Kidney stone pain is ‘even worse than giving birth’

IT’S a ‘fact’ that men don’t quibble with if they have any sense – nothing compares to the pain of childbirth.

But now medics who dared to question the assumption have found it isn’t actually true.

They discovered that, when objectively assessed, having kidney stones is more painful than being in labour.

Mothers who had experienced both childbirth and kidney stones often rated the latter as the more painful of the two experiences, the researchers found.

Most men who had suffered kidney stones said they imagined what they had been through was not nearly as bad as having a baby.

Study author Saiful Miah, clinical lecturer in urology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, said: ‘We asked 19 women who had experienced both kidney stones and childbirth which was more painful. The majority thought their kidney stone pain was a lot worse.

‘But when we asked men who had experienced kidney stones what they imagined was worse, most imagined childbirth was worse.’

Mr Miah said he worked with a consultant urologist early in his career who would ask women to assess how bad their pain was when trying to diagnose their problem.

This was because in those days there was only occasional access to the type of scanner now used to help diagnose kidney stones accurately. He added: ‘This consultant would ask women who had been through childbirth, “What’s more painful: what you are experiencing now, or giving birth?” If the woman said “Actually this is more painful”, the consultant would say, “There’s your diagnosis, it’s kidney stones”.’

The results of the study have just been published in the Journal of Pain Research. Of the 19 women questioned, 12 said kidney stones were more painful and another three ‘felt that the intensity of pain was similar’. Four said childbirth was more painful.

Mr Miah said: ‘What is interesting is that when a woman goes into labour, she will rapidly get all sorts of painkillers and attention. But with kidney stones, a lot of people just have to suffer.’

Kidney stones are small, hard masses that form in the kidneys. The pain is felt when they pass down the ureters from the kidneys to the bladder.

Mr Miah said: ‘They can take two to four weeks to pass. It’s the most painful way, but it does mean you don’t have to be operated on.’

‘A lot of people just have to suffer’