I, Hepatic Porphyrias, primarily affect the nervous system, which can result in: abdominal pain, vomiting, acute neuropathy, seizures, and mental disturbances that include: hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and paranoia. Often times I can be involved in Cardiac arrhythmias and tachycardia as the autonomic nervous system is affected by my presence in the body. Severe pain is most times present, and in some more rare cases, can be acute and chronic in nature. One of my favorites is that I can often times bring about constipation, because of my huge presence in the nervous system of the gut.
The erythropoietic porphyrias primarily affect the skin, which can cause photosensitivity, blisters, itching, and swelling, and increased hair growth on areas such as the forehead. In some of my forms, accumulated heme precursors excreted in the urine may change its color; For example after exposure to sunlight, I can change your urine to a dark reddish or dark brown color.
I can be diagnosed through tests on your blood, urine, and stool. The initial test for my presence in your body is through the estimation of porphobilinogen. More extensive testing is done usually done after thsi initial porphobilinogen estimation with spectroscopy and other chemical analyses. I am a rare condition, so normally this testing involves sending samples of blood, stool and urine to a reference laboratory. If the diagnosic suspicion is high, often times, empirical treatment is required.
If diagnosed with me, a high-carbohydrate diet is most commonly recommended. If I have reached you in a sever fashion, a glucose 10% infusion is commenced, which can in most cases help in recovery. If it is drugs that have caused the attack, is is always essential and to my dismay, to discontinue their use. I recommend that you take a look, and quickly, into visiting your local doctor or physician if you suspect that you have been infected with me. Once properly diagnosed they will be able to point you in the right direction for how you will be able to cope with my presence.
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Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Porphyria Symptoms - www.porphyria-symptoms.com, which is the best site on the internet for all porphyria related information. |
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