[daughterofthenight]

have you found any supplements to be helpful? such as vitamins, minerals, or herbals.

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by cocopoops ↗

So! Basically I am a very healthy 39 year old female who out of the blue now has this illness caused by my immune system going fucking bonkers and working overtime. The outlook is very good but I am now laid up in bed- doctors orders.
It has taken 7 doctors here in Scotland to finally diagnose me- including ones in A&E and my own family doctor.
The photos are not gory but I feel like I have gone through hell so if this helps anyone then it will be worth posting.

The illness is called Henoch–Schönlein purpura and is a form of VASCULITIS.
_______________________________
Henoch–Schönlein purpura (HSP, also known as anaphylactoid purpura,[1] purpura rheumatica,[1] and Schönlein–Henoch purpura[1]) is a disease of the skin and other organs that most commonly affects children. In the skin, the disease causes palpable purpura (small hemorrhages); often with joint and abdominal pain. With kidney involvement, there may be a loss of small amounts of blood and protein in the urine, but this usually goes unnoticed; in a small proportion of cases, the kidney involvement proceeds to chronic kidney disease. HSP is often preceded by an infection, such as pharyngitis.

HSP is a systemic vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels) and is characterized by deposition of immune complexes containing the antibody IgA; the exact cause for this phenomenon is presently unknown. It usually resolves within several weeks and requires no treatment apart from symptom control, but may relapse in a third of the cases and cause irreversible kidney damage in about one in a hundred cases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henoch%...6nlein_purpura

How it started- onto worse stage- biopsy and now recovery-













And no I can't shave my legs right now
My knees are so sore I can hardly walk and my tummy hurts

Enjoy!

I think there was someone else looking for a diagnois for something that looked like this. The tummy hurting was unexpected. I'm sure it's not pleasant and I'm not mocking you, but, I didn't expect it.

[johnleeknoefler]

I notice you seem to have a bit of edema also? Is this part of the disease or a seperate symptom? What about going on an all vegan diet? I have heard that sometimes meat eating causes or aggravates some problems? Would be a bitch to give up steaks though. Scottish doctors must be pretty lame if it takes 7 to figure out what the problem is. In USA it only takes one doctor but he costs 7 times as much. Obama has a plan to fix that I heard.

[cocopoops]

Originally Posted by daughterothenight ↗

have you found any supplements to be helpful? such as vitamins, minerals, or herbals.

Unfortunatley nothing like that will help this is caused by antobdies in my blood that my own immune system as produced. Having said that one thing that is nice to use now that my legs no longer need steroid cream is pure raw virgin coconut oil- smells lovely and very soothing.

[cocopoops]

Hi John- yes the edema is part of the same illness- that has all gone down now and my legs are MUCH better- I ought to update photos really! Diet doesn't affect this as it's an autoimmune response with usually no known trigger. I had some really bad mozzie bites in Mauritius recently so that may have triggered my immune system to go into overdrive.
As for the Scottish doctors...well I do think that UK health service is better than most countries in the world on the whole and Scottish scientists are pretty pioneering in the world of medicine BUT in this case it was difficult to diagnose as it is quite rare in adults- usually a childhood illness and because the early stages mimicked so many other things they were a bit stumped and didn't automatically jump to the right conclusion.

So today- my legs look soooo much better- my knees are much better but the abdominal pains are pretty bad but taking pain killers and just have to rest and ride it out- one of these things that will go away on it's own. They are testing my urine every few days to keep an eye on my kidneys- as long as they remain healthy then I will be 100% fine!

[daughterofthenight]

Originally Posted by cocopoops ↗

Unfortunatley nothing like that will help this is caused by antobdies in my blood that my own immune system as produced. Having said that one thing that is nice to use now that my legs no longer need steroid cream is pure raw virgin coconut oil- smells lovely and very soothing.

i wouldn't ever say that supplements would cure it, that's for quacks to say. but sometimes they can help with symptoms, like the coconut oil is helping the skin on your legs. i think i'll have to read more about this condition to better understand the underlying cause. i was trying to figure out what supplement might help with the inflammation of veins and vessels, if any.

[cocopoops]

I know what you mean- problem is these damn antibodies are feisty little sods! Just when I think I am over it tonight I have new rashes on my arms where my capillieries are leaking blood into skin- will just have to be patient-

[daughterofthenight]

Originally Posted by johnleeknoefler ↗

I notice you seem to have a bit of edema also? Is this part of the disease or a seperate symptom? What about going on an all vegan diet? I have heard that sometimes meat eating causes or aggravates some problems? Would be a bitch to give up steaks though. Scottish doctors must be pretty lame if it takes 7 to figure out what the problem is. In USA it only takes one doctor but he costs 7 times as much. Obama has a plan to fix that I heard.

doctors can be stumped. once my son developed what looked like a port wine stain on his left arm when he was two years old. it appeared overnight and was two inches across. a few pediatricians saw him during his normal visit, five dermatologists at a later visit also had no idea. he was scheduled to be seen in this odd sort of thing where they put many strange dermatological cases in many rooms and brought some 60 or more dermatologists trooping through a few at a time. they all peered at it, asked questions, had no answers for us, and moved on to the next patient. since no doctor knew what it was, they called it a birthmark, LOL! four months later he was seen by his dysmorphologist, who knew what it was immediately.

[daughterofthenight]

Originally Posted by cocopoops ↗

I know what you mean- problem is these damn antibodies are feisty little sods! Just when I think I am over it tonight I have new rashes on my arms where my capillieries are leaking blood into skin- will just have to be patient-

do you take any vitamins/minerals at all? there are some that will strengthen your arteries, veins, and vessels.

[cocopoops]

Hip area, foot and back of arm