what is nephritis?

Question

i recently had a serious kidney infection that they called pylonephritus . iv had a urinary tract infection before but they have never called it oylonephrititis.is this serious i have had this three other times.I was very sick i also had septis i think thats what its called because i had my infectin for a long time the doctors were amazed i was still here . I was admitted to the hospital for 2 weeks and adminastered strong antibiotics. i wonder if i have to many of these kidney infections will i need a new kidney the doctors asure me its something a lot of women get .and my kidney is fine.does any one know will i keep getting this is there a way to prevent this.how many times does it take before your kidney gets damage

Answer 1

Nephritis is a general term for inflammation of the kidneys, which may be caused by many things. Pyelonephritis is inflammation of the kidney due to infection of it -- in your case, because the bacteria causing your UTI traveled past your bladder, backwards up the ureter and into your kidney. However, your doctor is right, your kidneys will be fine as long as it is detected quickly and treated appropriately. You can prevent pyelonephritis by preventing your recurrent UTIs, but otherwise nothing really.

Severe renal damage may be acute, but usually occurs because of autoimmune disorders, or impaired blood-supply to the kidneys (because of heart disease, or liver disease), which doesn't seem like a problem you're having. Sepsis may cause serious renal damage, but it takes quite a lot to get to that stage, so as long as you watch out for your infections and treat them quickly, I wouldn't worry.