{"id":2079464,"date":"2025-10-09T13:18:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T13:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2079464"},"modified":"2025-10-09T13:18:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T13:18:44","slug":"dolly-parton-revealed-she-had-kidney-stones-heres-how-to-reduce-your-own-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dolly-parton-revealed-she-had-kidney-stones-heres-how-to-reduce-your-own-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton revealed she had kidney stones. Here\u2019s how to reduce your own risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

When Dolly Parton\u2019s sister urged fans to pray for the 79-year-old star in a Facebook post, we all feared the worst. The Jolene<\/em> singer admits she neglected her health in the aftermath of her husband\u2019s death in March, but seems to blame her recent woes on kidney stones, insisting: \u201cI\u2019m not ready to die yet\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kidney stones are common, with more than one in 10 people being affected, according to the NHS. It\u2019s estimated up to half of all people who have had kidney stones will experience them again within the following five years.<\/p>\n

Samuel Pepys, in his famous 17th-century diaries, recorded weeks of torment and \u201cgravel\u201d in his urine before surgeons finally cut a large stone from his bladder. His was a brutal operation performed without anaesthesia, and even with modern medicine they remain agonising.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re extremely painful, enough so for them to have been traditionally likened to \u2018male childbirth,\u2019\u201d says Dr Tom Oates, a consultant physician at the Royal London Hospital and kidney specialist. \u201cThey can lead to kidney infections<\/a> or the kidney not working properly if left untreated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caused by waste products in the blood, kidney stones<\/a> are small and hard, consisting of minerals and salts that crystallise inside the kidneys. Once they are formed, the body tries to pass them through urination.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost stones are small enough to be passed in your pee, and occasionally people pass small stones or gritty crystals without realising it. They might hear a \u2018chink\u2019 in the lavatory and there it is,\u201d says Oates.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut large stones can lead to infections, blockages, or the need for surgery. Some stones, such as staghorn calculi, can fill the kidney\u2019s drainage system entirely. These form due to chronic infection, and may not cause pain, but they can quietly damage the kidney over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

b’<\/p>\n

\n