Q: I take a medication (Zonegran for epilepsy) that makes me prone to kidney stones. I’ve passed one and have another. I know you suggest taking 600 mg of calcium daily, but won’t that make me more likely to form kidney stones?
PAUL, via email
A: Since the most common type of kidney stones — calcium oxalate pebbles — are formed when calcium and oxalic acid hook up in urine (yep, pee is their idea of a singles bar), your question makes perfect sense. So our answer may sound a little crazy: Calcium pills, taken with meals, actually can be protective. Calcium binds with oxalate in food, which keeps it from getting into your urinary tract.
There are other potent steps you can take to help prevent kidney stones. The most important is to drink quarts of water — yep, quarts. The rule of thumb if you’ve had a kidney stone is at least 3 quarts a day (other fluids count, too). Start by washing down your Zonegran with a big glassful. Then just keep at it.
It’s smart to measure your intake for a few days (3 quarts = 12 measuring cups) until you instinctively know how much you need. Every time you eat anything, drink a glass of water. Have a glass before you go to bed; if you get up to pee during the night, have another glass. Drink moderate amounts of orange juice, lemonade, coffee, tea, wine and beer, too; all can deter stones. But water is your kidneys’ BFF.
Salt is not. Sodium increases calcium in urine, which ups your chance of stones. Skip the highly processed “salt bombs” your body doesn’t need anyway: fast food, canned soups/vegetables, deli meats, premade frozen dishes, pizza, hot dogs, sausage. Grapefruit juice, cola and cranberry juice also may cause trouble. And definitely avoid spinach, rhubarb, nuts and wheat bran — these normally healthy foods increase oxalate in urine, exactly what you Zonegran takers and other kidney-stone-makers don’t need.
The You Docs — Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show” and Mike Roizen of Cleveland Clinic — are authors of “YOU: Losing Weight.” To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com. A King Features syndicate.
