Pin the Stone on the Kidney

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a kidney stone health site, KidneyStoners.org . It is a pretty interesting and informative website, but the best thing about the site is how they refer to people with kidney stones.

Whenever I write about people who suffer from kidney stones, I have trouble referring to our demographic without using a mouthful of words. I mean, are we:

• Kidney stone sufferers?
• People with kidney stones?
• People who suffer from kidney stones?

They refer to people with kidney stones as ‘kidney stoners’. Doesn’t ‘kidney stoners’ sound so much better than the other terms?  And it is a little subversive and it turns the word stoner on it’s ear. Again, I love it.

Mark’s Bottom Line

In my opinion, the KidneyStoners.org website has some really good content. KidneyStoners.org is a non-profit website with contributions from both doctors and patients. The prevention area has some of the most up-to-date and easy to follow advice that I have found anywhere, that includes the NIH’s National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC).  Their advice for prevention is clear, simple, and good:

1. Drink more water: 1 liter per day more
2. Reduce sodium intake
3. Eat more fruits and vegetables and reduce protein intake

So I decree, that from this day forward, we at Hot Sun Labs will refer to us who suffer from kidney stones as ‘Kidney Stoners’. I just wish I had come up with it first. 😀