Answer:
You can't see a doctor and just sit & nod your head when your doctor gives you a diagnosis. You also need to understand the diagnosis and how it affects you. Ask questions and get answers and then make sure you understand the answers to your questions. I can't stress this enough. Too many people fail to question the doctor and then go home and go online to try to get the information they should have, could have, gotten from the physician. But I also understand how information can be overwhelming at the time.
Your condition is called vasculitis, also called angiitis (this is not a typo. It's pronounced "an-gee-EYE-tis"). It's an inflammation of the blood vessels. It can be caused by a systemic disease or an allergic reaction. Among the many different types of vasculitis are allegic, necrotizing, nodular, cutaneous, isolated CNS, Wegener's and segmented hyalinizing vasculitis. But I don't know which you have as you didn't say and perhaps your doctor didn't tell you.
The body's own immune system attacks the blood vessels. It can be short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic). It can cause changes in the the large or small vessels, changes such as thickening, weakening, narrowing and scarring. This can affect blood flow to nearby organs serviced by those vessels. Many cases are minor and resolve on their own or can be treated with medication.
The treatment depends on the severity and what, if any, organs are involved. Typically, cortisone type medications are used (prednisone) and immune suppressing drungs like Cytoxan can be used. If there is organ involvement, that requires a separate treatment approach.
There is a website for the Vasculitis Center you may find helpful. Go to http://www.vasculitis.med.jhu.edu...
I hope that yours is short-term and self-resolving.
FYI: 3 diseases are consistently associated with ANCA: Wegener's granulomatosis, microscopic polyangiitis & glomerulonephritis (not a factor). The c-ANCA is associated with Wegener's and the p-ANCA is associated with polyangiitis.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vascu...
What did your doctor tell you when you asked him / her to explain the condition?
Vasculitis - a group of diseases featuring inflammation of the wall of blood vessels including veins (phlebitis), arteries (arteritis) and capillaries due to leukocyte migration and resultant damage. While most vasculitides are rare, they generally affect several organ systems and can cause severe disability.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/vasculitis...
Try a few different sites
I will put information below also, but here is an important link for newly diagnosed people with vasculitis that is very helpful and they also have a support group which can help: http://www.vasculitisfoundation.org/...
Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessel system, which includes the veins, arteries, and capillaries. Vasculitis may affect blood vessels of any type, size, or location, and therefore can cause dysfunction in any organ system, including the central and peripheral nervous systems. The symptoms of vasculitis depend on which blood vessels are involved and what organs in the body are affected. The disorder may occur alone or with other disorders such as temporal arteritis. Temporal arteritis (also called cranial or giant cell arteritis) is an inflammation of the temporal artery (which runs over the temple, beside the eye). Symptoms of this disorder may include stiffness, muscle pain, fever, severe headaches, pain when chewing, and tenderness in the temple area. Other symptoms may include anemia, fatigue, weight loss, shaking, vision loss, and sweats.
How Is Vasculitis Treated?
Treatment depends entirely upon diagnosis and the affected organs. When vasculitis is the result of an allergic reaction, it may go away on its own and not require treatment. In other instances, when critical organs such as the lungs, brain or kidneys are involved, aggressive and timely treatment is necessary.