Allergies, insect bites and kidney stones seem to be plaguing Central Texas.

Dr. John Villacis with the Austin Diagnostic Center on North Mopac said oak allergy season is definately here, so if you have tree allergies, try to stay indoors and take some allergy medicine.

Villacis also sees a lot of stinging insect bites this time of year, especially bees and wasps. If you are allergic to these insects, be careful.

Central Texas is in the middle of the stone belt, an area that stretches through the southeastern states where kidney stone cases are high. It is something to watch out for, especially if you love to work out outdoors.

Many avid runners are running into excruciating pain.

"Kidney stone pain is really sharp and kind of like a knife sticking you right in the back area under your ribs," said Dr. Shaw with the Austin Diagnostic Clinic. "There are a lot of theories in terms of why that is the stone belt not all of it is proven. One is that we are a more arid, drier area so people get more dehydrated during their outdoor activities."

For Tom Gentry, running is in his blood but so are kidney stones. He has had several over the years.

Shaw is Tom's urologist and with his permission, he showed KXAN Austin News Gentry's most recent X-ray. It shows one stone in his right kidney and several in the urine tube.

Kidney stones can be as small as a grain of sand in some cases, and as large as a golf ball in others.

Luckily, Gentry's stones were not that big but still very painful.

"Oh absolutely. You do not want to have a kidney stone. They are no fun. Even now, even though the surgeries are very easy and not painful. It's better to not have to go through that," said Gentry.

Shaw said to stay hydrated, cut down coffee, sodas and teas. He said loading up on lemonade is not a bad idea as it has citrate, a stone-fighting agent.