When diseases such as Lupus upset these balances, the kidneys act to restore this balance by working harder. They help maintain normal blood pressure by maintaining the correct levels of the necessary chemicals. Its chief characteristics are the appearance of protein, albumin, or red or white blood cells in the urine. Nephritis is much more common in childhood and adolescence than in middle age. The most common form of nephritis affects the kidney after a streptococcal infection, usually within three to six weeks.
Prognosis is usually good and most patients recover completely.
A few persons do develop chronic nephritis. In this form of nephritis, kidney damage progresses over many years, during which patients are symptom free. Uremia is a poisoning caused by accumulation of waste products in the blood normally excreted by the kidney. It occurs most often as the end stage of chronic kidney disease and is characterized by drowsiness, headache, nausea, inability to sleep, spasms, and coma. Prognosis is often poor.