Enlarged Kidneys

I am not entirely sure if this will help but my employer recently had a similar situation with one of her twin girls. She is 9 years old and has been having urinary tract infections throughout her childhood starting at age 2. Within the last 12 months she started having kidney infections as well and after a 1 week hospital stay they found out she has a defect in the spincter from the ureter into the bladder from the kidneys. If she does not empty her bladder several times a day (6-8) the urine from the bladder backs up into the ureter and then into the kidneys. They aren't entirely sure if this caused her urinary tract infections as a yound child but they are concerned that it may be a cause. She is on medications now that makes her feel like she needs to urinate more frequently so she doesn't forget (she must urinate even if her bladder doesn't feel full). If the medication does not work there is a surgical procedure to repair the defect but so far she has been on the medications since last A. and has been doing well.

I am a mom of a three year old boy and a 7 month old girl and my daughter has kidney problems as well. They actually diagnosed her with a symptom called hydronephrosis. It basically means water kidney. I am under the understanding that there are several different types and severities and causes but that is what it sounds like to me. Being that my daughter is so little they are still doing some testing to figure out what they are going to do about hers and they will go from there. Not to mention, they are going to do some testing here because we just moved here from Michigan and since this doctor has not been her primary urologist since birth he wants to run some tests himself. Not only that but she is bigger and they will be able to see more. They told me from the very beginning, when I was 20 weeks pregnant that these issues are pretty much fixable but they have to find the reason first. Warning they may start doing some tests with the bladder as well because it MIGHT be involved as well. I wish you well and if you are able to contact me directly please do so and I will share more

My daughter was born with extrophy of the bladder. she had major surgery when she was two days old. Dr. Pinto out at Cooks Childrens in Ft. Worth did her surgery, he is also her urologist. She has had 2 U.TI's since than, she is now 6 months old, and we have to keep her on a low grade antibiotic. Until she has her next surgery when she is 2 years, to tighten the sphinter muscle around her urethera. It's a very scary thing when your little one has reflux, and UTI's, but as the other posters say, this is curable, just be patient, and do all the preventives you can to keep them from getting sick, This will pass, and Dr. Pinto is wonderful

My 6 year old son has bilateral hydronephrosis, enlargement of the pelvis and calices of the kidneys. It was diagnosed while I was still pregnant with him. It is not so severe as to require treatment, as he's never had infections. However, we did have to rule out vesicoureteral reflux and UPJ obstruction, both of which (to my understanding) are very treatable when necessary. The reason I'm writing is to suggest a wonderful doctor, Dr. Ewalt, who practices pediatric urology near Dallas Presby at Walnut Hill (I think his first name is David). I was so worried about my son, and this doctor was kind and patientely explained everything to me. He is respected, and I know other moms whose kids were referred to him. I just thought you might like to know about him in case you wanted another opinion.

My oldest son had hydronuphrosis(sp?) which is reflux of the kidneys since the day he was born, he saw a pedi urologist and at 4 months he out grew it on his own, it is extremely painful. His dr said that not to give him baths it increases the chance of a uti, as do some jucies like apple and orange. I hope this helps yall. Good luck with the dr and i hope everything works out ok!!

Maybe she has VUR (Vesico Ureteral Reflux) fairly common. US will diagnose. May need to keep her on antibiotics and sometimes surgery is needed. A great pedi Urologist is Dr. Kirk Pinto or Dr. Jim Miller (General Surgeon) both out of Cook Childrens.

Hi J.,
Ask your doctor about XANTHONES and how these could help with this inflammation. The National Library of Medicines www.pubmed.gov, gives the science of this, enter xanthones in the search box .
Dr. Tootla and Dr. Templeman talk about how this helps our whole immune system. This is a natural alternative.

