Ongoing Research for a Cure
If you’re diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy, you might look at the diagnosis as a slow death sentence. Currently, there isn’t any cure for this disease and all you can truly do is try to slow it down. Even if you take all precautions your doctor tells you to, live a healthy lifestyle, and monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, you could end up on the kidney transplant list. This may seem unfair, but with a disease that has no cure, that’s the reality, and its where many with IgA Nephropathy end up.
Several Studies for IgA Nephropathy Research
Thankfully, this specialized kidney disease is widespread enough that it effects millions of people each year. Several organizations have launched studies to learn as much as they can about this disease and work toward finding a cure. If you’re diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy, you might want to be part of one of these studies and find a way to contribute to the research being performed. Hopefully, there will be a breakthrough in n the near future to give us the information needed to make sure you can benefit from medications that can slow down this disease or cure it.
What Can You Do Now?
If you don’t participate in one of the studies geared at IgA Nephropathy research, you can make a few lifestyle changes to slow this disease and live with it. Two of the main contributors to the disease becoming more aggressive are high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. These two things can be controlled with medication, proper diet, exercise, and better habits. Make the necessary changes to slow down the growth of the IgA Nephropathy chains in your kidneys and make it so that you can live a lot longer.
How Long Can You Live with IgA Nephropathy?
You could live a long time with IgA Nephropathy and not ever have any symptoms beyond a little blood in your urine. If you begin to develop swelling in your hands and feet, have protein in your urine, or have more blood in your urine than you’ve had in the past, the disease could be growing. If your symptoms are getting worse, you need to consult your doctor right away and let them know. It might be time to have your name added to the transplant list and look for a new kidney.
What is IgA Nephropathy
IgA Nephropathy is known as Berger’s disease and it’s a rare disorder that can lead to end-stage kidney failure and cause damage to your kidneys. The proteins that end up in the urine cause severe damage and might cause you to need a transplant in the future. Current IgA Nephropathy research is underway with many studies being performed around the world with the goal of finding a cure to this disease. A diagnosis isn’t fatal, but it can lead toward your kidneys losing complete function and require that you need a transplant to continue to live.