Henöch-Schönlein purpura, also known as PHS, is a disease that causes inflammation of small blood vessels in the skin, resulting in small red patches on the skin, pain in the belly and joint pain. However, inflammation can also happen in the blood vessels of the intestines or kidneys, causing diarrhea and blood in the urine, for example.
This condition is generally more common in children under the age of 10, but it can also happen in adults. While in children, purple tends to disappear after 4 to 6 weeks, in adults, recovery may be slower.
Henöch-Schönlein purpura is curable and there is usually no need for any specific treatment, and only a few remedies can be used to relieve pain and make recovery more comfortable.
Main symptoms
The first symptoms of this type of purpura are fever, headache and muscle pain that lasts between 1 to 2 weeks, which can be mistaken for a cold or flu.
After this period, more specific symptoms appear, such as:
- Red spots on the skin, especially on the legs; Pain and swelling in the joints; Pain in the belly; Blood in the urine or feces; Nausea and diarrhea.
In very rare situations, the disease can also affect the blood vessels in the lungs, heart or brain, causing other types of more serious symptoms such as difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, chest pain or loss of consciousness.
When any of these symptoms appear, you should see a general practitioner, or a pediatrician, to make a general assessment and diagnose the problem. Thus, the doctor may order several tests, such as blood, urine or skin biopsy, to eliminate other possibilities and confirm the purple.
How the treatment is done
Normally, no specific treatment is needed for this disease, and it is only recommended to rest at home and assess whether symptoms worsen.
In addition, the doctor may also prescribe the use of anti-inflammatories or analgesics, such as Ibuprofen or Paracetamol, to relieve pain. However, these remedies should only be used under the guidance of the doctor as, if the kidneys are affected, they should not be taken.
In the most severe cases, in which the disease causes very intense symptoms or affects other organs such as the heart or brain, it may be necessary to be admitted to the hospital in order for medications to be administered directly into the vein.
Possible complications
In most cases, Henöch-Schönlein purpura disappears without any sequelae, however, one of the main complications associated with this disease is altered kidney function. This change can take between a few weeks or months to appear, even after all the symptoms have disappeared, causing:
- Blood in the urine; Excessive foam in the urine; Increased blood pressure; Swelling around the eyes or ankles.
These symptoms also improve over time, but in some cases kidney function can be so affected that it causes kidney failure.
Thus, after recovery it is important to have regular consultations with the general practitioner, or pediatrician, to assess kidney function, treating problems as they arise.
