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ashton kutcher feels lucky to be alive after vasculitis

"I feel lucky to be alive."

On a recent episode of National Geographic's “Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge,” actor Ashton Kutcher opened up about being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called vasculitis.

According to WebMD, vasculitis is a general term for several conditions (which are currently unknown) that cause inflammation in the blood vessels. Different types of vasculitis affect different organs, and all at varying degrees.

Some forms of the disease might not even need treatment, while others could be severe and result in organ damage and even aneurysms. General symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, rashes and pain. But because vasculitis affects different parts of the body, more specific symptoms include ulcers, ringing in the ears, itchy eyes, numbness in the hands or feet, shortness of breath and bleeding under the skin.

Kutcher, who dealt with a particularly rare form of vasculitis, told Grylls that it “knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out like all my equilibrium” in an exclusive clip from "Access Hollywood" leading up to the episode.
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