Bladder Crystals

Any adverse effects of replacement vitamin C will be discuseed here. Topics include kidney stones, gall stones, oxidation, etc.
We plan to move good discussions from the General Topics forum here for posterity.

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Stanley truman jr.

Bladder Crystals

Post Number:#1  Post by Stanley truman jr. » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:20 am

I need a little help folks. About 12 years ago I had my prostate removed and 7 weeks of radiation two years later when my PSA started rising. About 2 years ago I started taking Vitamin C. I started out taking about 2 grams the first year and during the first year I developed bladder crystals. These are little crystals that look like they are covered with razor blades under a magnifing glass. These things can cause you lots of grief and pain. I did some research and found a web page ( can't find it now) that talked about having them after you had your prostrate removed. What happens the bottom of the bladder becomes flat and traps urine in it and it causes crystals to form.
Five weeks ago I started adding the Lysien to the Vit C (4 grams each) and yesterday I started having the same problem again. I want to continue taking the Vit C and Lysien buy not if its going to cause these bladder crystals.

Does anybody have any ideals what I can do to keep these things from forming?

Stan

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Post Number:#2  Post by DanSco » Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:35 pm

What kind of VitC are you taking? I mean, is it ascorbic acid or a mineral ascorbate like calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, etc. ??
-DanSco

Note: I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one on the internet. Do not duplicate what I do without a pat on the head from your doctor and a note from your mommy.

Stanley truman jr.

bladder crystals

Post Number:#3  Post by Stanley truman jr. » Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:04 pm

I order it by the pound from a supplier. I was under the impression that it is buffered ascorbic acid. I use to take the calcium ascorbate till I read some information about it. But I stopped doing it a couple of years back.

I was also thinking that I'm not drinking enough water to help keep the bladder flushed out.

Stan

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Post Number:#4  Post by DanSco » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:17 pm

Hmmmm.. Buffered?? What is it buffered with?
-DanSco

Note: I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one on the internet. Do not duplicate what I do without a pat on the head from your doctor and a note from your mommy.

Ken_RN

More Water, Magnesium, Potassium, B1, B6, Cherries

Post Number:#5  Post by Ken_RN » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:23 pm

Stanley truman jr. wrote:I order it by the pound from a supplier. I was under the impression that it is buffered ascorbic acid. I use to take the calcium ascorbate till I read some information about it. But I stopped doing it a couple of years back.

I was also thinking that I'm not drinking enough water to help keep the bladder flushed out.

Stan

More water would definitely be a good thing as the more dilute the residual urine in your bladder the less likely it will be that crystals will precipitate out of it.

Some other things you can experiment with to control the crystals:
  • Eat lots of cherries, sour/tart cherries are best. If the crystals are due to uric acid then the cherries might help reduce the uric acid content of your urine. This also works for gouty arthritis, btw, since uric acid crystal deposits in the soft tissue of dependent joints is what causes gout.
  • Try a low oxalate diet by avoiding spinach, rhubarb and teas. If the crystals are oxalic acid then this may help. Adding a B-100 complex to your supplement regimen may also help since either B1 or B6 deficiency can contribute to crystal or stone formation by disrupting oxalate metabolism.
  • Try adding more magnesium and potassium to your diet to decrease urine calcium and cutting out dairy products. Stop all calcium supplements. Avocadoes are good source of potassium as are bananas but avocadoes have less carbohydrates to compete with your vitamin C. Magnesium can be obtained from a supplement containing magnesium citrate or an amino acid chelate. The absorption of these forms of magnesium is superior to the most common (and cheapest) form of magnesium supplements, magnesium oxide. Only 4% of the elemental magnesium from magnesium oxide supplements are absorbed by the body. You can also learn to make your own magnesium enriched water at http://www.mgwater.com/mgdrinks.shtml (thanks to LabRat for the link).
  • It is rare that I depart from the suggestions of Andrew Saul, Ph.D, owner of the DoctorYourself.com website but this is one of those occasions.. He suggests "buffered C" for individuals prone to forming stones which I assume is either calcium ascorbate or sodium ascorbate. I say use only unbuffered ascorbic acid as the extra calcium from the calcium ascorbate may lead to extra crystal formation and the added sodium from the sodium ascorbate actually can increase calcium content of the urine too. His rationale for the buffered C is probably that less calcium will be used by the body to buffer the acidic unbuffered C and therefore less will spill in the urine. While it's true ascorbic acid is an acid, it is a very weak acid (less acidic than commercial soft drinks) and I think the risk of calcium spilling is greater with the buffered forms. It's a tradeoff either way.
  • Reduce or eliminate caffeine from your diet as it increases calcium excretion in the urine. Eliminate carbonated beverages from your diet in order to eliminate the phosphoric acid which can increase calcium excretion in the urine as well.


Suggested Resources:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/kidney.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/gout.html
http://www.mi-cherries.com/gout1.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2004/sep/22/kidney_stones_coffee.htm
http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/pdfs/SuppsDontWork.pdf
http://vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=184
http://vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=278
http://vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194


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