Practical Tips for the Newly Diagnosed
If you are newly diagnosed, it might be a good idea to take an advocate with you to your doctor appointments to take notes and remember details of what the doctor told you. Your advocate can jot down those strange and hard to pronounce words you will hear, words like eosinophils and immunosuppressive drugs. Go to the internet and look up these words and those found on your new lab work.
What is Churg-Strauss Syndrome or Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis?
Churg-Strauss Syndrome is a rare systemic autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation of small to medium sized arteries, arterioles and venules. This inflammatory process of blood vessels is more commonly known as vasculitis. Churg- Strauss vasculitis is characterized by the invasion and abnormal increase of a white blood cell known as an eosinophil. The eosinophils cluster together and release harmful granules that collect in different parts of the body as inflammatory nodule lesions. This is called granulomatosis. This eosinophilic inflammation, along with asthma, are the hallmarks of Churg-Strauss Syndrome, now known as Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis. Other symptoms might include weight-loss and loss of appetite.
The inflammatory process can cause impaired blood flow to various organ systems. The resultant damage to different organs may be temporary or permanent.
Making a Difference
The CSSA recognizes individuals and groups who assume an activist role in bettering the lives of CSS patients either through support, raising awareness, fundraising, and research. CSS/EGPA is such a rare disease that these efforts may make a profound difference in the lives of CSS/EGPA patients.