Symptoms of Porphyria

Symptoms of Porphyria

The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Porphyria includes the 46 symptoms listed below:

• Urine color changes
• Darkened urine
• Nerve complication symptoms
  • Chest pain
  • Abdominal pain
  • Muscle cramps
  • Muscle weakness
  • Hallucinations
  • Seizures
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Paranoia
  • High blood pressure
  • Rapid pulse
  • Fever
• Skin complication symptoms
  • Skin blisters
  • Skin itching
  • Skin swelling
  • Sun sensitivity
  • Photosensitivity
  • Paresthesias
  • Hair growth abnormalities
  • Skin pigment changes
• Gastrointestinal upset
  • Abdominal pain
  • Vomiting
  • Nausea
  • Constipation
• Skin symptoms
• Neurological symptoms
• Blisters
• Itchy skin
• Skin swelling on exposure to light
• Chest pain
• Abdominal pain
• Limb pain
• Back pain
• Muscle numbness
• Vomiting
• Constipation
• Personality changes
• Mental disorders
• Tingling
• Paralysis
• Cramping
• more information...»

Research symptoms & diagnosis of Porphyria:

• Overview -- Porphyria
• Diagnostic Tests for Porphyria
• Home Diagnostic Testing
• Complications -- Porphyria
• Doctors & Specialists
• Misdiagnosis and Alternative Diagnoses
• Hidden Causes of Porphyria
• Other Causes -- causes of these or similar symptoms

Porphyria: Complications

Review medical complications possibly associated with Porphyria:

• Neuropathy
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Chest pain
• Abdominal pain
• Mental disturbance
• Psychiatric disorders
• Hallucinations
• more complications...»

Diagnostic Testing

Diagnostic testing of medical conditions related to Porphyria:

• Blood tests
• Urine tests for porphyrins
• Stool tests for porphyrins
• more tests...»

Research More About Porphyria

Do I have Porphyria?

• Porphyria: Introduction
• Porphyria: Diagnostic Testing to confirm diagnosis
• Home Diagnostic Testing
• Alternative diagnoses and misdiagnosis for Porphyria
• Treatments for Porphyria
• More about Porphyria

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical tests related to Porphyria:

• Fatigue: Related Home Tests:
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• more home tests...»

Wrongly Diagnosed with Porphyria?

The list of other diseases or medical conditions that may be on the differential diagnosis list of alternative diagnoses for Porphyria includes:

• Appendicitis/acute appendicitis/chronic appendicitis
• Chronic pelvic pain
• Guillain-Barre Syndrome
• Lead poisoning
• more diagnoses...»

See the full list of 4 alternative diagnoses for Porphyria

Porphyria: Research Doctors & Specialists

• Skin Health Specialists (Dermatology):
  • Dermatology (Skin Health Specialists)
  • Dermatopathology
  • Pediatric Dermatology (Child Skin Health)
  • Dermatological Immunology / Diagnostic Laboratory (Skin Allergies)
• Blood Health Specialists (Hematology):
  • Hematology (Blood Specialists)
  • Pediatric Hematology / Oncology (Child Cancer/Leukemia)
  • Hematopathology (Blood Diagnostics)
• more specialists...»

Research all specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

More about symptoms of Porphyria:

More information about symptoms of Porphyria and related conditions:

• Other diseases with similar symptoms and common misdiagnoses
• Tests to determine if these are the symptoms of Porphyria
• Symptoms that may be caused by complications of Porphyria
• Underlying causes of Porphyria

Other Possible Causes of these Symptoms

Click on any of the symptoms below to see a full list of other causes including diseases, medical conditions, toxins, drug interactions, or drug side effect causes of that symptom.

• Abdominal pain - see all causes of Abdominal pain
• Abdominal pain - see all causes of Abdominal pain
• Abdominal pain - see all causes of Abdominal pain
• Anxiety - see all causes of Anxiety
• Back pain - see all causes of Back pain
• Blisters - see all causes of Blisters
• Chest pain - see all causes of Chest pain
• Chest pain - see all causes of Chest pain
• Constipation - see all causes of Constipation
• Constipation - see all causes of Constipation
• Cramping - see all causes of Cramps
• Darkened urine - see all causes of Darkened urine
• Depression - see all causes of Depressive symptoms
• Fever - see all causes of Fever
• Gastrointestinal upset - see all causes of Gastrointestinal upset
• Hallucinations - see all causes of Hallucinations
• High blood pressure - see all causes of High blood pressure
• Itchy skin - see all causes of Itching skin
• Limb pain - see all causes of Limb symptoms
• Muscle cramps - see all causes of Muscle cramps
• Muscle weakness - see all causes of Muscle weakness
• Nausea - see all causes of Nausea
• Nerve complication symptoms - see all causes of Nerve symptoms
• Neurological symptoms - see all causes of Neurological symptoms
• Paralysis - see all causes of Paralysis symptoms
• Paranoia - see all causes of Paranoia
• Paresthesias - see all causes of Paresthesias
• Personality changes - see all causes of Personality change
• Photosensitivity - see all causes of Photosensitivity
• Rapid pulse - see all causes of Rapid heart beat
• Seizures - see all causes of Seizures
• Skin blisters - see all causes of Blisters
• Skin complication symptoms - see all causes of Skin symptoms
• Skin itching - see all causes of Itching skin
• Skin pigment changes - see all causes of Skin color changes
• Skin swelling - see all causes of Skin swelling
• Skin symptoms - see all causes of Skin symptoms
• Sun sensitivity - see all causes of Sun sensitivity
• Tingling - see all causes of Tingling
• Urine color changes - see all causes of Urine color changes
• Vomiting - see all causes of Vomiting
• Vomiting - see all causes of Vomiting

