Specificity, mostly doesn't apply when it comes to Kidney diseases. They are related, closely knitted, they go hand in hand that often times a particular kidney disease could subsequently lead to many other related kidney diseases, from Chronic kidney disease to Kidney stones or nephrolithiasis. With how important the kidney is, it doesn't come short on diseases that alters its functions, numerous diseases have been known to affect the kidney and one of them, is Glomerulonephritis.
Glomerulonephritis refers to the compound or simple inflammatory condition of tiny blood vessels or filtering units in the kidney, called Glomeruli. Hence, the name "glomerulo" i.e the glomeruli and "nephritis" i.e the inflammatory disease. The glomeruli basically filter (remove) waste and excess or extra fluid from the bloodstream, diseases that affect the glomeruli (sing. glomerulus) are referred to as glomerular diseases. In a more simpler overview, glomerulonephritis is a condition that encompasses an injury to the kidney tiny filters that help in waste removal. The inability for the glomeruli to function as they should, due to glomerulonephritis, subsequently result to the production of unfiltered blood and protein in the urine.
The filtration of the blood and protein and other essential nutrients simply implies that the glomeruli help in cleaning or filtering the blood and protein and eventually, these two components find their way back into the bloodstream, and the wastes filtered off will be passed out via the urine we produce or pass out.
Glomerulonephritis is classified into two, either "suddenly" as in acute or "gradually" as in Chronic. Acute glomerulonephritis refer to a type of this disease that begin suddenly whose symptoms appear obvious, whether as a result of certain infections leading up to the glomerulonephritis or maybe another kidney disease entirely. While the Chronic glomerulonephritis, It might run in the family i.e hereditary. And, it can develop over a long period of time gradually and most often, do not exhibit obvious symptoms.
Furthermore, glomerulonephritis is divided into both the primary and secondary glomerulonephritis, based on the causes of the disease itself. The primary glomerulonephritis is innate to the kidney i.e it develops originally from the kidney itself, while the secondary glomerulonephritis disseminates from several other infections such as bacterial (streptococcal infections), viral infections that inadvertently affect the kidney and result to glomerulonephritis, Diabetes can also result to the secondary GN (glomerulonephritis). It is perhaps worth noting that secondary glomerulonephritis has more chances of being proliferative, meaning that it is likely to be more dangerous compared to the primary GN. However, either one (primary or secondary) can be fatal.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF GLOMERULONEPHRITIS? One might ask. This excessively helps in classifying one's glomerulonephritis i.e whether it's the Chronic GN or the Acute GN.
For the acute glomerulonephritis, the symptoms include:
• Swelling of the face on waking up.
• Decreased urination frequency, i.e a patient might find it hard to urination frequently.
• Traces of blood and protein in the urine, or the urine might appear brownish in colour.
For the Chronic glomerulonephritis, the symptoms include:
• Similarly, High Blood Pressure could be evident with the patient.
• Unlike the Acute GN, frequent urination in the night is noticed.
• Blood or protein in the urine.
• In addition, the urine produced by a Chronic
GN patient might appear foaming. This is as a result of the protein present.
The importance of diagnostics should be taken into consideration, especially given that there are certain situations whereby a patient could be asymptomatic as found in Chronic glomerulonephritis patients. They include:
• Urine test or urinalysis, to confirm the presence of blood or protein in the urine.
• Blood tests conducted to show the amount of electrolytes i.e the Potassium, Bicarbonate Chloride and Sodium, and separately, that of Urea and Creatinine that are produced by the kidney.
• Kidney biopsy can also be done, whereby a sample containing kidney tissue is taken and examined.
Glomerulonephritis, if treated early can go a long way. People recover from this disease. In cases of severity however, treatments can also be applied in living healthily with the disease with little to no harm done. Although, treatment largely depends on the type of glomerulonephritis, whether chronic or acute. In some cases, like that of streptococcal infections leading to the glomerulonephritis, antibiotics can be applied to eliminate the disease completely.
In more severe cases, diuretics (water tablets) also help significantly. Whereas, the diuretics help in slowing down the declining functions of the kidney, and assist 8n increasing the urine production. It also help in reducing hypertension, thus providing a much needed relaxation. Furthermost, Dialysis is another way in treating the GN especially the acute glomerulonephritis, it helps perform the functions of the kidney by removing wastes and excess fluid from the bloodstream. The ultimate solution however, could be a kidney transplant.
Frankly, people do not take the preventions with much importance, the society is constantly improving which is good, but these cases still arise constantly each prediabetic/diabetic or hypertensive individuals are most likely prone to glomerulonephritis. Preventions that one can follow to avoid the disease include:
• Avoiding unsafe sex.
• Avoiding the use of illegal drugs intravenously.
• Keeping one's diabetic or blood pressure condition at bay (under control).
• Lastly, an healthy lifestyle comprising of abundant exercises, adequate rest and a well balanced diet will help a great deal.
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