Chronic Nephritis: The Invisible Killer That Is Easily Overlooked

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There is such a hidden disease-chronic kidney disease. The kidney is an important organ that detoxifies and regulates the internal environment, and silently supports the life activities of the body, but if we ignore it too much and neglect to protect it, maybe the kidney will become a hidden killer. In fact, chronic kidney disease is a relatively common disease, and chronic nephritis (mostly chronic glomerulonephritis) is the most important part of it. Chronic nephritis can occur at any age, but mostly in young adults. Chronic nephritis in most people is mostly insidious from the beginning. The patient has no obvious clinical manifestations, but the inflammation develops slowly. Chronic nephritis often causes kidney damage to varying degrees, manifested as increased blood creatinine, and uremia at its worst.

The kidney is a silent but very hardworking organ

So, what is chronic nephritis? The so-called "chronic" usually refers to a long time of onset, generally more than 3 months. Glomerulonephritis in adults rarely manifests as acute onset and is basically chronic. "Nephritis" mainly refers to a series of reactions such as congestion, edema, cell infiltration, proliferation, and necrosis of the "glomerulus" in the kidney. The cause of chronic nephritis is often related to infectious diseases, such as respiratory tract infection, intestinal infection, urinary tract infection, hepatitis B, etc. The pathogen causes nephritis through direct injury or immune-mediated injury or makes the original nephritis aggravate. The cause of the disease, can be divided into three categories. The first category is primary chronic nephritis. One of the most common is IgA nephropathy, which is caused by the deposition of IgA immunoglobulin in the glomerulus, and it is more common in young people; there is also membranous nephropathy, which is caused by immune damage to the filtration membrane of the glomerulus. The resulting lesions are generally more common in middle-aged and elderly people, but the incidence of membranous nephropathy in young people has also increased in recent years. The second category is secondary chronic nephritis, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, tumors, or infections that cause the body to develop immune disorders and cause inflammation. The third category is hereditary chronic nephritis. Such patients usually have a family history, and family investigations should be conducted for this type of patient.

Chronic nephritis can lead to decreased kidney function and even kidney failure

Watch out for early signs of the body

For the prevention of chronic nephritis, some early signals from the body can help us to be vigilant. Chronic nephritis is usually characterized by proteinuria (manifested as foamy urine), hematuria (macro hematuria or increased red blood cells under a microscope), hypertension (much secondary hypertension is caused by chronic nephritis), edema (such as leg swelling, face Swelling) is a common clinical manifestation. However, the onset of chronic nephritis is very insidious, and often the early symptoms are not obvious, so patients often do not care, so delay in diagnosis and treatment, often manifested as severe renal damage when discovered. Therefore, once the above symptoms occur, you should go to the hospital in time for routine urine, blood pressure, and kidney function tests.

Prevention is far more important than treatment

Routine urine, blood pressure, and renal function tests once or twice a year can basically check for most kidney diseases. Therefore, it is recommended that everyone should have regular physical examinations. The prevention of chronic nephritis also includes the need to pay attention to avoiding infection at ordinary times, because the infection is an important cause of chronic nephritis; if an infection occurs, it must be treated as soon as possible. In addition, makeup and hair dyeing is also of causes of chronic nephritis. Heavy metals contained in some cosmetics or hair dyes will accumulate in the human body and then be excreted by the kidneys, which may cause inflammation of the kidneys.

The kidney is a "silent" organ because it has no painful nerves

The three of chronic nephritis are not necessarily

For the clinical symptoms of chronic nephritis, some people will have some misunderstandings, and they will always doubt whether they have nephritis or uremia. Therefore, it is necessary to explain here. In summary, there are three "not necessarily".

1. The disease that causes low back pain is not necessarily chronic nephritis

In fact, the vast majority of low back pain has nothing to do with chronic nephritis. There are many diseases that can cause low back pain, and chronic nephritis is more manifested as backache.

2. Foamy urine is not necessarily chronic nephritis

A lot of bubbles in the urine is not necessarily chronic nephritis. The formed components in the urine, especially the increase of macromolecular substances, can also be manifested as more bubbles, so there is no need to be too nervous.

3. Chronic nephritis does not necessarily lead to uremia

Many people worry that if they get chronic nephritis, they will definitely develop uremia. In fact, uremia is only the terminal stage of chronic nephritis. Only about 2%~3% of chronic nephritis patients will eventually develop uremia.

Regular examination of urine routine and kidney function is very important