Medical Books Online about Porphyria

Medical Books Excerpts Excerpts of published medical book chapters related to Porphyria are available from published medical books for more detailed information about Porphyria.

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

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Symptoms of Porphyria: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the symptoms of Porphyria.

Porphyrias: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Porphyrias are generally marked by photosensitivity, acute abdominal pain, and neuropathy. Hepatic porphyrias may produce a complex syndrome marked by distinct neurologic and hepatic dysfunction:

❑ Neurologic symptoms include chronic brain syndrome, peripheral neuropathy and autonomic effects, tachycardia, labile hypertension, severe colicky lower abdominal pain, and constipation.

❑ During an acute attack, fever, leukocytosis, and fluid and electrolyte imbalance may occur.

❑ Structural hepatic effects include fatty infiltration of the liver, hepatic siderosis, and focal hepatocellular necrosis.

❑ Skin lesions may cause itching and burning, erythema, and altered pigmentation and edema in areas exposed to light. Some chronic skin changes include milia (white papules on the hands’dorsal aspects) and hirsutism on the upper cheeks and periorbital areas.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Porphyrias: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

Porphyrias are generally marked by photosensitivity, acute abdominal pain, and neuropathy. Hepatic porphyrias may produce a complex syndrome marked by distinct neurologic and hepatic dysfunction:

❑ Neurologic signs and symptoms include chronic brain syndrome, peripheral neuropathy and autonomic effects, tachycardia, labile hypertension, severe colicky lower abdominal pain, and constipation.

❑ During an acute attack, fever, leukocytosis, and fluid and electrolyte imbalance may occur.

❑ Structural hepatic effects include fatty infiltration of the liver, hepatic siderosis, and focal hepatocellular necrosis.

❑ Skin lesions may cause itching and burning, erythema, and altered pigmentation and edema in areas exposed to light. Some chronic skin changes include milia (white papules on the dorsal aspects of the hands) and hirsutism on the upper cheeks and periorbital areas.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

Article Excerpts About Symptoms of Porphyria:

Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology (Excerpt)

When heme production is faulty, porphyrins are overproduced and lend a reddish-purple color to urine.

The cutaneous porphyrias cause sun sensitivity, with blistering typically on the face, back of the hands, and other sun-exposed areas. The most common of these is porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT). Triggering factors are alcohol use, estrogen, iron, and liver disease, particularly hepatitis C.

The acute porphyrias typically cause abdominal pain and nausea. Some patients have personality changes and seizures at the outset. With time the illness can involve weakness in many different muscles. (Source: Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology)

Porphyria: NIDDK (Excerpt)

Porphyria affects either the nervous system or the skin. When porphyria affects the nervous system, it can cause chest pain, abdominal pain, muscle cramps, weakness, hallucinations, seizures, purple-red-colored urine, or mental disorders like depression, anxiety, and paranoia. When porphyria affects the skin, blisters, itching, swelling, and sensitivity to the sun can result. (Source: excerpt from Porphyria: NIDDK)

Medical articles and books on symptoms:

These general reference articles may be of interest in relation to medical signs and symptoms of disease in general:

• Diagnostic Testing for a Diagnosis of Porphyria
• Research Alternative Diagnoses for Porphyria
• More about Porphyria
• Online Diagnosis
• Self Diagnosis Pitfalls
• Pitfalls of Online Diagnosis
• Symptoms of the Silent Killer Diseases
• Lesser known silent killer diseases
• Books on signs and symptoms

Full list of premium articles on symptoms and diagnosis

About signs and symptoms of Porphyria:

The symptom information on this page attempts to provide a list of some possible signs and symptoms of Porphyria. This signs and symptoms information for Porphyria has been gathered from various sources, may not be fully accurate, and may not be the full list of Porphyria signs or Porphyria symptoms. Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Porphyria may vary on an individual basis for each patient. Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they are indeed Porphyria symptoms.