How to Stop Recurrence of IgA Nephropathy

IgA Nephropathy is a kidney disorder that occurs when IgA—a protein that helps the body to fight infections—deposit in the kidneys. People with this disease typically experience blood and protein in urine because filters of the kidneys are damaged due to the IgA immune abnormality depositions. Proper treatment for IgA Nephropathy is important, since poor management or treatment may make the kidney condition deteriorate fast.

How does IgA Nephropathy occur? IgA Nephropathy is an autoimmune disease. Immunoglobulin A is an antibody. Antibodies are produced when there is a virus, bacterium or toxin, threatening your body. Normally, these antibodies will help fight the thing that is invading your body. For reasons that are unknown, IgA can get into the kidney, deposit in glomerular mesangial area and damage healthy functioning glomerular cells. Glomerular cells are normally reesponsible for preventing blood and proteins from running out of the body. The IgA immune abnormality deposition impairs the filtering cells, so an excess amount of red blood cells and proteins will run into urine.

IgA Nephropathy may run in families and can develop after a child or a young adult has a viral infection of the upper respiratory of gastrointestinal tracts. People may don’t experience symptoms at the beginning stages. As the condition gets worse, people begin to experience blood or foams in urine, high blood pressure, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, etc.

How to stop recurrence of IgA Nephropathy? IgA Nephropathy is related to disorders in the immune system. As for treating the disease, the first step should be a clear diagnosis to confirm the amount of IgA antibody depositions, immunity status, involved renal cells and damage extent on the kidneys. Then immunosuppressant medicine treatment will be given to the patients. Here lies why people find their symptoms remitted soon by medicines but the disease also recurs easily. The main role immunosuppressant medicines play is to stop the abnormal immune response from damaging the kidneys. If the immunosuppressant medicines can not be as effective and appropriate to control the immune response stirred up by IgA antibody and immune complexes, the disease will of course relapse.

Furthermore, in addition to immunosuppressive treatment, we will need to regulate the patients’ immune system and help repair injured glomerular cells. Long-term using immunosuppressive medicines may suppress the immune system and increase risks of infections and recurrences as well. If one with IgA Nephropathy finds the disease hard to be managed, he/she may seek for rechecking up his condition and changing medicines to manage the disease and stop further recurrence. Frequent relapses may cause renal condition deteriorate over prolonged periods of time. People should be aware of it and seek for proper treatment as early as possible.