Stage 4 Lupus Nephritis: Alternative Treatments to Dialysis

Stage 4 Lupus Nephritis is the most common type of kidney disease in lupus and constitutes about 40% of cases. If uncontrolled effectively, this form of Lupus Nephritis may progress to kidney failure easily. Then, approaching dialysis must be the frustrating transition of most patients. Are there alternative treatments to dialysis?

Dialysis for Stage 4 Lupus Nephritis

Stage 4 Lupus Nephritis occurs when nearly all of glomeruli are damaged in different degrees by the deposition of autoantibodies, such as IgG, IgM, IgA, C1q, C3 and C4. The constant attacks of these substances to kidney functioning cells can cause kidney damage or even kidney failure. In this condition, dialysis is usually used to replace damaged kidneys to remove waste products, but not all.

After dialysis, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive medications are prescribed to inhibit the activities of autoantibodies, thus controlling patients’ condition. However, in some cases, patients suffer from high blood sugar or diabetes, side effects of these medicines. What’s more, even though how adequate dialysis patients accept, there are still many middle or large molecule substances building up in the body. This leads to the longer patients on dialysis, the weaker they are.

Are there alternative treatments to dialysis for Stage 4 Lupus Nephritis

Since the deposition of autoantibodies is the root cause, the fundamental treatment must be able to eliminate these substances and then repair the damaged kidney functioning cells. Based on this requirement, kidney experts create a brand new therapy, called the therapy of blood stasis, with their joint efforts.

First of all, this therapy aims at cleansing patients’ blood thoroughly with the correct blood purification and medicines. With this step, all of abnormal autoantibodies can be removed from the body, in order to provide a clean environment for the following treatment.

Next, herbal medicines, which are proven to be effective on increasing the blood flow on kidneys and enhancing the damaged cells’ self-curative ability, are used. With enough nutrition and enhanced self-curative ability, more and more damaged kidney functioning cells can achieve to self-repair. As a result, patients who have Stage 4 Lupus Nephritis can live healthy without dialysis, corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents.