Chronic glomerulonephritis is a serious disease that leads to kidney failure. People who are given this diagnosis, as a rule, do not take it seriously, because at first its symptoms do not bother them.
Often patients go to the doctor when the disease has already gone very far and they are diagnosed with renal failure (chronic). Then only hemodialysis or organ transplantation can help.
Basically, chronic glomerulonephritis is of an immune nature. He has a prolonged course with damage to both kidneys. 20 years can elapse between the detection of the first changes in urinalysis and the appearance of renal failure (chronic).
Chronic glomerulonephritis can provoke stress, trauma, hypothermia, tonsillitis, SARS. Its manifestations depend on the activity and form of the disease.
So, chronic glomerulonephritis symptoms:
- red blood cells and protein in the urine.
Their severity and combinations may be different. Over time, the disease leads to impaired renal function. They cease to cope with the excretion of the products of its vital activity and excess fluid from the body. How quickly this happens depends on the activity of the process, determined by the severity of the symptoms of the disease.
The fact is that with the inflammatory process, scar formation occurs. And chronic glomerulonephritis leads to the fact that they occur on the kidney tissue, which after that can no longer work normally.
With an active form of the disease, renal failure may appear after a few years. A person with a diagnosis of chronic glomerulonephritis, the treatment of which should not always be carried out, should be under the constant supervision of a nephrologist. Only he can determine the activity of the process, and if it is high, take the necessary measures.
Sometimes for this you have to do a kidney biopsy. Under the control of ultrasound, a piece of tissue is taken with a thin special needle, which is studied to determine the stage, severity and form of the inflammatory process. This manipulation is absolutely safe, but it helps the doctor determine the tactics and need for treatment, in which serious medications are prescribed. Its main goal is to reduce the activity of the process and the likelihood of developing renal failure (chronic).
Treatment lasts from 4 months to 2 years. It is carried out both in the hospital and on an outpatient basis, but always under the supervision of a nephrologist. After obtaining good results, observation by a specialist must continue. With an inactive form of the disease that does not require treatment, you need to regularly do tests, check the pressure and visit a doctor.
Since it can begin to develop rapidly, and the patient's well-being will be very good. And the specialist according to the results of analyzes and other symptoms will be able to suspect the problems that have begun. Therefore, only observation by a qualified nephrologist from the very beginning of the disease will save health and life.
In its development, chronic glomerulonephritis goes through the following stages:
- compensation (satisfactory health, however, the disease progresses, the kidneys can no longer concentrate urine, diagnosed with Zimnitsky's test) ;
- impaired renal function and the development of renal failure (chronic);
At the last stage, creatine and urea accumulate in the blood, since the kidneys cannot remove them. The patient has intoxication, uremia. In this case, thirst, vomiting, nausea, headache, weakness, dry skin and tongue, diarrhea, and organ dystrophy appear. The smell of ammonia appears from the mouth and a uremic coma occurs in severe cases.
So, chronic glomerulonephritis is a serious disease that requires observation by a specialist. Treatment should be carried out if it is actively developing, since it uses potent drugs that inhibit the immune system.