How Long Can a Person Live With Lupus Nephritis?

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that affects 1.5 million people in the US these days. There are several different types of lupus. But, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common type. It makes up approximately 70 percent of all cases of lupus. SLE can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, kidneys and brain. When it involves the kidneys, people refer it to as lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis can be serious. While 90 percent of the patients can still have a normal life, others can die of it. And, kidney failure is the main death cause of this disease. Many patients have asked that how long they can live when they have lupus nephritis. The answer is that this may depend on variables. This article will help you understand more about the life span of lupus nephritis.

What should you know about lupus nephritis?

As mentioned above, SLE is the direct cause of lupus nephritis. It can cause inflammatory reactions in the patient’s kidneys and many other organs. There are many factors that can lead to SLE, including:

• Immune reactions
• Inherited factors
• Environment
• Sex hormone
• Medications
• Infections
• Autoimmune diseases

If uncontrolled effectively, SLE will affect the kidneys, causing lupus nephritis. And if untreated timely, lupus nephritis will progress into kidney failure.

It’s hard to diagnose lupus nephritis as symptoms are similar to some other kidney diseases. To receive correct treatment, you need to get an accurate and timely diagnosis. The few tests below can help confirm whether you have this disease or not.

• Kidney biopsy
• Urine tests
• Blood tests
• Ultrasound
• 24-hour urine collection

Common symptoms of lupus nephritis are:

• Frequent urination at night
• Weight gain
• Swelling in hands, ankles, legs and feet
• Swelling in face or around the eyes
• High blood pressure
• Proteinuria or foamy urine
• Hematuria or blood in urine

If you experience any of these symptoms, go to the doctor and ask them for available tests.

Related: How Does Lupus Affect Your Kidneys?

How long can you live with lupus nephritis?

It’s estimated that 20% of people with lupus nephritis will develop kidney failure. As a final result, they will die. According to research, 80 percent of these people can live at least 10 years, and 95 percent can live at least 5 years.

To live longer, you need to control lupus nephritis timely and effectively. The following treatments can help you.

• Use immunosuppressive drugs. These drugs help keep your immune system from damaging your kidneys.
• Use corticosteroids. These medications can ease your symptoms and reduce kidney inflammatory reactions.
• Blood pollution therapy. This treatment helps remove the waste product in the blood. So, it can keep the blood flowing in the kidneys healthy. And, avoid kidney inflammatory reactions.
• Plasma exchange. It’s commonly used in the moderate or end stage. Plasma exchange helps remove the combination of antibodies and antigens from the body. Thus, it can help avoid further kidney inflammation.
• Use alternative medicines. There are several supplements used to control lupus nephritis symptoms. While some are still unproven, some can be available at some clinics and pharmacies. These may include Omega-3 fatty acids, DHEA and LupuFree dietary supplement. You can consult your doctor to get appropriate supplement.
• Follow a healthy diet for lupus nephritis patients. Avoid alfalfa, saturated fat. Limit the intake of sodium. Eat more foods with high-calcium.

If you refuse to receive treatment, you will experience more serious symptoms. When the kidneys fail or do not function properly, you can die. Without treatment, in fact, many patients die within several weeks or months.

Related: Lupus Treatment: Is LupuFree Effective to Cure Lupus?

What factors will affect the life expectancy of lupus nephritis?

According to the doctors, there are 5 factors that affect the patient life span, including:

• Age and gender

Women are more susceptible to lupus than men. But when men get lupus, they often experience more severe symptoms. Studies show that more than 80 percent of people with lupus nephritis are women. But, men, especially young men can be at higher risk for developing kidney failure.

• Diagnosis

Early diagnosis can increase the life expectancy of lupus nephritis. If you’re diagnosed with serious damage, no treatment will be effective enough to cure you.

• Timely and effective treatment

Medicines and other treatments also need time to work. So if you think you may have lupus nephritis, get it diagnosed and treated immediately. Also, early and effective treatment can help to avoid serious complications in future.

• Kidney function

The effectiveness of treatment depends on how well your kidneys are functioning. If your kidney has a problem, like proteinuria, this may take longer for treatment to work. 

• Complications

Apart from kidney failure, some other complications can also lead to the death. These include infections, heart failure and liver or brain damage.

Related: How to Reduce Organ Damage in Lupus Patients

Lupus nephritis can be fatal. But, timely and effective treatment can stop it from progressing into renal failure. If you’re suffering with this disease, follow the treatment plan and stay positive. Once you avoid kidney failure and other complications, you will have a normal life span.

 

How Is Lupus Diagnosed?

People with lupus commonly possess abnormal immune system. Instead of protecting the body against foreign substances, the immune function mistakenly attacks healthy tissues, causing damage organs. However, a lupus diagnosis is hard to diagnose because its symptoms are vague. In addition, unlike other diseases, lupus can’t be diagnosed with a single lab test. There’re lots of lab tests used to detect conditions or physical changes in the body when having lupus. Thus, it’s important to understand common lab testsfor lupus that help you feel confident and know your health clearly

When should you get tested for lupus?

