So what does a kidney stone attack feel like? "I woke up and thought my wife had stabbed me." "I begged the doctor to kill me." "Being flayed alive might be just a bit more painful." The above comments were blogged by perfectly ordinary folks with kidney stones. They have all managed to capture the true essence of the experience. Nearly four million people annually in this country are affected by kidney stones and that number is on the rise. According to the Mayo Clinic, heat, humidity and poor hydration are major contributors to the problem, making summertime an especially vulnerable season. "We often see a lot of kidney stones in here at the end of summer and in the fall," said Dr. Edward Ellison, a board certified urologist at North Idaho Urology/George Kingson, Coeur d'Alene Press. (Gabe Green CdA Press photo: Jonas Keys pushes the lithotripsy machine, nick named B.O.B (bucket of bolts), through the halls of the Kootenai Medical Center emergency room Wednesday)

Question: Have you ever experienced a kidney stone? What's it like?