My daughter is three months old and has one enlarged kidney. From what I understand there are three possible causes of this, most of which are some sort of blockage. They think my daughter has an extra part on the top of the enflamed kidney which has grown an extra ureter (sp?). The extra ureter, which is supposed to connect to the bladder, misses the bladder. We think she will need surgery to correct this. This doesn't seem to be a terribly urgent matter as they are talking about doing the surgery in 6 months to 1 year. I get the impression that this is fairly common and very correctable. Hope this helps!

When my daughter was 3 months old, she got her first UTI we found out she had kidney reflux. She was on medication every night for 2 years and then had surgery. We used Dr. Gonzales-chief urologist at TCH. He was wonderful. I don't believe her kidneys were enlarged, but if you are going through TCH, you will be in good hands!

There could be many causes such as reflux, where urine goes back into the kidneys, cysts, and possibly tumors. Some are correctable and some are not. Is your daughter in a lot of pain?
As for the uti's, I found something that really works. New Silver Solution. There are other silver solution products out there, but this one is the real thing. Check it out at www.automaticbuilder.com/son0163/silver
Watch the video because it has all the details about safety and real human studies. You'll be glad you did.
I hope this helps and keep us posted on her progress.
God bless and I'll keep her in my prayers.

The infections and enlarged kidneys (AKA-hydronephrosis) could be caused by urine refluxing back up to the kidneys from the bladder or from some type of blockage between the bladder and the kidneys. Next step is probably going to be a test called a VCUG- a catheter is placed, a dye and fluid are used to fill the bladder, while taking pictures to see if urine refluxes back up to the kidneys. My 9month old son has the obstructive form-no UTIs, but does have hydronephrosis, so we have been through several ultrasounds, the VCUG, and another more specific scan + I am a pediatric nurse, and take care of the children who need surgical intervention to correct these problems.

This might be a long shot... my niece went through urinary tract infections, {not to the extent of having enlarged kidneys},constantly at the doctors for it... They came to realize it was because of Cottonelle Toilet paper. My sister was told not to use cottonelle, charmin or anything that would "crumble" while you wipe. She was told to use Scotts. And to this day, that's all she & the rest of our families use. After 2 weeks of switching toilet paper, she hasn't had an infection since... IT's been over 9 years! But like I said, it could be a long shot & I'm NOT a doctor...but if you're using either of these toilet paper {or something similiar}, try switching for a couple of weeks & see. It's not like you don't have to buy toilet paper?
Hope it works for you.

L.
I'm a Mom w/2 boys 23 & 18 years...

I am not sure what may have caused the enlarged kidney's. Maybe her ureters are being blocked. I know how scary it can be. When my son was a little over a year he had a high fever in the car while on vacation and started shaking etc.. We took him to the emergency room and they tested his urine and he had a uti. So after seeing our pediatrition we were sent to a urologist and he had to have an IVP basically dye is sent through the kidneys to see if there is blockage anywhere. It was a scary test because they put an IV in and he had to be strapped down because of his age. During our ultrasound before the IVP test we found out he only had one kidney. We had no idea. The x-ray tech just kept looking and we new something was wrong. The doctor came in and said he only has one kidney. We also saw a Nephrologist and am wondering if you saw one with all your daughters uti's. I know my son's one kidney is enlarged because it is doing the work of two. I just know once you go to a specialist they will give all the necessary tests to find the problem. We saw the Universtity of Texas Nephrology Clinic on Fannin and they were great. They only see children. Hope this helps.

J.,

When my youngest daughter was around 2-1/2 - 3 she started getting uti's all the time.. she would go on an antibiotic and about 2-3 mon. after she finished that round, another infection came on again. After too many trips to the pediatrics office she recommended us taking her to Children's Medical to do a ultra sound and procedure. It was very traumatic for my daughter b/c they had to put a catheter in her as well and shot some kind of dye... to see what was causing the infection, told her that she had to pee-pee on the table, which that was completely weird to her, and awkward, etc... they discovered that she had urethra reflux. This is where the urine goes back up into the kidneys/bladder and all. They told me that eventually she would out grow it, but we had to see a specialist and he put her on a maintenance for a good year to help prevent the infections. That did help. After several routine appts. they determined that she was having them less and less and weaned her off the antibiotics. She also stayed in a pull up at night time longer than other kids her age.. I think she was 6-7 and it took lots and lots of patience. Even today at age 10 she doesn't have super control over her bladder and will "tinkle" if she doesn't make it to the toilet on time and she will have to change her panties. I have just learned to take "extra" clothes with us when we are out and about.. and it doesn't really happen all the time.

