Until a kidney stone actually enters your ureter, you may not even know you have them.
If you're lucky, you may be able to pass stones without much pain; others, however, many suffer symptoms such as severe pain in your groin, side or abdomen, blood in your urine and nausea or vomiting.
If you experience any of these symptoms, you need to see your doctor to confirm that this is indeed the problem you suffer from.
Once you've been diagnosed, your doctor will recommend a waiting period to see if you get better.
However how long does it take to pass a kidney stone? It depends on a variety of factors, including your physiology, how physically active you are and the size of the stone.
If your stone measures around 4mm to 5mm, it may be easily passed, but larger ones may require medical removal.
However, a person who has a higher tolerance to pain may be able to pass even stones larger than 5mm without having to see a doctor.
Keeping active will also help to shorten the time before you pass the stone since it will be prodded into movement.
Thus, there is no one definitive answer to the question of how long does it take to pass a kidney stone.
However, there are some things you can do to shorten this time; aside from keeping active, you can also increase the amount of water you take (as much as 3 liters is recommended, or until your urine becomes clear), eat more fiber-rich food and take olive oil and lime juice to dissolve and lubricate the stones.