Recovery after ureteroscopy for kidney stones: week by week

These are typical ranges quoted by separate NHS trusts, and where the trusts disagree both views are shown. Your own recovery depends on your stone, your stent and your health, and your hospital's instructions have the last word.

Recovery depends on whether a stent was left, how large and where the stone was, and how long the telescope was in the ureter. The operation itself is explained in our procedure guide, and the stent has a page of its own.

Durations in this table are those given by individual trusts, which disagree in places.

Trust leaflets describe the first passing of urine as stinging or burning and blood-stained. You may have a catheter overnight, which a trust says is removed the day after the operation, and some people go home the same day. Arrange for an adult to stay with you for the first night, and do not make important decisions or drive until the anaesthetic has gone.

Drink plenty of fluids and take the painkillers you are given. Anti-inflammatory tablets are often suggested if you can take them, since they ease the ache from the stent and the bruised ureter, but check with the team if you have kidney problems, asthma or an ulcer.

Stent symptoms are the main nuisance: needing to pass urine often and urgently, a feeling of not emptying fully, blood in the urine that increases with activity, and an ache in the loin or bladder that can flare when you pass urine. A trust notes pain in the kidney area for at least 72 hours. These symptoms are expected and do not mean something has gone wrong.

Keep drinking. Light walking helps, and warmth, rest and simple painkillers help too. Strenuous exercise can increase bleeding and pain. If you passed fragments, a trust asks you to keep them if possible, since analysing a stone helps with prevention advice.

Leaflets disagree, which tells you how much depends on the individual. One trust says driving can restart after 24 to 48 hours, another says after two weeks. The DVLA guidance says anyone who cannot control a vehicle safely must not drive and that ignoring medical advice may affect insurance validity, so judge by whether you can brake hard without pain, and follow what your own team says.

Work: one trust suggests a couple of days off, another suggests 7 to 10 days if you feel well. Desk work and working from home are usually easier than driving jobs or heavy lifting. Take it in stages if urgency is making meetings hard.

Some stents have a string and are removed by a nurse within days or by you following instructions. Others are removed with a thin telescope under local anaesthetic, which a trust describes as a day case. One hospital says a stent is usually left for 4 to 6 weeks if the ureter was narrow. Know your date, because a stent left too long can cause problems.

After removal, urgency settles and there may be a day or two of stinging. A follow-up X-ray, ultrasound or clinic visit checks that the stone has cleared. Prevention advice, such as drinking enough, comes with this follow-up, and the NHS lists low fluid intake among the causes of stones.

Contact your ward or stone team, or NHS 111, if you have fever, shivering, severe pain not eased by painkillers, heavy bleeding with clots, or you cannot pass urine. Trusts list the same signs. Go to A&E or call 999 if you feel very unwell, faint, or confused with a high temperature.

A stent that falls out, or new leakage of urine, also needs a call to the team.