Nephrotic Syndrome Symptoms

What is Nephrotic Syndrome?

Nephrotic syndrome is a disease of the kidney in which there is loss of protein in the urine.

The major cause of nephrotic syndrome is an increase in leakiness of the walls of the filtering system in the kidney. This filtering system is a bunch of blood vessels called the glomerulus. This leakiness leads to the presence of high levels of protein passing from the blood into the urine (proteinuria at least 3.5 grams per day). Consequently, there are low levels of proteins in the blood (hypoproteinemia), fluid collection and swelling in different body cavities.

What are the Nephrotic Syndrome Symptoms?

1) The most common sign is excess fluid in the body. The proteins in the blood normally help to keep the fluid in blood from seeping out into body cavities. A deficiency of proteins in the blood in Nephrotic Syndrome causes an accumulation of fluid in various body cavities, namely:

• Puffiness around the eyes, especially in the morning.
• A swollen face is most commonly noticed first in children, while adults usually have swelling of their feet.
• Fluid in the space around the lungs, called pleural effusion. This causes breathing difficulty, chest pain, cough etc.
• Fluid in the abdominal cavity called ascites, which causes a fullness and swelling in the abdomen.
• Generalized swelling throughout the body known as anasarca.

2)      Some patients may notice foam or froth in their urine.

3)      Sometimes, nephrotic syndrome may be detected only after a complication like a clot in the blood has formed. This clot may either be in the blood vessel of the leg or may migrate to the lungs. If the clot is formed in the blood vessel of the leg (called deep vein thrombosis), one may experience swelling and pain in the legs. If the clot travels to the lungs, one may experience chest pain and difficulty in breathing (called pulmonary embolism).

4)      High Blood Pressure (rarely) may also occur.

5)      Anemia, increased Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, high cholesterol levels (called hyperlipidaemia), high protein levels in the urine, low protein levels in the blood, etc. may be seen on the blood test reports.

6)      Weakness, loss of appetite and weight gain from the fluid retention may be seen.

7)      As the disease progresses, thinning of muscles, increased susceptibility to infections may also be seen.

If you are looking for relief from Nephrotic Syndrome, do get in touch with us today to know how Dr Rajesh Shah’s Homoeopathic treatment at Lifeforce can help you.