Vaculitis...

[Nishimiya]

Hi,

I am 25 years old and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis 5 years ago. It was never a very big thing for me until last year when I had vaculitis in my feet. I'm not sure what form of vaculitis I had, but had very bad swelling, fever and lost feeling in my feet. Swelling got so bad I could barely walk. I live in South Africa and unless I go to the cities, I don't believe the doctors are as equipped to treat patients with the necessary treatment. My problem at the moment is we moved 2 different house holds in 1 day and have been redoing a house for a few weeks now and now my feet started swelling again. It's extremely sore and most of the advise I've gotten hasn't really helped. I don't have enough money to go to the doctors again and through the whole process of doctors visits, blood test and expensive medication and our state hospital doesn't really care about helping people.

What I just would like to know is, can it be that the vaculitis came back or is it just the effects / strain of everything I put my body through. Pain medication isn't really helping to take the pain away and I can't sit still for too long.

Any advise.

Thank you very much for your time.

[Katie18]

Hi Nishimiya

You don’t normally get vasculitis in just your feet and if you have vasculitis you normally need strong medication to treat your overactive immune system such as cyclophosphamide or aziathioprine to bring the disease under control.

I have Churg Strauss syndrome - a type of vasculitis which affected my lungs, peripheral nerves and the nerves in my lower kegs and feet and has left me with rather damaged feet. I have had a couple of episodes when I’ve overdone walking or activity in hot weather and my feet have become really swollen and painful as you describe. The advice given to me was rest - limit your walking and activity, put your feet up a lot, sit with your feet in cold buckets of water for regular periods to reduce the inflammation. It took a while for them to get better but they did. You could try that but if you have rheumatoid arthritis and vasculitis you need to see a doctor. I hope that helps a little.

[Hidden in reply to Katie18]

I was diagnosed with RA 30 years ago, and Rheumatoid Vasculitis 4 years ago. I agree with Katie. Vasculitis (whichever type it is) is an immune disease that affects your blood vessels and needs very strong drugs (such as Chemotherapy, DMARDS or Biologics to treat it. As well as very high doses of steroids. It could be that you have Cellulitis, which is a very different matter. That is a skin infection and needs antibiotics to treat it. Perhaps you should visit your GP, but sitting with your feet would help, as Katie suggested.

[Nishimiya in reply to Hidden]

Thank you both for the feedback. I was on prednisone for 3 months starting with 16 a day and going down each week to 1 a day for a month. I was also on trepeline and strong pain medication. As mentioned in my post the doctors only diagnose as far as they see fit. I was on antibiotics once the swelling started, because they thought I had kidney infection, but my kidneys are fine and the antibiotics didn't make a difference the swelling just got worse the day after I stopped the antibiotics. The rash also started on my legs with the swelling and paining and therefore they said it was vaculitis. I'm unfortunately not sure how everything works and only know what I've read. As my illness changes, I learn more about it. But thank you for the advise I'll try keep off my feet (although it's hard).

Have a lovely day!

[AndrewT]

Dear Nishimiya,

I don't know much about Health Care, in your country, or how any Diagnoses are made. I can however in answer to you question, about Vasculitis generally, point you to 'The Roadmap' of Vasculitis. This, VERY detailed publication, is available through Vasculitis UK, our Sister organisation. In the first instance contact '[e-mail]', or the Vasculitis UK website.

I'm sorry to hear that you are Suffering so, I get Gout in my feet! 'Politely Put', it's rather painful. More correctly 'put', it hurts like.....erm....eerm....f...no wait...Fu.....Well erm.....! I think you probably know, by now.

If you need any further information, especially about Kidney Problems, then please do ask. I was on Dialysis, for four years, prior to a Kidney transplant- in July 2013. In fact please feel free to ask me, or any of us, questions. We may not be Professionals, though some of us do have Medical Training, but what we do offer is a 'Collective Wealth Of Experience'- which must surely count for something.

I leave with 'Very Best Wishes', from us all. Please do let us know how you 'Get On', will you.

AndrewT

[Nishimiya in reply to AndrewT]

Hi, it's been quite a while... I got back on the prednisone, but decided to only stay on it for about 4 weeks instead of 3 months. I went to the pharmacy for advise as I couldn't afford going through all the blood tests again. The pharmacy just advise doing a course of the prednisone again and well it did in fact take the swelling away. It was such a relief!

I do think I still have a long way to go and definitely need to save up money to see someone that can tell me what's going on in my body. Still getting strange aches and pains and throughout my legs, stomach area and chest, but it's still bearable.

Hope everyone is keeping well.