow of

urine or if there is a sign of infection, it is removed through one of two

types of minimally invasive surgery.

Shock-wave lithotripsy is a noninvasive procedure that uses high-energy

sound waves to blast the stones into fragments that are then more easily

passed. In ureteroscopy, an endoscope is inserted through the ureter to

retrieve or obliterate the stone.

Tessa Cesario is taking a wait-and-see approach. Her stone is not budging,

so her parents are putting off surgery until they can work it into her dance

schedule. In the meantime, she has vastly reduced her salt intake by cutting

back on sandwich meats, processed soups and chips. And, her mother said,

she drinks a ton more water. "

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Stillwater is a freelance writer who hates injustice and corruption in any form

but especially injustice and corruption paid for by American taxpayers. She has

recently published a book entitled, " Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips

For Touring Today's Middle East " . According to Ms. Stillwater, " It's a fabulous

and entertaining book. I loved writing it. And I hope that you will love reading

it too. " It's available at

http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719 or you can

special order it at any independent bookstore.