When to worry about painful urination with kidney stones

A stone can scrape or irritate the lining of the urinary tract as it moves. Pain may be felt when urine passes, and a stone near the bladder can create frequent or urgent urges. Burning can also come from a urinary infection, which may occur alongside a blockage and needs medical assessment.

Follow the fluid and pain-relief advice given by your clinician, unless you have been told to restrict fluids. Do not take leftover antibiotics or exceed the label dose of pain medicine. Notice whether you can pass urine, and record changes such as worsening side pain, fever, vomiting, or altered urine colour.

Contact a clinician promptly for persistent painful urination, increasing pain, repeated vomiting, fever, chills, feeling faint, or blood in the urine. Go to urgent care for inability to pass urine, confusion, severe weakness, or severe pain with fever, because an infected blockage can become serious.

Ask whether your symptoms suggest a urinary infection, whether you need urine testing or imaging, and which pain medicines are suitable for you. Ask how to recognise a blocked urinary tract and when to return if the stone does not pass.