Definition:
Vasculitis is an autoimmune disorder in which the blood-carrying vessels are destroyed due to inflammation, rendering them unable to supply enough blood to the organs and tissues. Blood-carrying arteries, veins, and capillaries are also known as vessels, and the condition occurs when the vessels become inflamed.
The walls of the blood vessels may swell and bulge, or they may even rupture, causing bleeding inside the body. When a blood vessel is inflamed, it may become stretched, weak, enlarged, or narrowed, leading to insufficient blood supply, which in turn causes damage to organs or tissues.
Arteritis, the inflammation of arteries, is referred to as venulitis, and vasculitis, the inflammation of veins, is referred to as angiitis.
Incidence:
There are some types of vasculitis that are more prevalent in particular age groups but can affect people of all ages.
Cause:
Vasculitis can be triggered by infections, certain toxins, drugs, or as a reaction to certain medication, or it may occur as a part of another inflammatory disease like SLE, Sjogren’s syndrome, or rheumatoid arthritis, among other inflammatory diseases. The exact cause of vasculitis is unknown or poorly understood, but it is known to occur due to an abnormal response of the immune system, which causes inflammation of its own blood vessels.
Symptoms:
The clinical presentation varies from patient to patient due to the different blood vessels that different types of vasculitis affect, as well as the potential differences in symptoms depending on the organ system and blood vessel affected.
- Constitutional symptoms: Patients may experience general symptoms like fatigue, tiredness, weight loss, loss of appetite, night sweats, joint pain, etc. regardless of the size of the blood vessels involved.
- Skin: Hives or rashes, eruptions that could break open and cause ulcers, nodules that could be painful, purpura, and petechial hemorrhage.
- recurring sores in the mouth or genitalia that take a long time to heal and leave scars
- Nervous system and brain: Headaches, tenderness in the scalp, seizures (fits), abnormal movement patterns, varying levels of consciousness, hallucinations of sight or sound, brain stroke, tinnitus, jaw pain, blurred or double vision, and even blindness.
- Joint discomfort, muscle soreness, and swelling in the musculoskeletal system
- Neurological symptoms include pins-and-needles-like pain, polyneuropathy (such as hand/foot drop, numbness, formication), fingers turning blue when exposed to cold (Raynaud’s phenomenon), muscle weakness, or abnormal sensation followed by loss of sensation in the affected part.
- Heart: can cause myocardial infarction, angina, or hypertension
- Proteinuria, hematuria, and hypertension are kidney-related symptoms that may be present.
- respiratory tract: chest pain, wheezing, shortness of breath, blood in the sputum, nosebleeds, congestion, and sinus pain.
- abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, blood in the stools, and perforation are symptoms of the digestive tract.
Various presentations:
- Kawasaki disease
- Polyarteritis nodosa
- Giant Cell Arteritis
- Cryoglobulinemia
- Behcet’s disease
- Wegener’s granulomatosis
- Takayasu’s arteritis
- Churg – Strauss syndrome
Diagnosis:
The affected blood vessel, the signs and symptoms, and the physical examination all contribute to the diagnosis of vasculitis, which then allows for the possibility of the subsequent investigations.
Investigations:
Blood tests:
a) CBC results could indicate normoblastic or normocytic anemia.
b) An elevated level of ESR and C-Reactive Protein is a sign of underlying inflammation.
c) Patients with vasculitis have positive antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANSA).
d) Typically elevated C3 and C4 levels
A biopsy can be performed on the skin, sinuses, lung, kidney, or nerves depending on the tissue affected. A biopsy is the most conclusive test for the diagnosis of Vasculitis because it reveals the pattern of inflammation in the affected blood vessel.
The affected blood vessel’s characteristic inflammatory changes are visible on an angiogram.
4.Urine analysis: With the help of this test, abnormally high or low blood cell or protein levels in the urine can be found.
- Imaging tests: It is possible to determine which blood vessel and organ are affected using non-invasive imaging tests like CT scans, sonograms, X-rays, and MRI.
Conventional Treatment:
The conventional treatment of vasculitis typically involves two main drugs: corticosteroids (prednisolone) and immune-suppressants (methotrexate, cyclophosphamide), both of which act to lessen the immune system’s response and, as a result, lessen the strength of its attack on the body’s tissues. Vasculitis is a challenging condition, and there is symptomatic treatment in conventional medicine.
Homeopathic Treatment:
Incorporating a holistic approach will boost the immune system, thereby controlling the underlying disease process and thereby alleviating the symptoms of Vasculitis. Homeopathy has a good scope in treating Vasculitis as it addresses the underlying abnormal immune system. Vasculitis is an auto immune disease that can be treated effectively with a properly chosen, deep acting, constitutional homeopathic medicine.
Homoeopathic Medicine:
Bovista, Rhustux, Natrum Mur, and Sepia.
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