Hi, I am 20 yrs. Old I was diagnosed with lupus nephritis about 2 yrs ago.
It was one of the worst experience in my life I had acute kidney and was very sick because of it. But now I am doing much better I used to take cellcept but it irrrated my stomach so I no longer take it. Now I am taking myfortic it is a lot better. I just want to let all of you know just to hang in there. Keep away from stress not good for your kidney function.

Good luck to all :d

Dalia, thank you for your response to my request. I'm so happy for your success in treating your kidney problems. I am going to mention that drug to my doctor next month. I can't take cellcept either, partly because of the expense and it also effected my stomach severely and I became dehydrated. It helps to know that others can sympathize with my problems. There is no support group where I live. The closest one is dallas and san antonio which both are two hours away. Good luck to you and everyone dealing with lupus.

I am very new at this, I was told three months ago. I to have kidney involvement. I just came home from the hospital today from a kidney biopsy. I had chest pain last week, that took me through a heart cath.
I have been on the prednisone, altace and plaquanil and now they are talking about cytoxin....Has anyone been on that?

I am having a hard time getting on my feet right now and getting very angry. I am a paramedic and hate being on this side of patient care.

Please help..Anyone???

If you can not afford the medication and it makes you to ill to continue anyway call your doctor immediately! There are alternatives and furthermore many pharmacutical companies will give you the medicine free or at very low cost if buying it is a financial hardship. I am including several links that may assist with the costs. If you are in the us call your local social services department as well, there are programs to help. Also apply for ssd/ssi as it can help as well.

Http://www.Needymeds.Com/
https://www.Pparx.Org/intro.Php
http://www.Themedicineprogram.Com/
http://www.Peoples-law.Org/health/charity- care/special_drug.Htm

Darn, I just wrote a long winded post and I got logged off.
Well i'm new to this site but not to lupus, specifically lupus nephritis (ln).

Girlfriend was diagnosed 6 mos ago with class iv ln, one of the severe forms of ln. So I was quite scared (her too of course) at the beginning, esp reading about potential for end stage renal disease (esrd), dialysis, transplant.. But even with class iv, she has improved a lot, so much so that at least from lab test results, her kidneys are functioning just about normal.. But of course she has to keep taking her meds for months/years to come..

I'll write some stuff about the meds
1) cytoxan (generic name: cyclophoshamide): this is used for severe ln. It has been used for many many years and has been thought to be the best treatment for ln, although it has high potential for side effects (from the not too serious bouts of nausea/vomitting to much more serious effects like infertility). She was started on intraveneous cytoxan shots (once a month for 6 months initially), but she responded so well after the first treatment that they changed to myfortic
2) myfortic/cellcept: is a newer drug and even newer for treating ln, but has shown to be just as effective (or better) than cytoxan with much less side effects.
3) prednisone (pd): standard med for most lupus patients, esp those with kidney involvement.. My g/f started with 30mg a day but now is at 7.5mg..
4) antimalarials (placquenil, hcq) has shown to be very good for lupus patients.. The benefits of it show slowly so the 6 months is the usual minimum duration.

Important thing i've observed: take your meds everyday at the proper time.. Evertime! And stay positive and have faith.

Be glad to offer any more info/experiences on ln ..