How to Sleep With a Kidney Stent?

Sleeping with any medical condition is not less than a struggle. Physical and mental disorders bring more sleep deprivation, and that is a high time when our body needs self-healing while sleeping. Just like other disorders, kidney stents can kill your sleep, putting you into an insomniac situation. 

Here, we will help you learn a few tips and tricks that would allow you to improve your sleep cycle while having a kidney stent. So, let’s get started!

What is a Kidney Stent?

In case you are not aware of what a kidney stent is and how it does impact your health, let’s dig into it first. The kidney stent helps in treatment for the patients suffering from a large stone in the kidney. A kidney stent is a hollow soft plastic tube embedded in the patient’s ureter that is intended to provide relief from the difficulty present in the ureter.

Kidney stents are made of silicone or polyurethane. Metallic stents aren’t used in kidney tubes or ureters. One type of stent is double-J ureteral stent, which is completely internal with the distal coil located in the urinary bladder (temporary urine storage area) and the proximal coil located in the renal pelvis (kidney).

A kidney stent helps in the post-surgery healing period, where the ureter needs to be shielded. These two are two primary reasons for the kidney stent; besides these, more other factors cause you to have a kidney stent. Now, let’s have a glance at the purpose for which we are on this same page. 

For most patients, kidney stents stay in place for a couple of days. The stent is kept in place to the kidney and attached to a string outside the body. Your healthcare provider will pull out the string gently until the entire kidney stent is removed without causing significant discomfort.

How to Sleep With a Kidney Stent?

Making sleep easy and comfortable while having a kidney stent is not as easy as you pass through an extreme change. Usually, people show their concern if they need to change their sleeping habits when a kidney stent is used. That somehow depends on your sleeping habits and the medicines that you are operating under kidney stent treatment.

The physicians usually recommend the sleeping pills to the patient gone through the kidney stunt treatment to save them from sleep deprivation and inconvenience caused later.

People must take care about which side they should sleep on to avoid any harm. Generally, they are told to sleep on the opposite side to the side of the kidney stent. In addition, investing in a high-quality mattress can help you get a more relaxed sleep.

Patients must have a bedpan next to them to avoid the unusual movement at night and getting sleep again immediately.

Some people feel pain in their lower back area while having kidney stent. In that case, that’s pretty normal to sleep on the belly, and the patient can sleep that way.

The pain killer pills prescribed by a physician will help the patient fall asleep with a kidney stent conveniently. In case if these are not working, then better consult your doctor for better guidance?

Patients can also try magnesium glycinate for sleep, which is a type of food supplement, safe for patients with a kidney stent. Because it’s easily absorbed in the body, patients can benefit from the calming properties of magnesium glycinate. It helps in reducing, stress, insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

Adverse Effects of Kidney Stent

Usually, a kidney stent doesn’t be a hurdle in performing routine activities but having one can be frustrating. In most cases, people go like an everyday routine except for a little pain subdued by the use of painkillers.

The kidney stents are made on a purpose that doesn’t restrain patients from performing the daily tasks. There is no significant adverse effect on the record to date; however, there are a few minor adverse impacts of having a kidney stent. Such as

The patient has the more need to pass the urine than the normal. The urge to urinate remains constant.  There is a chance to have a little blood amount in urine, turning it into a slight pinkish color during a kidney stent. That is why the patient should intake at least 2-liters of water per day to avoid the situation.

Sometimes a patient may feel that even after passing the urine, the bladder is not drained fully, and there is still a desire.

Ureteral stents are commonly used in treating urological diseases like kidney stones. They’re associated with common complications such as encrustation (forming mineral deposits), pain, discomfort, and infection caused by irritation of the ureteral tissue and irregular peristalsis (wave-like muscle contractions).

Directions to the Patient with Kidney Stent

For faster recovery, it’s crucial to take good care of your tent to ensure it attains its main objective. Patients with kidney stent should follow a few tips to avoid the inconvenience during this period. 

Patients should drink at least 1.5 to 2 liters of water combined with juices and other fluids to diminish the risk of infection and overcome the amount of blood in the urine.

If the pain is unmanageable, the patients can take OTC painkillers after the urologist’s recommendation.

If the stent is temporary and has an attachment with a thread coming out of the urethra, take special care that it is not displaced or dislodged.

The usual time for removal of the stent is within four to six weeks after the insertion. In a few cases, doctors allow the patients to stay with a stent for three months. However, after three months, there is a time for stent removal in any case, as it may cause harm while staying for a long time. If you don’t have a call from your urology department within a specified period, contact them without any delay.

Another option is using CBD oil sleep aid with melatonin that helps you sleep better.

Wind up

Having a Kidney stent is not a painful period; however, there is a great need to avoid unexpected situations. The patient can continue with the daily routine tasks following the tips, as mentioned above. Also, comfortable sleep is possible with a little care.

In case you see any unusual change and dislodge of threat linked to the stent, immediately see your doctor. And don’t surpass the time limit of the stent removal.