How to Protect Your Kidney while Treating Lupus Nephritis

In the treatment of lupus nephritis, it is very necessary to control SLE by using immunosuppressant, but the protection of kidney should be neglected. Otherwise, the treatment might end up in failure, and renal inadequacy could occur.
In fact, SLE(systemic lupus erythematosus) can damage the kidney so badly that kidney condition would aggravate still, even if the SLE is not active. As a result, the hardening of kidney might appear, resulting in chronic kidney failure. So, it is obvious that kidney should be put into consideration during the course of the treatment of lupus nephritis.
Some patients with SLE may have already had renal damage on different levels, which calls for more protection of kidney to prevent from kidney function deterioration. Here are a few risk factors that should be heeded to:
The first one is high blood pressure.
Patients with lupus nephritis often develop high blood pressure as complication, which is the number one risk factor that aggravates kidney function. So, they must monitor high blood pressure and control it strictly if blood pressure rises.
The second one is proteinuria.
Proteinuria not only is a marker that glomeruli has been damaged, but also might impair tubular interstitial, so it is a major risk factor that promotes the progression of kidney disease. Reducing the amount of urine protein can ease impairment on kidney, so kidney function can be conserved. In this regard, ACEI and ARB can lower proteinuria and alleviate the hardening of kidney.
The third one is medications possessing nephrotoxicity(side effects)
Some medications tend to damage kidney, such as antibiotics(sulfanilamide, kanamycin, gentamicin, polymyxin B), Chinese medicine(especially Caulis Aristolochiae Manshuriensis and Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae) and painkillers. Patients should avoid these kind of medications in order to protect against kidney damage.
The fourth one is infection.
Infection is likely to happen during the course of lupus nephritis treatment, especially in the initial several months. Infection can cause relapse or even aggravate the condition.
So, patients should stay away from public places, keep their homes clean, ventilate often to avoid infection. But once infection occurs, patients should go to doctors immediately.
The fifth one is obesity.
Obesity is a big risk factor harming the human health across the whole world, which not only can lead to hyperlipoidemia, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, but also exacerbate proteinuria and kidney condition. With this in mind, obese patients with SLE should lose weight and keep their weight in the normal range.
Other risk factors, like cardiac insufficiency, acidosis, electrolyte disorder, and hyperlipidemia, should also be addressed during the course of treatment.