Living with Lupus Nephritis
Lupus nephritis can feel overwhelming. Discover how you can cope better with lupus nephritis by learning about the disease, the symptoms, and the impact lupus has on the body.
Did you know?
Lupus nephritis most often develops within 5 years of your lupus diagnosis.
Approximately 40% of people with SLE will develop lupus nephritis.
What is lupus nephritis?
When lupus causes your immune system to attack and inflame your kidneys, it’s called lupus nephritis.
The inflammation from lupus nephritis can make your kidneys unable to properly remove waste from your blood or control the amount of fluids in your body.
What Are the Most Common Symptoms of Lupus Nephritis?
In the early stages of lupus nephritis, symptoms may not be apparent. If you see any of these common signs and symptoms, contact your doctor about the possibility of lupus progressing to lupus nephritis.
The most common signs and symptoms of lupus nephritis include:
- sudden and unexplained swelling, especially in the extremities (feet, ankles, legs, fingers, arms) or the eyes
- blood in the urine
- elevated blood pressure
- foamy or frothy urine
- increased need to urinate, especially at night
This list is not all-inclusive, and BENLYSTA may not help with all these symptoms. Consult your healthcare provider to see if BENLYSTA is right for you.
In a clinical study in Black patients with lupus, a reduction in disease activity was seen but was not statistically significant. Ask your doctor about BENLYSTA.
Have you been diagnosed with lupus nephritis?
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lupus nephritis, adding BENLYSTA may help.
Important terms for understanding lupus nephritis
Your immune system is like a bodyguard against invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and other germs. Normally, your immune system works to fight off these invaders. But in the case of lupus, the immune system mistakenly attacks your own body’s healthy tissues.
Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many different body systems, including your kidneys, joints, skin, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs.
The renal system includes your kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.
The nephrons are small structures in the kidneys that filter the blood. When you have lupus nephritis, the nephrons become inflamed, making your kidneys unable to properly remove waste from your blood or control the amount of fluids in your body.
A nephrologist is a doctor who specializes in diseases and conditions that affect the kidneys.
Lupus and the immune system
The following terms may help you better understand lupus and how it can affect the immune system.
Normal Immune System: A normal immune system produces B cells, which make antibodies that destroy and control harmful substances, such as viruses, bacteria, and germs.
Normal B Cell: This type of white blood cell produces antibodies.
Antibody: Antibodies attach themselves to germs and try to control or destroy them.
BLyS: B-lymphocyte stimulator is a protein that helps some cells grow healthy body tissue.
Germs: Viruses, bacteria, and other invaders.
Abnormal Immune System: With lupus, the immune system produces autoreactive B cells, which make a type of protein called autoantibodies. These autoantibodies attack your own body, leading to inflammation.
Autoreactive B Cell: These are the “bad” version of B cells that make harmful autoantibodies.
Autoantibody: While antibodies protect the body, autoantibodies work against the body.
Inflamed Body Tissue: A sign of lupus disease activity.
Here, you can see how a healthy immune system attacks invaders, such as germs. In the case of lupus, autoantibodies attack healthy tissues, leading to inflammation.
Treatment of Lupus Nephritis
Treatment for lupus nephritis can involve different medicines that keep the immune system from attacking the kidneys. The treatments you receive will depend on the type of lupus nephritis you have and how severe it is.
There are different stages of lupus nephritis, and your treatment options may differ. Commonly used treatment options to help reduce kidney disease activity include corticosteroids and immunosuppressive therapies. Talk to your doctor about the treatment plan that is right for you.
Lupus affects everyone differently
Learn about lupus from real BENLYSTA patients: Michelle, Morgan, and Susan.
Michelle: My personality is definitely one of being a perfectionist. Anyone that knows me – my husband, my children – they know I like to dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s”.
Morgan: As a child, you could find me in the water with my yellow lab, Chelsea. I guess you’d say I was your typical tomboy.
Susan: After seeing The Nutcracker for the first time, dance was one of my passions. Like, once the music started playing, everything else melted away.
Michelle: I grew up watching my mother fight lupus and as I became a young adult, I became her caregiver and that sort of instilled in me a fear, and a denial that there was no way I ever was going to have lupus. I was going to do everything possible – not that there’s anything you can do to prevent lupus. Even when I started having symptoms, I hid them from everyone …even my family.
Morgan: I didn’t tell anyone for years. My mom thought I was imagining it. In many ways getting the diagnosis was a huge relief. I did some research and found out that lupus is a chronic disease, with no cure. I decided, at that point, that I wasn’t going to be labeled by my lupus. I was going to fight it.
Susan: I guess I started having symptoms before my son was born, but I didn’t get the official diagnosis until my early 30s when he was about 2 years old. It was a very difficult time for me.
Michelle: I think it’s difficult for people to understand what people with lupus really experience. They look at them on the surface and they say: “They’re okay. They look fine.” I was able to finally take a deep breath and stop with the façade that everything was okay. So, when I finally – with the help of my rheumatologist – had that diagnosis, and said: “we need to go from here. We need to involve your family, your friends.
Dr Lambert: Lupus affects everyone differently. The symptoms are wide-ranging and can change over time. So, the clinical course of someone with lupus often is unpredictable. In some people, the first symptoms may resemble an infection. In others, lupus begins as a series of vague, seemingly unrelated symptoms that may progress over several years. Because of the great variability, a thorough medical examination by a healthcare professional familiar with lupus, typically a rheumatologist, is often required to make an accurate diagnosis.
Want to learn more about BENLYSTA, a treatment designed for lupus?
As you and your doctor consider BENLYSTA, it’s natural to have questions. To learn more about how BENLYSTA works, understand the financial help we offer, hear from others like you, and more, request your free BENLYSTA Information Kit.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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