In general, there are many causes of duosensory disabilities, from congenital ones that affect the senses of sight and hearing. Many times, deaf-blindness can be present at birth, but in other cases it can develop many years later.
According to the Mayo Clinic, non-profit entity dedicated to clinical practice, education and research, vasculitis is one of the diseases that can cause blindness and deafness at the same time. This condition is regarding the inflammation of the blood vessels that causes the walls to thicken, which reduces the width of the inner duct and restricts blood flow, causing damage to some organs and tissues of the body.
Symptoms of vasculitis include fever, headache, fatigue, weight loss, and upset stomach. In addition to this, other symptoms are related in different parts of the body, for example, in the digestive system, in the ears, eyes, hands, feet, lungs and skin. Specifically in the ears it can cause dizziness, buzzing and hearing loss abruptly. As for the eyes, vasculitis can cause itchy eyes and a kind of arteritis of the cells that can cause double vision and temporary loss.
Mayo Clinic assures that so far it is not known exactly what the causes of this disease are. Nevertheless, It is known that some types of vasculitis are related to the genetic makeup of the person and in other cases they occur because the immune system attacks the cells of the blood vessels by mistake.
It is worth mentioning that there are some triggers that generate this reaction of the immune system, such as infections, blood cancers, degenerative diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or the reaction to certain medications.
According to the American College of Rheumatology, there are many types of vasculitis in which symptoms, severity, and duration can vary. For this reason, some of them can cause treatable skin lesions., for others it can manifest with more serious symptoms, such as damage to the lungs, kidneys, central nervous system, among others. These are some of the types of vasculitis:
- Giant cell arteritis
- Arteritis de Takayasu
- Crioglobulinemia
- Behcet’s disease
- Buerger’s disease
- Kawasaki disease
- Granulomatosis with polyangitis
- Henoch-Schönlein purpura
- Churg-Strauss Syndrome
Initially, to diagnose this condition, it is necessary to go to the doctor to diagnose the cause of the vasculitis through a blood test, x-rays of the blood vessels, ultrasound, CT scans and a biopsy.
When the cause is determined, treatment will focus on controlling the inflammation, for which the doctor may prescribe corticosteroids, such as prednisone, which is a type of medication to control the inflammation associated with vasculitis. In general, these types of drugs cause some side effects such as weight gain, diabetes and bone weakening, which can be serious if taken for a long time.
Likewise, vasculitis can often cause an aneurysm, a bulge or dilation in the walls of a blood vessel, therefore, surgery is necessary to reduce the risk of the lump rupturing and blocking the arteries.