My Diagnosis Story: IgA Nephropathy

Medically Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on October 08, 2026

By Chantae Cvoliga, 39, as told to Keri Wiginton 

The first couple of times I noticed foam in the toilet, I thought I'd left something behind after cleaning the bathroom. Then it happened again. And again. My urine also looked much darker than normal, which didn't make sense. I usually drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. 

For about three years before that, I'd been getting sick a lot. Tonsillitis. Mouth sores. Strep throat. It felt like I was going to urgent care at least every other month. 

But the urine changes were new and strange, so I went back to urgent care. They treated me for a urinary tract infection. A full course of antibiotics later, the foamy pee remained. 

That was December 2025. At the time, I'd never heard of IgA nephropathy. I knew something wasn't right. I had no idea it could be my kidneys. 

I'm 39 and live in New Jersey with my husband and our two boys, who are 12 and 9. My husband is in the military. Before my diagnosis, I worked at an art studio. 

A normal morning started with us getting the kids ready for school. Then I'd head to the studio, open the art supply store, prep for the day, and teach classes.

I've worked with kids since I was basically a kid myself, starting with babysitting and later working in daycare and as a substitute teacher. At the studio, I taught kids as young as 2. 

I loved those classes. But then I started to get woozy more often, and my energy started to tank. 

Fatigue has probably been the toughest symptom. It goes beyond any tiredness I've experienced before — and I've had two kids. The exhaustion lives deep in your bones and makes everything feel harder than it should.

I'd brought up fatigue and body aches at doctor visits over the years. My thyroid was checked pretty regularly. But no one looked closely at my kidneys.

As far as I know, I don't have years of kidney test results, such as creatinine and eGFR, to look back on. So I'm not sure when my kidney function started to decline. 

As a military dependent, I generally have to go through my primary care manager, or PCM, before I can see a specialist. So when the antibiotics didn't help, I called my PCM.

It took a while to get in. My mom was also sick around the same time, which complicated my schedule. I finally saw my PCM in March 2026, about three months after I'd first gone to urgent care because of the urine changes. 

They did a urinalysis. From what I was told, there was so much protein in my urine that they wondered if I'd done the test wrong. They asked me to repeat it the next day. The result was still abnormal. 

My doctor referred me to a urologist who did another urinalysis. Once the urologist saw those results, he basically told me, "We're not who you need to see. You need a nephrologist." 

By April, after another referral through my PCM, I finally met Asheen Zariat, MD, at the Center for Kidney Care in New Jersey. 

Dr. Zariat looked at my results and told me they seemed like IgA nephropathy (IgAN). She also told me that, as a Black and Puerto Rican woman, I wasn't the kind of patient she typically saw with IgAN. But that didn't stop her from considering it. 

She told me she wanted more tests to find out for sure what was going on. For the first time in months, I felt like I was in the right hands. 

Dr. Zariat ordered a 24-hour urine collection to measure how much protein I was losing. She told me a normal amount is generally less than about 150 milligrams (mg) in 24 hours. Mine was 3,516 mg.

Hearing that was surreal. It felt like somebody was giving me news about another person. My first instinct wasn't to panic. I just wanted to know: What do we do next?

I usually go straight into planning mode. That's how my brain works. As long as there's a step to move toward, I feel more optimistic.

I did start to worry once I had time to sit with the news. Then came the dreaded Google searches about kidney disease. That definitely didn't help the anxiety spiral. But I tried to focus on the next step, which was a kidney biopsy.

The procedure itself was pretty straightforward. I wasn't completely asleep. I remember being in this sort of dazed mind space. I also remember the biopsy needle looking really long. It reminded me of an epidural needle.

When Dr. Zariat told me the biopsy confirmed IgA nephropathy, I was relieved. 

I'd been through so many doctors and felt brushed off so many times. There was a strange sense of vindication in finally knowing I wasn't making things up. What was happening in my body was real, and now it had a name.

Then came the "oh no" of it all.

The biopsy showed active inflammation along with scarring and damage that had already happened. It also gave my doctor a MEST-C score, which describes certain changes seen in kidney tissue with IgA nephropathy.

Dr. Zariat explained that IgAN is a chronic kidney disease. Treatment can help protect kidney function and slow things down. But there isn't a cure. This was something I'd need to learn to live with.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease around the same time as IgAN. 