Lupus symptoms are sometimes confused with other autoimmune diseases. If the following symptoms persist and tend to severe, you should meet a rheumatologist to diagnose:

• Butterfly- shape syndrome. About 30% of lupus patients develop the symptom over the face. Also, rash can occur around your face, neck and scalp. The noticeably sign is skin rashes may worsen by sunlight
• Inflammation of joints and lungs. Joint pain, muscle aches, wrist pain, check pain and dry eyes are common inflammations of lupus
• More fatigue than usual. There’re various factors causing tiredness. But, extremely fatigue is a sign of lupus, especially if it accompanies with fever
• Problems with the brain and nervous system. The disease can affect the nervous system, causing headache, anxiety, visions trouble
• Urine changes. Changes in urine habit and color are noticeable symptoms of lupus
• Other abnormalities. Fingers and toes turn into blue or white when exposed to cold are another symptoms of the disease

Related: 8 Serious Complications of Lupus If Left Untreated

When suffering from these symptoms, you should get tested for lupus as soon as possible and seek proper treatments.

How is lupus diagnosed?

The symptoms of lupus are vague. They’re sometimes unclear, come and go, mild and severe. So, it’s hard for doctors to give an accurate diagnosis at the first time. Although it’s not easy, some physical and lab tests may help to detect the disease. Normally, a doctor may review the following while considering a lupus diagnosis:

1. The current symptoms

Your doctor will look for symptoms of inflammation such as redness, pain, swelling and heat before giving the lab tests. Inflammation can be occurred inside the body such as kidneys and heart. You should take note information about your symptoms. When they begin and how often they are. If a family member has lupus, you should talk that information to your doctor. As family and patient history play an important role in diagnosing lupus. After considering your symptoms, your doctor may give some lab tests to check.

Related: How to Recognize Lupus Symptoms and Manage Them

2. Lab tests for lupus

Blood tests

Antinuclear antibody (ANA)

ANA is an antibody attacking proteins in your body. It’s existing in most lupus people. Your doctor can use the ANA test as a screening test. Besides, seeing patterns of the antibodies can help your doctor detect the specific disease you have. Though most people with lupus have antibody, not all people with a positive test will have lupus. The result may indicate Sjogren’s syndrome, scleroderma or other autoimmune diseases. Thus, to make sure, other blood tests are needed to diagnose lupus accurately.

Blood tests to check for inflammation

After a positive ANA test, your doctor may take a complete blood count to measure the volume of hemoglobin, white and red blood cells in your blood. Abnormalities may be other signals of lupus. But, the test can’t confirm lupus correctly. Thus, your doctor perform another blood test- blood test for inflammation.

CRP and ESR are test measures to look for inflammation, which might indicate active lupus. ESR will measure the speed of red blood cells that move toward at the bottle of a test tube. The fast rate of blood cells fall can show inflammatory condition. Besides, CRP is a C reactive protein test that can mark inflammation. But, CRP and ESR aren’t specific to lupus because there’re lots of factors for a positive results. Your doctor use them to have more information to diagnose lupus.

Other blood tests

Because no blood test is accurately for lupus, doctors often do variety of blood tests to narrow down the diagnosis. He or she can also perform other tests, such as:

• APLs test. The test helps find out antibodies that harm phospholipids. ALPs are present in 60 % of people with the disease.
• Anti- Sm test. The antibody attacks against Sm, a protein in the cell nucleus. It’s present in 30- 40% of people with lupus. A positive test always indicates in a lupus diagnosis as the test is rarely in people without the disease.
• Anti-Ro(SSA) and Anti-La(SSB). These are two antibodies which are often present together. They attack RNA protein in the blood. Anti- Ro is present in 24- 80% of lupus people. But they’re common in people with Sjögren’s syndrome.

Urine test

Besides blood test, your doctor use urine tests to diagnose and observe the effect the disease on your kidneys. Some urine tests include:

• Measurement the effectiveness of the kidney
• Protein ratio
• Urinalysis

Related: What Your Pee Tells About Your Health?

Imaging tests

Doctors may require imaging tests if they doubt you have inflammation in lungs and hearts. Chest X- ray is given to check your lungs. Also, an echocardiogram helps check your heart.

Tissue biopsies

A biopsy is used to take a sample small of tissues that damage organs of the body. Your doctor will take samples on the skin and kidney if he or she assumes these organs are affected. Your doctor also uses biopsy to identify the best treatment for lupus.

Lupus is actually hard to diagnose, but doctors will give a range of tests to give an accurate diagnosis. The symptoms can also be worse if you left untreated. Though there’s no cure for lupus, treatment helps ease the symptoms and prevent outbreaks. LupuFree is one of the best supplements for lupus. It contains lots of anti- inflammatory ingredients approved by the FDA. Thus, it’s effective in reducing inflammation and preventing flare ups.

Related: 7 Lupus Flare Triggers You Should Avoid