Vasculitis

2 Comments Posted on Multiple Sclerosis, Patient Talk

Optic Neuritis – what treatments have you received for optic neuritis? Take our poll

Optic Neuritis

Optic Neuritis

For many of us optic neuritis is one of the first symptoms that present for multiple sclerosis.  You may be interested in a previous blog we ran where many of our readers told their optic neuritis story.  You can read them here https://patienttalk.org/?p=312.

That being said their are a number of other conditions which can also lead to optic neuritis.  These include syphilis, Lyme disease, herpes zoster, lupus, neurosarcoidosis, inflammatory bowel disease, vasculitis, and diabetes.

Today we would like to explore in more detail the treatments people have received for optic neuritis.

It would be great if you could take our poll below to share your experiences.

Feel free to use the comments box below to add anything you think may be of interest to our readers.

Thanks in advance



Leave a comment Posted on Patient Talk

Vasculitis – inflammation of the blood vessels. How it can affect you and your loved ones. Help us raise awareness of Vasculitis.


Vasculitis

Vasculitis

In my previous life as a healthcare researcher I had the dubious honour to be introduced to a set of conditions called Vasculitis.

At the time we were doing work with people who had various rheumatic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.  Vasculitis, it seemed, was in some cases one of the symptoms of those conditions.

So for some time I have thought it would be of use to run an informational blog on the subject of Vasculitis.  It is rare – around 15,000 people in the US are diagnosed each year.

So what are the main symptoms of Vasculitis?

1) A combination of fever and weight loss seems to be the main symptom.

2) Purpura – or purple discolorations of the skin.

3) Myalgia or muscle pain.

4) Heart attacks.

5) High blood pressure.

6) Sight loss.

7) Nose bleeds and bloody coughs.

 

As we said there are a number of different conditions making up Vasculitis.  These include Polymyalgia rheumatica, Takayasu’s arteritis, Temporal arteritis, Buerger’s disease, Cutaneous vasculitis, Kawasaki disease, Polyarteritis nodosa, Behçet’s syndrome, Churg–Strauss syndrome, Cutaneous vasculitis, Henoch–Schönlein purpura, Microscopic polyangitis, Wegener’s granulomatosis, and Golfer’s vasculitis.

Getting good and straight forward information on Vasculitis is not as easy as one would hope.  Many of the web sites dealing with the condition seem to be aimed at healthcare professionals rather than people who suffer from the condition.  So we thought it would be useful to open up the comments box to people with Vasculitis to share more about their experiences.

You might wish to consider the following questions when framing your comments:-

a)  When were you diagnosed with Vasculitis and what type of Vasculitis do you suffer from?

b) What are your main symptoms?

c)   What caused you Vasculitis?

d) How have you been treated and to what extent has the treatment been successful?

e)  How has Vasculitis impacted upon your lifestyle?

f)    What one piece of advice would you give to somebody who has just been diagnosed with Vasculitis?

If you have any links you wish to share that would be great as well.

 

Please use the comment box below to share any thoughts with our readers.

Many thanks in advance