Gastrointestinal problems weren't new for me. A few years earlier, I cut things out of my diet to see what made a difference. When I told doctors gluten made me feel worse, they just told me to stop eating it.

Later, an endoscopy and other testing showed I did have celiac disease. I also have joint pain and other symptoms that I'm managing with a rheumatologist. I've had a positive ANA blood test, which can be a sign of an autoimmune condition. But alone, it doesn't explain what's happening. 

How all of my health conditions fit together is still a bit of a mystery. I do wonder if earlier kidney testing might've caught something sooner. But I can't know that now. Hindsight is 20/20. 

At my first appointment after the diagnosis, Dr. Zariat used an IgAN risk calculator to show me what could happen if my disease kept progressing.

Based on my lab results at the time, when things were much worse, it estimated about a 50% chance that my kidney function would drop by half or I'd reach kidney failure within five years. But that number wasn't certain. It was based on where my disease was at that moment. 

The goal is to improve my labs, slow the disease down, and get active inflammation under control. Hopefully, that changes the possible outcome, or at least pushes dialysis or transplant much further into the future. 

Knock on wood, that's what we're working toward. It helps knowing there are more treatment options for IgA nephropathy than there used to be. 

I started with prednisone for about a month and then switched to Tarpeyo (budesonide), a targeted steroid used for IgAN. I also take Jardiance (empagliflozin) to help reduce protein in my urine, along with a blood pressure medication that helps protect my kidneys.

I take daily iron because I was anemic, and a medication for my autoimmune symptoms.

Altogether, I take about 10 pills a day. Some are once a day, some are twice a day. Tarpeyo has to be taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. My phone is full of medication reminders. 

I'm getting blood and urine tests several times a month. My protein levels haven't dropped as much as my doctor would like, so we're watching to see whether we need to stick with the current plan or try something else.

Sometimes I feel like a science experiment. But I'm open to trying new things. I'd rather move on to something different than stick with a familiar treatment that doesn't work as well.

I'm a bit of a worrywart, so I message Dr. Zariat when I notice a new symptom. I don't know if I get on her nerves, but she never acts like I do. She answers thoughtfully. Sometimes she calls me. She listens and never rushes me.

I've never had a doctor like her. She's amazing and makes this whole thing a lot less scary.

One thing I've learned is to keep speaking up when something in my body doesn't seem right. I don't feel like past doctors really listened. Instead, they seemed to chalk my symptoms up to the easiest answer

I can't know if pushing for answers would've led to an earlier diagnosis. But now I'm much more likely to tell my care team what bothers me and keep asking questions until I understand what's going on. 

My husband has been the best partner I could ask for through all of this. We've been married 14 years, and he's a natural fighter. When I start panicking about the future, he brings me back.

"You're learning to live with this, but you will live," he told me. And I believe him.

I've also been open with our boys. I don't want them confused about why I'm always going to the doctor or taking new medications. And I want them to know they can ask questions.

That became especially important when my diagnosis changed a huge plan for our family.

We were supposed to move to England this past summer for my husband's military post. But because of my medical needs, the relocation orders were canceled.

I would've needed to see a nephrologist off base, and the wait could be six months to a year. I'm still having frequent testing and adjusting treatment. I can't go that long without kidney care.

Staying in New Jersey also keeps us close to family. My sister has taken the boys when I've needed testing, and friends and relatives have offered meals and support.

I'm much more careful about getting sick than I used to be. I've gone back to a 2020 masking mindset, especially while my kidney disease is active and I'm going through treatment.

Illness prevention also played a part in my decision not to go back to the art studio. I love working with kids, but kids are ground zero for everything. For now, I work remotely doing social media for an insurance adjustment agency.

I'm still searching for my IgAN community. But I've found that support doesn't have to come from people with the same diagnosis.

At one of my husband's squadron events, I sat with two other spouses. One has lupus, and the other is in remission from cancer. We're dealing with different illnesses. But it was comforting to talk about fatigue and body aches without getting the "pity eyes."

When I joined IgA nephropathy groups, I didn't see many people who looked like me. That's one reason I wanted to tell my story. I have to believe there are others who don't fit the picture someone expects when they think of this disease.

I still don't know exactly what my future with IgA nephropathy looks like. We're still figuring out what treatment works best for my body. But now I know what's happening. I have a doctor who listens to me. And we have a plan for what comes next. That's a lot to hold on to.

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