Doctors were shocked by a Taiwanese woman with a fondness for bubble tea who required 300 kidney stones to be removed.
Xiao Yu, aged 20, was admitted to the Chi Nei Medical Centre in the city of Tainan with symptoms of fever and severe back pain. When doctors performed an ultrasound, they found she had swollen kidneys that had stones in them.
Kidney stones are caused when waste products in the blood form crystals, which then collect and, in time, form a hard lump that resembles a stone. It is a common condition, affecting about one in every 10 people over their lifetime. They are more likely to develop in people who do not drink enough fluids, take certain types of medication or have certain medical conditions.
In many cases, the stone passes naturally through urine, but they can become larger and require surgery to remove. Kidney stones are most common in people aged 50-60, and men are about three times as likely to develop them.
Xiao was rushed into surgery to have the stones, which were between 5mm and 2cm in length and resembled ‘small steamed buns’, removed, according to a press release put out on the Medical Centre’s website.
Urologist Dr Lim Chye-yang performed the surgery on Xiao and warned that kidney stone cases are more common in warmer months of the year, due to dehydration caused by hot weather.
Media reports in Taiwan said Xiao did not like drinking water and preferred to drink bubble tea instead.
This shows the importance of staying properly hydrated – and a reminder that just because you have a drink, it doesn’t always mean you are hydrating yourself.
The surgery to remove the kidney stones was successful, and Xiao has since been discharged from hospital.
