Grossman passes kidney stone during Dem gubernatorial debate (you can't make this stuff up)

bostonglobe.com ^ | 3/26/14 | Akilah Johnson

[Liz]

There were more than a few pained expressions worn by gubernatorial candidates during Tuesday night’s forum dedicated to issues affecting Massachusetts’s LGBTQ community, mostly after Scott Lively, an anti-gay candidate running to “advance a biblical world view,” responded to questions.

But state Treasurer Steve Grossman, who is a Democrat from Newton, was actually in physical pain, said campaign spokesman Chandra Allard. Grossman was in the throes of passing a kidney stone, something often compared to the pain of childbirth, during the 90-minute debate, she said.

The forum was held by MassEquality and WGBH at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square and included eight gubernatorial candidates -- the five Democrats and three independents, all of whom showed their support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community except for Lively.

Grossman’s pain-level was a 10 on a scale of 1-to-10, Allard said, and yet he fervently answered questions on everything from transgender rights and mandatory sex education to issues facing youth and aging members of the LGBTQ community.

Grossman has suffered chronic kidney stones, getting them on and off for the last 30 years, said Allard. He woke up in pain at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, but she said he insisted on continuing with the day, which included attending GetKonnected’s Diversity Game Changer Awards ceremony after the forum ended.

Word of Grossman’s stone -- which has inspired a parody Twitter account -- spread via the micro-blogging website, as did the news that he finally passed the stone, sometime during the awards ceremony.

“I’m grateful that I made it out, but I know some of my fellow stones remain confined. We must #FreeTheStones! #mapoli,”@grossmansstone tweeted Wednesday morning.

[driftdiver]

Elimination of soda and just drinking lots of water will help as well.

[imardmd1]

Strongly agree as I was a recent nine thanks to a 10 mm stone now stuck in my ureter.

While this is going on, you are probably taking Percocet, Endocet, or Roxicet every 6 hours to blunt the pain as the stone is transiting. What I found was that I could diminish the amount of narcotic needed by taking 600 to 800 grains IBU every other 6 hours instead of the usual Percocet. That helped keep the narcotic more effective. IBU decreases the internal inflammation. And alternating keeps from building up too much narcotic in your system. (Just a suggestion.)

But even if you start to get a twinge, don't put off the Percocet until you've got a lot of pain, because the oral narcotic tends to make you nauseous anyways, and holding off too long will likely make you throw up before the pain is alleviated, and you lose the benefit.

[bert]

Beer is good too

[bert]

Beer is good too