What are the symptoms of Henoch-Schonlein purpura

The most common type of purpura is allergic purpura. People with allergic purpura have allergic constitutions. The main causes of this disease are viral and bacterial infections, drug allergies, food allergies, etc. Moreover, Henoch-Schonlein purpura can cause great harm to the health of patients. If recurrent attacks are not well controlled, they can easily cause complications such as nephritis and gastroenteritis. Therefore, timely treatment is required once symptoms are discovered.

1. Abdominal symptoms: Abdominal pain is common, mostly colic, caused by blood infiltration into the intestinal wall. The pain is obvious in the navel and right lower abdomen, and may also spread to the entire abdomen, but there is generally no abdominal muscle tension and the tenderness is mild. It may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and black stools. Irregular intestinal peristalsis may lead to intussusception, and a mass may be palpable, which is more common in children. Intestinal perforation may occasionally occur. If it is not accompanied by skin purpura, it is often misdiagnosed as "acute abdomen".

2. The typical skin rash is brown-red maculopapules, which protrude from the skin surface, do not fade when pressed, and may appear alone or fused together, with symmetrical distribution. It is more common on the extensor side of the limbs and buttocks, rarely invading the trunk, and may be accompanied by itching or pain. It appears in batches and may leave pigmentation after it subsides. In addition to purpura, urticaria may also occur. Angioneurotic edema, erythema multiforme or ulcer necrosis, etc. Occasionally, purpura may occur on the oral mucosa or conjunctiva of the eyes.

3. Renal manifestations: Nephritis is the most common complication of Henoch-Schönlein purpura, with an incidence rate of 12~65%. It usually occurs within 1 to 8 weeks after the onset of purpura, with varying degrees of severity. Some are only short-term hematuria, while others quickly progress to renal failure, but this is rare. The main manifestations are acute glomerulonephritis symptoms such as hematuria, proteinuria, tubular urine, edema and hypertension. A few may develop into chronic nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and some cases may develop into chronic renal failure.

4. Joint symptoms: The joints may have mild pain, obvious redness, swelling, pain and movement disorders. The lesions often involve large joints, most commonly the knees, ankles, elbows, wrists, etc. They may be migratory and are often misdiagnosed as "rheumatism." It is mainly a periarticular lesion, which can recur without leaving any joint deformity.

5. In a small number of other patients, after developing purpura, the lesions involve the meningeal blood vessels, manifesting as headache, vomiting, delirium, convulsions, paralysis and coma. A few cases may involve the respiratory system, manifesting as hemoptysis, asthma, pleurisy, pneumonia, etc.

6. It is most common in winter and spring, and is more common in adolescents and children. The most typical symptom is that the patient's limbs, especially the lower limbs, develop a relatively dense purple-red blood spot rash, which is prone to recurrence, but is not contagious. The disease is often accompanied by symptoms such as swollen and painful joints, abdominal pain, bloody stools, and vomiting blood. If not treated in time, it will cause damage to liver and kidney function.