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
None