A kidney stone is a crystallized mass comprising minerals, salts and calcium oxide that has accumulated in the kidney, often due to not drinking enough water. It is a common and recurrent condition that affects more men and women. It is so recurrent to the point that half of the patients affected will develop another bout of renal calculi in the next 10 years. And almost one in every 20 people will develop a kidney stone sometime in their life. Normally, urine contains chemicals that prevent or inhibit the crystals from forming. These inhibitors do not seem to work for everyone, however, so some people form stones. The most common type of stone contains calcium in combination with either oxalate or phosphate. These chemicals are part of a person's normal diet and make up important parts of the body, such as bones and muscles. There are many kidney stone causes, and middle aged men will suffer with a kidney stone far more often than women, and the problem may be genetic. One c...