How to Know If You Have Lupus Nephritis

Lupus Nephritis is the secondary kidney disease caused by systemic lupus erythematosus. However, not all patients with lupus will have kidney injury. The following symptoms prove that you have had renal injury.

Lupus Nephritis is a common disease among the male between 20~40 years old. In the early stage of the disease, it presents various clinical symptoms. In some cases, the patients have injury only in one organ. However, sometimes once the disease starts, the patients will have injury in multiple organs. Generally speaking, the patients have butterfly-shaped red erythema on skin and papule mainly on their face and some patients only have joint pain. The common symptoms of Lupus Nephritis are as follows:

1. Fever: Most of the patients with Lupus Nephritis have high fever, but a minority of them has low fever.

2. Skin mucosa injury: In the early period of Lupus Nephritis, the patients are sensitive to light. When exposed to sun, their face will turn red very soon. Typically, the patients have butterfly-shaped erythema on their cheeks and both sides of the nose’ bridge. Moreover, there may be polymorphous or discal red erythema, edema and subcutaneous hematoma on other body parts. Therefore, it is often mistaken for skin disease by some patients.

3. Multiple organs damage: The patients with Lupus Nephritis may have multiple damage, like heart damage, hepatomegaly, pleuritis and so on. The patients with heart damage will have tachycardia, arrhythmia, and myocarditis and so on. For the patients with hepatomegaly, they often have mild jaundice. Joint pain like rheumatoid arthritis is also a common symptom for the patients with Lupus Nephritis.

4. Symptoms of Nephritis: Generally, the kidney injury occurs very late and most appears after 6 months to 2 years after the onset of Nephritis. However, in some cases, once it starts, edema, proteinuria is the first symptoms of Nephritis.
Moreover, the kidney damage is divided into Nephritic Syndrome, Nephritic Syndrome, Nephrotic Syndrome, Chronic Nephritis complicated with edema, proteinuria, hematuria and high blood pressure, anemia and decline in renal function. In addition, some patients may suffer from rapidly progressive Nephritis. In this case, the disease progresses very rapidly, keep high fever as well as proteinuria, hematuria and red blood cast increase. The patients’ kidneys fail in a short time. Without timely effective treatment, the patients will develop Renal Failure and even die in a short time.


For the patients with lupus, if they have the above symptoms, they should go to see a nephrologist at once. Even if the test results prove the indexes are normal, they still should go for check regularly in 2 years after lupus.