Throbbing lower back pain

[SteveK87]

My wife out of nowhere developed a throbbing pain on the left side of her lower back where her kidney is.  Anyone know what may cause this?  Last time she had this it turned out to be a kidney infection, but she says the pain isn't nearly as bad as it was then, and right now it fades and comes back but is a pulsating/throbbing pain.  We had planned to go to the ER but we called and it is an almost 3 hr wait.  Since it isn't tooo extreme we decided to just wait a little and see if it gets better.  She didn't get any sleep last night so I told her a nice nap is in order and we will see how she is when she wakes up.  She isn't nearly as bad as other times in the past when I took her to the ER for other reasons, and she can tolerate the pain for now, it's just a matter of thinking it may be another kidney infection or not that has us debating on going.  Any suggestions or thoughts or remedies?  Thanks.

[bleija]

i would see your regular doc in the morn, most places allow walk ins, i know i see my doc more time by walk in than actual appts... if it gets intolerable, hospital definitely

[SteveK87]

As of now the pain is no longer there.  Strange, but good.  Still have no idea what caused it.  What's weird too is that about an hour after the pain had started she had to urinate.  About an hour after urination the pain stopped.  She urinated for maybe a second, but that's about it.  She rarely urinates at all, but when she does it's no more than 2 seconds.

[Annig83]

It could still be a kidney infection, even though the pain is gone.  I would still go to the doctor and get a urine test.  I used to get them all the time and had the same issue of throbbing pain, that was relieved with urinating.  I have 7 % functioing but I still urinate.  Try taking cranberry pills (if it's okay with her doctor).  My boyfriend also gets stones, which is more rare in women, but it can happen.  I would still make an appointment to make sure everything is okay.  Glad the pain is gone now though.