Kidney stones caused by diving

[lmarks]

I have had 4 attacks of kidney stones. (Ouch !!!!)
Three of these occurred after diving. One of them occurred about a week after a dive trip.
I have gone on many dive trips without developing kidney stones.
A dive medicine specialist told me that there was a relationship between diving and kidney stones because of the pressure that is transmitted to the body tissues when diving. He also told me that I should "over-hydrate" when I dive.
I was wondering if this has happened to other divers.

 

[Freewillow]

Diving will not "produce" kidney stones. However, you are right, diving induces pressures in your body that could easily dislodge kidney stones or make them more painful. So have a doctor investigate why your body does produce kydney stones. To be perfectly hydrated is a must in diving but this will have no/little effet on your problems. Best of luck

 

[TSandM]

Diving doesn't cause kidney stones. Kidney stones are caused by precipitation of calcium (or, rarely, other crystals) in the collecting system of the kidney. This can be due to excessive intake of calcium or oxalate, or more often, due to a genetic problem with the handling of calcium in the kidney. Dehydration, with the consequent concentration of urine, can encourage the formation of stones, and diving trips do sometimes put people in situations where dehydration is likely (hot temperatures, sun, inadequate fluid intake, and volume losses due to immersion diuresis). In addition, it's possible that the increased urine flow from the diuresis encourages stones which have formed in the kidneys to break loose and transit the ureter, which is when they cause symptoms.

Watching your hydration status during dive trips makes sense to me, as inadequate intake could predispose you to form more stones.