FSGS: Is It an Immunological Disease

More than 95% of kidney diseases are immunological disease and FSGS is not an exception. In order to give suitable treatment, the diagnosis like this judgment is very important. So for patients with FSGS, treatment should focus on immune regulation in order to achieve a good effect.

Overview of FSGS

It is short for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis that means some sections of kidney filters are scarred. After reading this explanation, you can know the general situation about this disease. How does FSGS associate with immunological disease?

Due to unhealthy diet or life style, their immune system is out of order and patients’ immunity is lower than before. In this physical condition, people are very easy to suffer diseases, such as infections or a cold. If their innate immune system is good, immune complexes formed during infections will be removed by immune cells. However, in patients with FSGS, the immune
complexes have to stay in body and would arouse renal failure once they deposit in kidney tissues.

Inflammatory mediators will accumulate around immune complexes in kidney tissues in order to remove them. However, this inflammation will hurt kidney tissues meanwhile. When kidney cells are damaged, the filtering ability cannot be done normally. Many valuable substances in the blood will be leaked from the blood. Furthermore, over time the kidney filters would be scarring and cause loss of kidney function. Once they lose about 50%, FSGS is coming.

Immunotherapy is the correct treatment for immunological disease—FSGS. It mainly contains Immunodepression, immune regulation and immune protection.

Immunodepression will give patients some immunosuppressive agents to restrain renal inflammation in order to protect kidney cells. Furthermore, these agents are regularly needed to keep a good situation in kidneys. However, kidney cannot tolerate immune complexes for a long time. Immune regulation is essential to turn immune system to normal so as to block renal inflammation from the root. If the kidney has a serious hurt, immune protection is provided. It adopts Immunotherapy which does not only provide new kidney cells but also rebuild a new immune system to keep healthy for a long time.

FSGS is Chronic Nephritis in Kidney

Many people are not familiar with FSGS and they know nothing about FSGS but a type of nephritis. It is the abbreviation of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis which is very common in children and adult. In order to treat FSGS, we must know its own characteristics and which treatment is suitable for it.

What is FSGS after all?

Kidney is the main organ to filter the blood and form urine. How to achieve that? In kidneys, there are more than two million glomeruli which are like numerous griddles to help kidney to filter blood. If most of the glomeruli are health, kidneys can function well. So the end waste products and excessive water can be discharged through the filtration of griddles.

However, FSGS means that less than 50% of glomeruli have been destroyed, which is a kind of nephritis. Besides, many kidney tissues have been dead and turned into scars in kidneys. The scars seem that on the skin. There will be no blood or oxygen supplied to the scars. So most part of kidneys has no blood vessels and cannot form urine. In this way, many toxic substances cannot be removed from the body.

What are the common symptoms of FSGS?

FSGS is considered as a type of nephritis which often occurs in children and young people. And males have more risk to suffer FSGS than females. More than two thirds patients have a large amount of proteinuria and severe swelling. Their 24 hours proteinuria is between 1g to 30g. While, more than 50% of patients have hematuria and microscopic hematuria presents in most cases. FSGS develops very quickly and usually patients would go into renal failure or ESRF in one or two years. So patients should receive an effective treatment in the early stage in order to prevent the serious condition.

Why Creatinine Matters and What to Do about That

People with Renal Failure or ESRD live with high levels of creatinine. Elevated creatinine appears almost exclusively in people with the disease. Those patients are told that their creatinine level are dangerously high but don’t know what does that means or affects. If you are really a truth digger, then this may be the right article for you.

Creatinine is the metabolic product stemming from the muscle metabolism. It is excreted by kidneys exclusively, that’s why creatinine becomes the detection marker of kidney damages. A serum creatinine test can tell you how well your kidneys function, while a creatinine urine test measures the creatinine in your urine.

Ostensibly, the reason why creatinine would increase is due to malfunctioned kidneys failing to excrete urine. Substantially, it is caused by kidney fibrosis. The kidney fibrosis results from the occurrence of phenotype transformation as a result of damaged renal intrinsic cells. Fibroblasts change myofibroblasts on account of the stimulation of changes mentioned before. Meanwhile, healthy renal tissues are impaired and develop pathological changes. Consequently, Renal Failure appears in the end.

Due to the progressive damages of kidneys, one’s kidney function decreases accordingly. Of course, the excretory function declines and results in elevated creatinine. Moreover, other indexes such as serum creatinine and urea nitrogen rise too. High blood pressure and swelling attack in most of the patients with Renal Failure or kidney diseases.

After realizing how creatinine increases, you must want to know how to lower high levels of creatinine?

Some may already get the point that lowering the creatinine shouldn’t be the ultimate goal, compared with improving one’s kidney function, decreasing the high levels of creatinine should only be secondary. Because decreased kidney function or malfunctioned kidneys are the major culprits accounting for high levels of creatinine.

Good Diet Suggestions to FSGS

Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a rare disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering system (glomeruli) causing serious scarring. FSGS is one of the causes of a serious condition known as Nephrotic Syndrome.

What will happen if I have FSGS?

The outcome is very variable, and you will need to ask your specialist how things are likely to be in your case. The possibilities are:

It may continue unchanged for many years, requiring only regular check-ups with blood tests.

It may go away on its own in some cases.

If there is fluid retention with ankle swelling, this may get worse.

In some cases kidney failure develops, leading to the question of dialysis or transplantation.

What is the good diet to FSGS patients?

