Re: Mental function?

January 13, 2004

Hi , Amy, & Dave,

The following isn't the information that I read, just can't remember when it

was

(seriously!!) and in the meantime my computer went down so I'm not sure if

I'll

refind it, but the following is on a similar theme.

According to the IgA Nephropathy Support Network run by Dale Hellegars,

in her booklet for patients it lists amongst many symptoms:

1. Blurred vision

2. Transient episodes of memory loss and reduced ability to process

information.

I also have a book on Lupus, which is incredibly informative as there are

many

parallels with IgA, even though a slightly different autoimmune disease.

Author J Wallace MD. " The Lupus Book A Guide for Patients and Their

Families " .

In the chapter 'Heady Connections: The Nervous System and Behavioural

Changes'

it talks about very similar symptoms for Lupus patients.

Quote: " When my patients tell me they feel as though their brains had been

fried,

I have to know what is going on to help them " ............behavioural changes

in lupus are

the most misunderstood and mismanaged aspects of the disease. "

In a table he lists the major neurological manifestations of lupus and

cognitive

disfunction/not thinking clearly is top, followed by headaches. Visual

changes are

there too.

Also in this chapter he goes onto say that Fibromyalgia is a syndrome, cause

unknown,

that can run along with lupus, and in fact over 6million Americans suffer

from it, in itself.

Patients symptoms/complaints: decreased ability to concentrate, similar to

that in Chronic

Fatigue Syndrome, lack of stamina, and pain in muscles, characterised by at

least 11 of 18

specific tender points throughout the body and increased pain throughout the

soft tissues.

Lupus is now more widely known about and is diagnosed not just on

blood/biopsy

tests but from a list of 11 other symptoms including fatigue, arthralgia,

blurred vision

etc, and the Docs are ready to accept these as Lupus symptoms whilst not

knowing or

explaining the cause. Our disease is and symptoms are at the early stages of

recognition,

and I believe eventually like Lupus, some of these non specific symptoms

will be accepted. Lupus patients are still having to fight their corner re

symptoms which for years they've all complained about and have been rejected

by the Docs......heard that before? We are just at the beginning of that

fight compared with them but hopefully we'll get a similar outcome of

recognition.

From the following extract referring to HSP (the systemic illness of IgA),

which many of us are not diagnosed with but nevertheless seem to have

similar

systemic symptoms, it refers to circulating antibodies being deposited in

different

parts of the body. This is exactly what is happening in Lupus too, although

they usually

have other types of antibody as well as IgA.

Is Henoch-Schonlein Purpura the Systemic Form of IgA Nephropathy?

F. Bryson Waldo MD.

(From the Dept of Pediatrics.The Children's Hospital. The University of

Alabama at Birmingham. American Journal of Kidney Diseases Vol.X1I,NO 5

(November), 1988: pp 373-377 373

(c. 1988 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.)

INDEX WORDS: IgA nephropathy, , Henech-Schonlein purpura, nephritis;

pathegenesis.

Quote: " In patients with HSP, immune complexes containing lgA and C3 are

not only

deposited in the kidney but also in blood vessels of the gut, joints, and

skin. Immunotluorescence staining of purpuric and normal skin in patients

with HSP reveals perivascular deposits of lgA. Although most patients with

lgAN have no rash, many have perivascular deposits of lgA in clinically

normal skin. This dermatologic finding suggests that the absence of

purpura

in patients with lgAN may represent a quantitative rather than qualitative

difference in inununopathology. "

Sorry to be so verbose! Sally UK.

PS. Thanks for your mail, great news to hear you're feeling

better. I've had a kidney infection and major fatigue last 10

days but today feel much brighter and I'm actually going out

of the house to see the world again! Hurray.