Vasculitis is a rare, chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects the blood vessels. Learn what symptoms occur and how vasculitis can be treated.
Table of Contents
What is vasculitis?
Vasculitis is one of the autoimmune rheumatic diseases and causes a person’s blood vessels to become chronically inflamed. Large blood vessels such as the aorta can be affected, as can smaller vessels in the fingers or toes. The inflammation occurs because the immune system mistakenly identifies certain cells in the vessel walls as foreign or hostile and wants to fight them with an immune reaction. The reasons for this are for the most part still unclear. In addition to a genetic component, environmental influences, infections and medication are also suspected.
Vasculitis: signs and symptoms
As with many other diseases, vasculitis can also have more general, diffuse symptoms such as tiredness, fever, headaches and abdominal pain in addition to very specific symptoms. Depending on which blood vessels are affected, the following symptoms may occur:
- muscle and joint pain
- joint swelling
- Red eyes or patches of skin
- visual disturbances
- lumps or boils on the skin
- hearing loss
- numbness of the limbs
- Bloody cold
- coughing up blood
- bloody diarrhea
- Bloody urine
- sweats
- Unwanted weight loss
If you notice such symptoms yourself, it is best to record your symptoms in as much detail as possible before you visit the doctor. This way, you won’t forget any symptoms during the conversation and it will be easier for your doctor to make the right diagnosis . In order to diagnose vasculitis with certainty, blood and urine are usually taken to determine the corresponding inflammatory markers and antibodies. A tissue sample (biopsy) can also provide information about whether and which blood vessels are affected by inflammation.
How is vasculitis treated?
Medical therapy
- Cortisone to reduce inflammation.
- Methotrexate (MTX) or biologics (monoclonal antibodies) to reduce excessive activity of the immune system.
Non-drug measures
- Anti-Inflammatory Diet
- Relaxation methods such as autogenic training to reduce pain
- Exercise and physiotherapy if muscles and joints are affected
