Q: My husband has been detected with stomach infection and stone in the left kidney, just 5 days back. He is on medication for both. For stomach infection, the general physician has prescribed him Norflox tablets (twice daily) for 5 days. It's already been four days, but the stomach pain has not subsided; in fact it has become more severe. The pain is in and around the naval area. Are there any alternate medicines? It's a severe biting pain around the naval area. What is the cause of the pain? For the kidney stone, he has just started taking naturopathic medicines. Is the stomach infection due to kidney stone?

A:I note that your husband has two problem pains, one stomach (gastric) pain and the second kidney pain due to a stone. Before I start to respond I need to mention that pain of kidney origin need not be always in the renal area, but can be anywhere in the abdomen; secondly any kind of medication can upset the stomach and cause pains. Stomach pains are generally like indigestion, and if the treatment has not helped, your husband should have an endoscopy for a definitive diagnosis followed by corrective treatment. I cannot comment on complementary medicines, and I therefore suggest that he consults a urologist or a renal physician and corrective scientific treatment for his kidney stones.