Has anyone ever suffered with vasculitis? i have it in my legs but can not seem to find any info about causes!

i am suffering with it for the last three months and am taking lyrica but can not find much relief in that. I am just wondering if anybody knows what causes it and if there are any alternative medicines i could use for nerve pain.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/vascu...
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vascu...
http://www.vasculitisfoundation.org/


Vasculitis

Also called: Angiitis, Arteritis
Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels. It happens when the body's immune system attacks the blood vessel by mistake. The cause is often unknown. Vasculitis can affect arteries, veins and capillaries. Arteries are vessels that carry blood from the heart to the body's organs. Veins are the vessels that carry blood back to the heart. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that connect the small arteries and veins.

When a blood vessel becomes inflamed, it can

Narrow, making it more difficult for blood to get through
Close off completely so that blood can't get through
Stretch and weaken so much that it bulges and may burst and cause dangerous bleeding inside the body
Symptoms of vasculitis can vary, but usually include fever, swelling and a general sense of feeling ill. The main goal of treatment is to stop the inflammation. Steroids and other medicines to stop inflammation are often helpful.


Vasculitis represents a family of rare diseases and can affect people of all ages. The outlook for people who have vasculitis varies depending on both the type and severity of the vasculitis. Treatment is often very effective if vasculitis is diagnosed and treated early. In some cases, it may be a chronic problem, requiring ongoing treatment, or it may come back (鈥渇lare鈥? after a period of remission. In more severe cases, treatment may not help, and vasculitis can lead to disability or even death.

There are over 15 vasculitides (plural of vasculitis) affecting the small, medium and large vessels. They include: Behcet鈥檚 disease, Buerger鈥檚 disease, Central Nervous System, Churg Strauss Syndrome, Cryoglobulinemia, Giant Cell Arteritis, Henoch-Sch枚nlein purpura, Hypersensitivity vasculitis, Kawasaki disease, Microscopic polyangiitis, Polyarteritis nodosa, Polymyalgia rheumatica, Rheumatoid vasculitis, Takayasu鈥檚 and Wegener鈥檚 granulomatosis.

Although the diseases share many of the same symptoms and treatment courses, each disease is different and patients must learn as much as possible about their individual disease. Additional research is needed to learn more about the various types of vasculitis and their causes, treatments and remission patterns.