I am not a medic. I have been suffering from this condition for about 2 weeks and in the absence of a more technical writeup, I thought I'd set this down about my experience. I was brought up not to discuss my ailments, hopefully this is a reasonable exception to the rule. Renal - connected to your urinary system, colic - pain/obstruction.
Friday 6th Nov 2020
Normal working from home day. At about 1430 I noticed mild pain in my lower right torso. An ache, I couldn't tell if it was back pain, or my stomach, or what. By 1500 I was in agony. I sent a couple of messages to my colleagues to tell them I was unwell. No position was comfortable, the pain was constant, but with occasional waves of increased severity. I was trying to describe my symptoms to NHS Direct over the phone and speaking/breathing was difficult. I was told to either get to my GP (impossible) or call an ambulance. I called an ambulance and was told after a long wait on the phone that I would be waiting at least half an hour for the ambulance due to the pressure on the system caused by the current coronavirus situation. After about half an hour, something changed, I felt like I would be able to urinate. I dragged myself to the bathroom and urinated (while begging for the sweet release of death). Then I vomited, water and bile. I got back to my bed and called the ambulance service back. The pain was still bad, but less severe, cancel the ambulance, someone else might need it more. I could take a taxi. Then I passed out, and when I woke up at about 1900, all of my symptoms were gone. I spoke to an NHS Direct doctor over the phone, he told me that I either had kidney stones or kidney colic and prescribed me some antibiotics, which I had no intention of taking.
Friday 13th Nov 2020
At around the same time, after a week of low energy and not feeling right but no severe pain, I felt the first tremors of pain begin again. I headed to the pharmacy to pick up the antibiotics since it seemed less likely that the problem would fix itself. By 1500 I was in absolute agony again, pain scale 8-9. I got on my hands and knees, with a pillow for my forehead, and tried to focus on my breathing and stay in control of my body by tensing and relaxing my muscles. The stress was causing me to sweat through my clothes, so I would slowly get out of them and grab a towel from the pile to cover myself. I would stay like that for a while, pass out, wake up, try to urinate, fail, get back into position, repeat. That lasted until about 0500 on Saturday morning.
Saturday 14th Nov 2020
On Saturday morning, I passed about a pint of urine, and I felt like the universe was a fundamentally good place again. The rest of Saturday I was genuinely traumatised. I curled up in bed or on the sofa. I drank tea, took a bath, ate carefully, and reflected. In my life I've been beaten up by an amateur boxer (I didn't know), had second degree burns, a severe bacterial intestinal infection, I've had a tooth removed without anaesthetic and I've torn a ligament during a marathon and had to continue for 4 miles. I would take any of those again over what I went through last Friday the 13th into the morning of Saturday 14th, maybe not the stomach thing, it was a long time ago.
Sunday 15th Nov 2020
The warning pangs of pain come back at 0800. I call NHS Direct and speak to a clinician. She tells me that if the pain gets bad, I have to go to hospital, that I seem to basically have sand in my kidneys and to keep flushing them. She asks me some lifestyle questions and whether I've been under any stress, we have a good old chuckle about that. She was great. Later, I get a call from a doctor who goes through the plan, appointment, scan, possible treatment. He tells me that in 25 years I'm the 3rd renal colic patient he's come across, because everyone goes to hospital. I tell him I can't tell if he's impressed or concerned, he tells me it's both. If I have another severe attack, I'm going to hospital, but I'm wary of pain meds, they are moreish.
Friday 20th Nov 2020
Minor attack at 1500, which passed within half an hour, just enough to scare me. Had a couple of those during the week. Weird how it seems to flare up on a weekly cycle. I'm not doing anything differently as far as I can tell.
Hopefully this write up ends here. 0/10 - do not recommend.