Iga Nephropathy: Berger's Disease

IgA nephropathy is also known as Berger’s Disease, the disease was founded by Jean Berger a pathologist from France. In many parts of the world IgAN is also known as glomerulonephritis, which is a disease that damages the filtering units within the kidneys called the glomeruli, pretty much the disease itself causes the kidneys to completely destroy themselves 50% of the time. When an antibody called immunoglobin A lodges into the kidney over time this causes local inflammation that hampers the ability of the kidneys to filter waste, excess water, and electrolytes from the blood. IgAN is found to progress slowly over time, however the course of the disease itself varies from each person. After 10 to 20 years with IgA nephropathy, the kidneys

This disease can be silent for years, even decades. The most common symptoms see with IgAN are proteinuria and hematuria. Sometimes there is also a presence of macrohematuria which is where the urine will look red or bloody or tea-colored or smoky. Strong smelling urine, foam in the urine, and swelling in hands and feet is also present due to the amount of protein in the urine. Fatigue is what individuals complain about the most, other symptoms include; malaise, high blood pressure, low-grade fevers, flulike symptoms, flank pain, and pains within the muscles also known as myalgia. Individuals may have times of episodic hematuria and rises in proteinuria known to be triggered by colds or other respiratory infections, lack of sleep, and sometimes no trigger at

They also conduct blood test, this test will show the levels of creatinine. The doctor may order an Iothalamate clearance test which is a special kind of contrast to track how well one’s kidney is functioning. Other test would include kidney imaging and biopsy. While there is no cure for IgAN, the idea is to medicate and treat the disease so it will slow the progression. Some of the medications used to treat IgAN symptoms are; high blood pressure medication, keeping one’s blood pressure at bay will reduce the protein in the urine, omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil supplements) may reduce inflammation in the glomeruli without harmful side effects, immunosuppressants corticosteroid medications, such as prednisone, and other potent drugs that suppress the immune response may be used to help protect kidney function, statin therapy which is a cholesterol-lowering medication that slows the damage done to the kidneys. The doctor’s ultimate goal is to avoid the need for dialysis or kidney