Department of Medicine

Jen Lavoie’s daughter began showing symptoms of Crohn’s disease at age nine, but most of her clinicians found nothing wrong with her, and one suggested the girl’s gastrointestinal discomfort was “all in her head,” a symptom of stress.

Kidney stones occur in one out of 11 people during a lifetime. The number of people forming stones has doubled in the past 15 years. A person who has had a kidney stone has a 50 percent chance of forming another stone over 5 to 10 years. The good news is that for many people, another kidney stone can be prevented or the number reduced by simple measures.