Nephritis

My mother tells me that I had nephritis as a child of 3. She says that I might need dialysis and a kidney transplant. What is this and what should I do? I feel fine and have not had any trouble since.

Nephritis is a term that means an inflammation of the kidneys. There are many forms of this condition and the outcome varies as to which form it is. As you had yours in childhood and you have had no trouble since it is likely to be “acute post-infectious glomerulonephritis”. In some people with this an infection, commonly Strep. throat or school sores, it triggers a response from the immunological (defence) system to fight the infection. The kidney is not infected but is attacked by the immunological system causing inflammation (the body’s response to any insult).

The good news is that if this is what you had, there is a 90% chance that your kidneys have recovered completely and there should be no problem.

If you want to be certain that you have no problem, your doctor can send some of your urine to see if there are any signs of glomerulonephritis and some blood to see if your kidneys are functioning normally.