I've passed a couple. Did you have yours analyzed at the lab?
My doctor told me these occur in people with a predisposition and will most likely happen regardless of dietary changes. The best I could do, he said, was to mediate the frequency of their occurance through diet.
He said to drink more water and suggested downing a two liter bottle of water with a quarter cup of lemon juice (with no sulphates) first thing in the AM to flush the kidneys and the juice supposedly breaks down calcium deposits.
The dietary options followed to a T that I was given are pretty unrealistic, imo. He kinda chuckled when I said so and told me to take it for what it was worth, how much I adhere to it will determine my frequency to the emergency room for morphine.
He also gave me 30 vicoden and kinda winked about storing them for the next one instead of the hospital.
Anyways, long story short, other than pain they don't seem to be a big deal. Not in my case anyways. Weigh the cost of sacrifice on either side.
That said, its my understanding they can be caused by various minerals and a lab test will pinpoint your cause over an educated guess and they can damage the kidneys in some cases so the docs advice is best, but you may want to consider a second opinion.