Sodium:

• Too much sodium can contribute to high blood pressure and edema

• Most sodium in our diet comes from processed foods and salt

• We have learned to like salt and it takes time to unlearn the preference for salt

• Most people consume too much sodium on a daily basis

Protein:

• We need protein for overall health, muscle maintenance, and to fight infections

• Research has not absolutely proved benefit of low protein diet to preserve kidney function

• Goal is moderate protein intake, but consult with a nephrologist

• Good sources of protein are lean meats, will trimmed poultry, eggs (limit 2 per week), fish, shellfish, beans, and nuts

limit fat and cholesterol:

• Limit whole eggs to 2 per week, use egg substitutes or whites only

• Use lean meats, well trimmed, poultry w/o skin, fish, shellfish, beans, nuts

• Use healthy oils such as olive, canola, safflower, sunflower

• Limit saturated fats (dairy, animal fat) and eliminate trans fat (partially hydrogenated oils found in processed and fast food)

What to Expect Once Dialysis Is Stopped

Dialysis is lifesaving when one suffers from Renal Failure or ESRD (End-stage Renal Disease). However, receive or not is all one’s own call. If somebody refuses or decides to withdraw dialysis, then what to expect once dialysis is stopped?

Without dialysis death will occur shortly after you get ESRD or withdraw from the treatment. This is mostly because toxins build up in the blood causing uremia. A series of physical and emotional changes occur as uremia develops. This is your own way to prepare. In most cases of Renal Failure, patients passed away all peaceful and pain-free, which is a great relief for their families.

Understanding the certain symptoms and changes around the corner helps patients’ friends, family and patients themselves to deal with the situation better. A series of physical and emotional changes can be:

▪ Loss of appetite

Same things happen as one’s illness condition progresses to CRF or CKD stage 4 (same thing with different names). Maybe you have already lived with it or maybe it’s new to you. Anyway, it probably will happen once your dialysis is withdrawn.

▪ Visions of people who no longer or don’t exist at all

This is probably caused by the buildup of toxins or metabolic products in your body affecting your nervous system, and then the vision appears.

▪ Don’t remember people you are familiar with, such as friends, families and even yourself.

It develops as a result of toxins affecting nervous system. As you read such a message, you may feel like heartbreaking or something. I know this is hard for you, but we suppose to support and respect his or her decision, don’t we?

▪ Changes in breathing and skin.

Changes in breathing signals decreased circulation in the internal organs, other reason may explain this change is the accumulated toxins affect other organs, for instance, heart and lung leading to the failure of other organs.

They may experience itching skin, desquamation and color changes. All those changes result from toxins accumulating in the body.

How to Prevent the Relapse of Pediatric Nephrotic Syndrome

Nephrotic Syndrome is a common childhood illness featured by massive proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, hypoalbuminemia and edema. NS is a disease of relapse and it is a major problem to manage the cases with frequent relapse. So it is very important to take measures to prevent the relapse of Pediatric Nephrotic Syndrome.

What is a relapse of Pediatric Nephrotic Syndrome?

This is shown by a recurrence of Urine Protein for at least 7 days. Untreated, oedema will occur later. Daily testing can help us detect the recurrence before oedema develops. Many relapses appear due to a cold.

Generally, relapses occur in 75 percent of children with NS, particular in the first 2 years. This can be caused due to lowered dose of medicines or the treatment has been stopped.

How to prevent the relapse of Pediatric Nephrotic Syndrome?

Firstly, adopt the combined therapy of Chinese - Western medicine.

Western medicine can relieve the symptoms which can solve the problem of low effect of Chinese prescription. In addition, Chinese herbal remedy, Micro-Chinese Medicine Osmotherapy, is applied to block kidney damage, improve the supply of blood and oxygen to the damaged renal cells, reduce further impairment of renal cells.

Moreover, Immunotherapy is applied to regenerate new healthy cells to replace the necrotic one so as to restore the renal function. The whole immune system is rebuilt, and the disease is not easy to recur.

Secondly, arrange a proper diet, and avoid crapulence in cold food.

Follow the dietary principles given be the doctor. Watch out for your child's addicted to ice cream or other cold foods. All of them will trigger gastrointestinal disorder, diarrhea and enteritis. These condition will induce the relapse of the NS.

Finally, have enough rest.

Enough rest is of great importance for enhancing the strength, improving the body's immune ability against germs like virus or bacteria.

How to Reduce Protein in Urine Due to Nephrotic Syndrome (NS)

Healthy kidneys are responsible for cleansing our blood. The kidney is made up of millions of small filtering units-glomeruli. In these filtering units, waste products and excess fluid pass through the filter and are removed into the urine, whereas the substances that are useful to the body like proteins, blood cells, etc don't pass the filter and remain in the blood.

Nephrotic Syndrome is an immunological disease caused due to low immunity or abnormal immune system. Patient's immune system fails to defends the body against what it perceives to be foreign or dangerous substances. In this condition, immune complex will be formed after the germs that invaded into the body bind with the antibodies produced by the immune system.

There are special epitopes in the kidneys that attract the immune complex, so more and more immune complexes will get deposited in the kidneys, causing damage to the filters and the glomeruli become leaky. This causes a loss of protein into urine (proteinuria).

How to reduce protein in urine due to NS?

Once people with NS detect protein in urine, they should take prompt treatment. If the underlying cause is not eliminated, the kidneys may be damaged further. Treating proteinuria is one way to maintain a healthy kidney.

Immunotherapy is available to cure protein in urine:

▪ New immunosuppressive drugs --restrain the abnormal immune response;

▪ Immune tolerance -- avoid further kidney damage;

▪ Micro-Chinese Medicine Osmotherapy -- promote renal blood circulation, eliminate the deposits of immune complex in glomeruli, and accelerate the kidney repair;

▪ Immunotherapy -- restore the kidney function and rebuild the immune system.