My son (age 3 years and 8 months) was diagnosed with Purpura Schoenlein Henoch. He started with a fever on 17th of March and did not have any further symptoms, apart from a few spots, until the 20th. Within hours his joints started to swell, he developped a serious rash and oedema on the legs, had trouble walking. Because of the severity of the joint involvement, we were admitted to hospital and discharged the next day. The swelling receded already a day later and my son has been absolutely pain-free and playing normally at home since the 23rd. No medication was required. He is having his urine checked daily, as well as his blood-pressure in weekly intervals, and gladly up to now there is no sign of bowel or renal involvement. He is still getting the occasional spot though (developped several small ones on the knees on Monday, which have since receded, and a moskito bite like one yesterday).
He has been told by our paedeatrician that he should “rest” for a longer period of time, though I did not quite understand whether this was to prevent further swelling, whether to prevent kidney involvement, or to allow him to recover more generally. I am aware that the symptoms can reoccur but am unsure if there are measures I can take to prevent this, or rather of there are activities that would make renal involvement and a relapse more likely.
Please can you tell me more about how I should manage him at home (limitation of physical activity, jumping and running, playing with friends, returning to Kindergarten etc.)
35
Female
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Purpura Schoenlein Henoch normally resolves by itself spontaneously. Max within 4 to 6 weeks. Elevation and resting of the affected extremities is recommended. But it seems your child is already doing fine. I would limit extreme activities for now. And return to normal within a week or two.
Hi. Thanks for the query.. Henoch-Schönlein purpura or HSP, is a condition in which the small arterial vessels (capillaries) in the skin, kidneys, and intestinal tract become swollen and leak. It can occur at any age but is common at the age of 2-11 years, more often boys than girls. Resting helps in easing pain and discomfort caused due to swelling and soreness and with proper rest, plenty of fluids and pain relievers the conditions gets better. As this condition is generally self resolving and with proper management significant improvement is seen within a month with very few incidences of… Read more »
Thank you both very much for your prompt replies! So it seems there is no known connection between the physical activity of the patient and kidney involvement/recurrence of the condition, once the patient has recovered from the joint symptoms/rash? Also no link between a completely new infection with, let’s say the flu or a cold, and a recurrence? Thank you very much again, this is really helpful.