Know the Types and Ways to Prevent Kidney Inflammation

The kidneys have an important role: filtering out fluids, electrolytes, and glucose to reabsorb the body, filtering out toxic substances to be released in the urine, controlling blood pressure and maintaining blood acid (pH). Kidney problems, including kidney inflammation, can interfere with these functions.
Disorders that occur in kidney inflammation are determined by the cause and affected kidney area. Kidney inflammation is sometimes not preceded by specific symptoms. To be aware of kidney inflammation, it is important for you to first recognize the type of kidney inflammation and its symptoms.

Types of kidney inflammation

In medical terms, inflammation of the kidneys is called nephritis. This condition is usually caused by autoimmune diseases and kidney infections. Here are the two main types of kidney inflammation that you need to know about, namely:

glomerulonephritis

Glomerulonephritis is inflammation of the glomeruli, which is a group of small kidney blood vessels that absorb excess fluid, electrolytes, and waste products from the blood, and then excreted in urine. In this section, blood filtering occurs.

Glomerulonephritis is most often caused by the immune system that attacks healthy body tissues. This condition is usually only detected when the patient has a blood or urine test. Some symptoms of this type of kidney inflammation are swelling in certain parts of the body, such as legs and face, blood in the urine, shortness of breath, frequent coughing, and abdominal pain. Seek immediate medical attention if you experience these symptoms. If left untreated, glomerulonephritis can pose risks later in life, such as high blood pressure, anemia, kidney failure.

Interstitial nephritis
Interstitial nephritis is inflammation of the tissue around the kidney filter. Interstitial nephritis can be acute (sudden) or chronic (long term). Interstitial nephritis is usually caused by:

- allergic reaction to drugs.
- Autoimmune disorders, such as Kawasaki disease.
- Long-term use of certain drugs, such as paracetamol and aspirin.
- blood potassium levels are too low and calcium or uric acid levels are too high.

Fever, rash, nausea and vomiting, confusion, fatigue, easy drowsiness, decreased or increased urine, blood in the urine, swelling of some limbs and weight gain due to fluid accumulation. To determine the diagnosis, the doctor will perform a physical examination with several tests, including blood tests, kidney function tests, ultrasound of the kidneys, urine tests, and kidney biopsies. In general, this condition is only temporary, but in some cases it can cause permanent kidney problems, such as chronic kidney failure.

In addition to the two main types mentioned above, there are other types of kidney inflammation, namely:

Pyelonephritis, inflammation that starts with a urinary tract infection which then spreads to the kidneys.
Lupus nephritis, which is kidney inflammation caused by lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus / SLE), a disease caused by an immune system disorder.
Diabetic nephropathy, which is a kidney disease that arises as a complication of diabetes. Kidney damage due to diabetes is thought to be caused by an increase in kidney inflammation, as well as damage to the structure and function of the kidneys due to high and uncontrolled blood glucose levels.

Efforts to prevent kidney inflammation

Depending on the cause, kidney inflammation in general can be prevented in the following ways:

Seek medical attention immediately if you have a bacterial infection of the throat and skin.
High blood pressure can cause kidney problems. Therefore, always check your blood pressure.
Some types of kidney inflammation can increase the risk of hepatitis and HIV. Therefore, it is important to avoid using drugs with needles and unprotected sex.
Prevent diabetic nephropathy by controlling blood sugar.
Avoid long-term use of medicines and herbal products if your doctor does not recommend them.
Limit your intake of water and salt to relieve high blood pressure and swelling.
Quit smoking.

Maintain ideal body weight.
Seek medical attention immediately if you experience the symptoms described above. You are still at risk of kidney inflammation, even if you don't feel any symptoms. The most important thing is to change your lifestyle to be healthier to reduce the risk of kidney problems.