My husband aged 38 had HSP first in aug 2005, he recovered by feb 2006 and since last 3 weeks has had another episode, accompanied by severe abdominal cramps, purpura and knee joint pain. At the moment he is in hospital taking treatment for the abdominal pain, tissue biopsy done on the purpuric spots, awaiting results. Don't know what triggered it , but we did treat our room furniture with anti termite insecticide a week before...so I am guessing. Has anyone with HSP been able to identify what triggered it off?:confused:

Wow! I had never heard of this till my then 4 year old had it. His was set off by a strep infection. Fortunately he recovered and didn't have any repeat episodes. I hope you guys can find some answers soon.

I am 55 years old, and I think I may have gotten it after a upper respiratory infection which I had for quite a while. That was 3 years ago, and I still have lite break outs when I get sick. I was on a lot of immune suppressant drugs for the first year and a half to control it. I have to take very good care of my health now, getting enough rest, taking fish oil, vitamins, etc., and the one thing that has help me more than anything is I start drinking ********** juice, which really helps with the joint pain, which really disabled me, and it has also given me a lot more energy.

okay just updating on what's been happening lately. He was on Prednisone 40 mg since july, tapered down every 10 days by 5mg. All was fine till we were on the last dosage of 5mg daily, everything came back. The stomach pain and cramps, so intense, now jumped back to 20 mg. All blood investigations are fine, ANA negative no occult blood in stool, urine etc. but this seems to be chronic Hsp. I wonder if drinking beer kind of makes the stomach ache bad,because he did have a couple of drinks! The docs don't know what happens in the stomach, inflammation? purpuric lesions? I wish we could lay our hands on this cause, it is so mysterious!

Help!! I'm terrified. Yesterday I took her to the doctor because her foot was swollen and her lower legs were covered in purple spots. The doctor diagnosed HSP right away. It seems to have been triggered by a recent respiratory infection (which a chest x-ray actually showed was pneumonia..she's only been mildly sick we had no idea!!). The bloodwork showed no kidney involvement right now, and she's not having abdominal pain. Today we went back to the doc, who said the rash already appears to be fading and she seems improved today from yesterday. But she told us it's hard to say which way it'll go. She may continue to get better, or it could worsen. It feels like a nightmare, we have no idea we're in for - how long, what symptoms may occur. I'm hoping and praying she doesn't have any complications, or stomach issues. I'm hoping that since her stomach isn't bothering her, that's not going to be one of the problems. Does anyone know?? Help!!

My experience with my husband's HSP has been that it fades and returns, however it is not so bad in children, so your daughter should be fine soon. Abdomen pain or kidney involvement can occur later even after the purpura fades away so keep checking for blood in the urine, and all the best!

Yikes. That's what scares me. She's doing well, bloodwork keeps showing no kidney involvement, rash is all but gone now, and no abdominal pain....but I don't know when I can relax and stop worrying. I'm scared that we'll be thinking she's all better, only to have a new symptom arise. It's been 11 days now since it started, and each day she's gotten better, so I'm hoping and praying it's a mild case that's already on its way out.

I have had what doctors beleive is HSP for a year now. I had a biopsy taken; however they did not test for HSP. Make sure that if you have a biopsy taken that they test for HSP. I was also taking 40 mg/day for a while. Finally I was able to taper my night dose completely. I started taking prednisone only in the morning and it worked well for me. Currently I am taking 2.5 mg / day of prednisone and hope to be off soon. I visited Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center in November for a second opinion and am very glad I did.

Good Luck

Well, it's been about 4 months now and my daughter's doing really well. The purpura faded in about 3 weeks and she didn't experience any other symptoms - except we continue to find blood in her urine (microscopic amounts, not visible). We had a kidney ultrasound which came back normal, and saw a nephrologist at the Los Angeles Children's Hospital. He said she's doing well and that the blood in the urine is fairly "normal" for about a year after recovering from HSP. She'll continue to be monitored until that clears up. So, hopefully this will be a distant memory soon. :)

At our end ,my husband is on methotrexate 12.5 mg one dose weekly to supress the immune system. He hasn't had the abdominal pain in a while or the purpura, and he will be on the medication for a year. I don't know if it is the right thing for him but at least he is off the prednisone since jan 07.
I have noticed that dandruff/ serrobic dermitis suddenly aggravates on his head , athlete's foot troubles the toes and an attack of purpura follows after a few days. At least a pattern seems there. At the moment he seems free of them!

I am a 25 Year old Female and have had HSP for about 5 years now. It started out with red/purplish dots on my feet about once a year. Within the past two years the dots have spread to my legs, arms, and stomach. Each time I get an outbreak it is worse and worse. I have learned that certain things trigger these red bumps. Champagne, and fish are two things I learned I can no longer comsume, although within the past year the outbreaks have been constant. I think there may have been 3-5 days within the past year where my skin has been clear. I do not have any other symptoms of this illness, however tests and a biopsy was done to confirm HSP. I have tried prednisone and received little to no response. I am thankful that the red bumps are the only symptom I have and that although they can be very annoying, they do eventually go away within 3-5 days. Is anyone aware of things other than fish and champagne that trigger HSP?

Hi everyone,
just another update on my husband...He is still on methatroxate 12.5 mg a week.We follow up with a blood count and liver function test every 6 weeks Sometimes a few purpuric spots come up but no abdomen pain etc. I still strongly feel it is an allergic reaction to something we haven't laid our hands on . Tomorrow he visits another doctor for an opinion. This one is an Allergy specialist. Let's see...

Wanted to share what this doctor had to say...First of all he is treating the athlete's foot and dandruff. According to him this is the root cause why the immune system goes off gear. Now on a special yeast free diet with medications to treat yeast infections from the body.No beer, white bread,mushrooms or things from the yeast/fungi family. I hope this leads somewhere.:)