I had my first kidney stone about 10 years ago, a few months before my 20th birthday. Since then, I've passed no fewer than 50( that's where I stopped keeping track, and that was 4 years ago,) For a about two years I was averaging 3-4 a month. Not fun.
Although, because of them, I got the best medical advice I've ever received. My doc asked what steps I went through when I felt one coming on. I said that I drink a lot of water and cranberry juice. He told me, the next time I had one, replace the cranberry juice with beer. I said that, while I wasn't complaining, why? His response? "You drink cranberry juice for the diuretic effect. That's it. Beer has more of a diuretic effect....plus, when was the last time anybody partied with cranberry juice?"