Vasculitis is a condition that affects the blood vessels throughout your body. It occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks the blood vessels and causes inflammation.
This happens because your immune system is trying to fight off bacteria, viruses and fungi that enter the bloodstream. It also might attack healthy cells that have not been attacked by bacteria and viruses.
Most forms of vasculitis are types of autoimmune disease, which means that the body’s defence mechanisms don’t do their normal job of fighting infections and instead start attacking healthy tissue. Some kinds of vasculitis are associated with certain rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE/ lupus).
Inflammation in the blood vessel walls is the most common cause of vasculitis. This happens when your body’s white blood cells attack the cells in the walls of the blood vessels, causing them to break down and leak fluid and other waste products.
Other types of vasculitis are caused by an allergic reaction to something your body is allergic to. Symptoms of this kind of vasculitis are usually very mild, and treatment may be simple. It’s important to get the diagnosis of this type of vasculitis right away, because if you don’t take action, the condition could lead to serious problems.
Symptoms vary from person to person, and depend on the blood vessels affected and which organs are involved in the disease. A doctor will look for signs of inflammation on a physical examination and order tests that can help make the diagnosis.
The most common symptom of vasculitis is a rash, sometimes called a pustulosis. This rash is usually red or purple and occurs in the skin. Some people develop tiny areas of bleeding under the skin as a result. Other symptoms of vasculitis are tingling or numbness in the hands and feet, pain or swelling of the legs and ankles, and fever.
Some types of vasculitis may affect the blood vessels in your mouth, causing painful sores and ulcers. Others may affect the eyes, causing uveitis. Some may damage the kidneys or lungs, leading to shortness of breath and coughing up blood.
Your body’s organs need a regular supply of blood to work properly. If the blood flow to these organs is blocked, it can cause organ damage and even death.
The arteries in the lungs and blood vessels around the brain are very sensitive to vasculitis, causing headaches, strokes, changes in mental status or difficulty with coordination. Other sites of involvement include the esophagus, stomach and bladder. In addition, vasculitis may damage the peripheral nerves in your arms and legs, causing shooting or burning pains and numbness.
In many cases, it’s easy to treat the inflammatory symptoms of vasculitis with a combination of drugs. These medications are known as cytotoxics and block the immune cells that cause inflammation.
They also have less severe side effects than steroids. Some of these drugs include azathioprine (Sumatriptan) and methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexall).
Other types of vasculitis can be harder to treat. Your doctor will want to know your medical history and what medicines you are taking to find the best course of treatment. You may need to take steroid drugs and other medications to control the inflammation and keep the disease under control. Your doctor can give you advice about diet, exercise and other ways to manage your condition.
