Teen Develops Kidney Stones From Dehydration, Encourages Others To Drink Water | Local News

The Tennessee Valley is warming up and the temperature continues to rise as the days go by. While you are enjoying the summer heat, it is important to keep your body hydrated to avoid getting seriously ill.

This is something Judge Heath knows first-hand.

Justice, 13, is spending his summer as a camp counselor for younger children. While he is supervising the children and doing activities with them, he forgets one important thing to do in the summer: drink water.

“I didn't really think about it. I just wanted to be more active than drinking water and I didn't want to go to the bathroom so often,” Justice said.

Not drinking water eventually caught up with him. One day after camp, Justice said he wanted to go to bed immediately.

“I was tired, I was in pain, I was thirsty. So when I got home, I fell asleep. I was knocked out.”

That night he woke up several times with pain all over his sides, back and stomach.

“Screams and screams, screams of pain. It was so painful,” he said.

Her father, Collegedale Deputy Police Chief Jamie Heath, said they immediately thought it was dehydration, but didn't realize how serious it was. After a few trips to the emergency room and several tests, doctors informed them Justice had kidney stones.

“Of course the question is where is a child who doesn't drink caffeine and can develop kidney stones? They said it's from dehydration,” Deputy Chief Heath said.

Dr. Brent Meadows, a family physician at CHI Memorial, said he sees people coming to the hospital with dehydration quite often.

“It can be due to confusion, like in heat stroke, where people can feel weak and sick. If you're severely dehydrated, you can see people go into kidney failure,” he explained.

He said the heat can make you seriously ill, so it's important to make sure you drink enough fluids.

“Plan ahead, hydrate, drink fluids before you go out.”

Justice was able to give him fluids and pass his kidney stones. He now makes sure to stay hydrated and uses his experience to encourage others.

“Drink water because you don’t want to lie in bed tossing and turning and screaming all night, it’s painful,” Justice said.