My niece also had a problem with her kidneys/bladder and a lot of uti's when she was little and bed wetting up until she was 7-9 yrs. of age.

I am sorry you guys are dealing with all that. It is stressful esp. when you aren't sure exactly what is causing it and what can be done to correct it. PRAY!

I guess I didn't really have advice.. except for pray and to encourage you to hang in there.. keep on checking to find out what can be done, and drink lots of cranberry juice.

best to you, C.

My son had a UTI when he was 1 year old. They suggested we do the ultrsound and a VCUG. His kidneys were within the normal sizes but the VCUG showed that he had Bladder Reflux- Stage 2 and 3. After the VCUG we went to see a Ped. Urologist in Plano. He prescribed an antiobiotic that my son takes 1 time a day.

try homopathy, I always believe that nature can cure better than medication.

Hello!!

I had SEVERE kidney trouble when I was a little girl... From birth to 4yrs. I had many many many bladder and kidney infections, I was constantly on amoxicillan (YUM FOR ME!), and in "pee pain". It was awful. I can remember the pain to this day. I had Kidney reflux surgery at 4yrs old. My older sister had it at 7yrs old (and her little boy will have the surgery, too, eventually - he is 9 months). The problem was that the door from my kidneys to my bladder was supposed to only let the urine go from the kidney to the bladder and mine was letting it come BACK into my kidneys giving me instant infections. Mine was so severe that they couldn't wait any longer to give me my surgery and had to do it rather quickly. I do sill have frequent bladder infections, but they did not start again until I was much older and became sexually active (TMI - I know). I have to be very very careful to drink enough water, wipe correctly, TRY to make it a point to pee before and after sex, etc. It's a constant battle. Anyway - I hope she turns out alright... since I was so young I do not know if the enlarged kidneys was something that happened during my condition (SORRY!!) but I thought I'd let you know what happened to me concerning all of my infections. I hope everything turns out well for her! My thoughts are with you and your family! Good LUCK! :-) If you have any questions let me know!

When my daughter was 3 , she is now 47, she had repeated infections - our pediatrician said she should not have urinary tract infections at her age and he sent us to a urologist - the first one recommended removing her kidney because it probably would stop working and then she would have to have another surgery to remove it. We went for a second opinion and he suggested we do surgery and depending on what we found he would determine whether or not to remove the kidney. What he found was a blood vessel that should not have been there and it was blocking the urethra tube and causing the kidney to enlarge and the infections. He removed the blood vessel and within 2-4 weeks the next test showed her kidney normal size and functioning perfectly. She has never had any other problems. We live in Houston and that young urologist went on to become the head of the urology department at M. D. Anderson Cancer Hospital.

Hi J.
My son had an enlarge kidney due to blockage (hydronephosis)and has been seeing a pediatric urologist since he was born. I had hydronephrosis as well and had surgeries to correct - and I am doing just fine! Wait until the tests give you a little more information. If you need to find a pediatric urologist, I recommend Dr. Snodgrass at Children's Medical Center in Plano.
Good luck and keep us posted!

Well I am not sure if it is the same as what I struggled with as a child, but I had lots of kidney infections. Mine was hereditary, I got it from my dad. He had major surgery as a child for it, but I took medication for about 8 or 9 years and eventually was fine and I don't have any problems to this day. I could be completely off and it could be totally different if it is a urinary tract infection instead of a kidney infection, but I thought it might be similar since her kidneys are enlarged. I just thought I would give you a reassuring word that if it is what I had it can be medicated and eventually got fixed.