What exactly is Henoch-Schonlein Purpura aka HSP? Please refer to Wikipedia for a technical explanation. In a nutshell it is an auto-immune disease that affects the capillaries that are in the skin, kidneys and other organs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henoch_Schonlein_purpura
Another great website...
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/hsp/
It causes swelling in the joints, abdominal pain and nausea, oh and of course purpura. The purpura is not painful...it just looks terrible. The most difficult part about this disease is not the purpura, but the extreme joint pain. I cannot even describe the agony I experienced seeing my son in constant, extreme pain... for weeks on end.
HSP is often preceded by an infection. We suspect that Isaac picked-up a case of Hand Foot Mouth Disease from his sister, Leah, who picked up the virus from a child in her preschool class. That child was sent to preschool with a diagnosed and highly contagious case of HFMD. No kidding. We suspected that Isaac had a very mild case of the virus as he had two little bumps on his bum...that was Friday. Our lives changed on Sunday.
How does the saying go...An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
If only we'd had a little prevention.
Approximately 10 in 100,000 people contract HSP.
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