What I’m about to tell you is going to be hard to believe. After all, if you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you know how painful they are. And you know how hard they are to pass.
But there’s a sure-fire cure for most kidney stones that’s so easy, you’ll think there’s no way it could possibly work.
Well, it does. I know because I’ve not only read the research on it, but I’ve used it myself.
About 15 years ago, the pain hit me like a missile. It came on fast and it hurt so badly I could barely breath. I was doubled over in pain and couldn’t stand up straight.
People often say that the pain from kidney stones is comparable to childbirth. I would never say that because I don’t want my wife to shoot me. But it’s probably the closest a man will ever get to experiencing that kind of pain. It’s horrible! And I needed help – fast!
I was not yet a doctor at the time. So I called my doctor, and what he said made my day. He said “I have a sure-fire cure for you.”
Here’s What My Doctor Told Me to Do
He told me to send my wife to the grocery store and have her buy a large bag of lemons. “When she gets home,” he said, “here’s what you do….
“Take some of the lemons and squeeze the juice into a glass. You’ll need 8 ounces of pure juice to get started, so make sure you have at least 10-15 lemons for this treatment.
“Then, drink the 8 ounces of fresh-squeezed lemon juice immediately. Drink it fast. You can add some stevia to it if you need some help getting it down.
“One hour later, add one ounce of fresh-squeezed lemon juice to a glass of water and drink it. Again, add some stevia to make it easier to drink. Repeat this step every hour.”
I jumped right on it and called him back the next day. I was ecstatic. “I felt the stone pass this morning with no pain,” I said. “And now I’m completely pain free!”
Again, this might sound unbelievable. But let me explain why lemon juice really works.
Why It’s So Effective
There are several types of kidney stones. But the most common is made of calcium. Lemon juice works best on calcium stones for two reasons.
First, calcium dissolves easily in citric acid. In fact, you can drop a tooth into citric acid and watch it dissolve. (Momentarily exposing your teeth to the acids in citrus won’t dissolve them. Your saliva quickly restores alkaline pH after the juice passes through.)
Second, citric acid is a natural and extremely powerful binder of calcium. Once it binds to calcium, it helps remove it from your body.
Note that I say it “helps” remove it. The citric acid won’t completely dissolve the stone. It doesn’t have to. It only needs to dissolve the jagged crystal spikes on the stone that grab ahold of your tissue and cause all the pain. Once it dissolves those spikes, the stone passes without any more pain.
Citric acid’s effect on calcium is well-documented in the scientific literature. In fact, conventional doctors often prescribe potassium citrate. Citrate is a derivative of citric acid, and it’s mixed with potassium. The combination can be very effective. But it can cause side effects like irregular heart rate, chest pain, and increased blood pressure.
Lemon juice, on the other hand, contains pure, all-natural citric acid. It doesn’t cause any side effects. And studies show that it works incredibly well.
In one study, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, researchers found that lemon juice increases the amount of citrate in the urine to levels known to inhibit kidney stones.
In another study, at Duke University’s Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center, researchers found that people who were given lemonade every day had a much lower incidence of kidney stones.
Lemonade is usually about 6 parts of water to 1 part lemon juice. While it will help prevent stones, it’s not strong enough to help you pass a stone quickly. So if you have a stone, you have to do what I did and take 8 ounces of straight lemon juice immediately.
The initial 8 ounces of lemon juice acts like a loading dose of acid. And the hourly treatments continue to help dissolve the stone.
If your stone is very large, it might take longer to see the stone dissolve enough to pass. And there are some stones that are so large the lemon juice won’t shrink it enough to pass. In these cases, you’ll need to seek medical attention.
But in most cases, lemon juice is a highly effective way to dissolve the stone enough to let it pass without pain.
It worked for me 15 years ago. And since then, I’ve added lemon to my water and tea and I have not had a single re-occurrence.
Add These Ingredients for Even Better Results
There are 2 other ingredients you can take along with the lemon juice to help speed up your pain relief (or prevent stones from forming).
First, you can take oral vitamin C to bowel tolerance. Ascorbic acid also dissolves calcium fast.
Second, apple cider vinegar can help dissolve the stone. Add 1-2 tablespoons of the vinegar to your lemon juice and supercharge your treatment. Of course, it won’t taste as good as the pure lemon juice and stevia. But you’ll like the results.
Finally, when you have a stone, take a large dose of magnesium (1,000 mg). It will help relax the ureter and enable the stone to move through faster.