What is Glomerulonephritis?
Glomerulonephritis is a condition in which the tiny filters in the kidney get inflamed. Glomeruli is responsible for removing excess fluid, electrolytes and waste from the bloodstream and pass them into the urine. Also known as glomerular disease, glomerulonephritis can be acute or chronic. In acute cases glomerulonephritis, there is a sudden attack of inflammation and in chronic cases the attack comes gradually.
What are the Symptoms of Glomerulonephritis?
Signs and symptoms of glomerulonephritis depend on the type of the condition you are suffering from. The indication of something is wrong can be seen from the symptoms or from the result of routine urine analysis.
- The signs and symptoms of glomerulonephritis include:
- Pink or cola-coloured urine from red blood cells present in the urine
- Foamy urine due to excess protein
- High blood pressure
- Fluid retention with swelling evident in the face, hands, feet and abdomen
- Fatigue caused by anemia or kidney failure
What the Causes of Glomerulonephritis?
There are many conditions that may lead to glomerulonephritis but, at times the cause of the condition may be unknown. The conditions that can lead to inflammation of the kidney’s glomeruli includes:
- Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis
- Bacterial endocarditis
- Viral infections
- Lupus
- Goodpasture's syndrome
- IgA nephropathy
- Polyarteritis
- Wegener's granulomatosis
- High blood pressure
- Diabetic kidney disease
- Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis
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