Living with Acute Intermittent Porphyria

Figure 8. Anxiety

Living with Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP) is not easy, especially with the acute attacks that occur unpredictably and inconsistently. The rate of acute attacks vary depending on the severity and characteristics of each individual. Based on studies, around 5% of female patients and 3% of male patients suffer from recurrent acute attack in a short period (Avola el al., 2016). It lasts for one to two weeks. During the acute attack, patient will feel anxiety such as fear of surrounding; therefore, they will face difficulty in sleeping. 

Moreover, some patient will assume that they have fall sick due to the symptoms such as muscle weakness, vomiting and constipation when an acute attack occurs (Cerbino, Gerez, & Varela, 2015). 

Figure 9. Muscle weakness

Next, patient’s heart rate and blood pressure will increase since their nervous system is affected by an acute attack. On the other hand, the kidney of AIP patients will try to get rid of excessive haem precursors. As a result, urine will be dark and tinged with red or purple colour. The people with AIP will experience pain during the urination (Saberi, Salehi, Rahmanian, & Bakhshandeh, 2016).  In the psychological aspect during the acute attack, patient will experience rapid mood changer such as depression, hallucinations and any other negative emotions (Ahangari, Bäckström, Innala, Andersson, & Turkmen, 2014).

Figure 10. High blood pressure