Kidney stones cause pain, discomfort and infections. They're also becoming increasingly common nationally, affecting one in 10 Americans — including me.

It all started at 5:30 one morning last month as I was lying in bed. I suddenly felt a stabbing pain down my left side, but had no idea of the cause. I tried everything from Aspirin to heating pads to a hot shower, but the pain kept getting worse until I could hardly stand up.

I ended up in the emergency room. As my urologist, University Hospital's Dr. Aram Loeb, explained recently when we were on Ideastream Public Media’s “Sound of Ideas” together, kidney stones were the cause.

They develop when materials found in food, such as calcium oxalate, crystallize and form stones.

But it's not the stones themselves that cause the pain, Loeb

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