Sjogren's Syndrome

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Have any of youall out there heard of Sjogren's Syndrome? It's not very well known and not very many nurses and doctors have ever heard of it, I'm afraid to say. I was diagnosed with it several years ago by an eye doctor in Birmingham. He was a good eye doctor but he didn't sound too certain that I had it. I've since learned that it can be misdiagnosed and I had a test done for it at my regular doctor here in Jasper, where they just drew some blood. The nurses at my doctor's office had never heard of it and they had to call somebody to find out what kind of tests to run. My doctor had heard of it, though, and she said that it didn't show up on the test that I had sjogren's but that my rheumatoid factor was high. Sjogren's can mimic other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. I had a test done in Birmingham to see if I had rheumatoid arthritis but it proved negative. Anyway, for those of you who have never heard of the disease, it's a chronic autoimmune disease in which a person's white blood cells attack their moisture-producing glands. Today, as many as 4 million Americans are living with this disease. The hallmark symtoms are dry eyes and dry mouth, which I have very badly! It can also cause serious complications throughout the entire body. 90% of sufferers are women. The disease was named for Henrick Sjogren, the swedish physician who first diagnosed the condition in the 1930s. Because the key symptoms of the condition-dryness of tissues, including those of the eyes and mouth,are often not connected, getting a precise handle on the cases can be difficult. Although the syptoms of sjogren's syndrome are diverse and seemingly unrelated, they have a common cause: an immune system that mistakenly attacks and destroys the body's moisture-producing glands. For many women, as in my case, sjogren's syndrome is little more than a nuisance: A parched mouth gives them insatiable thirst. I just about have to have a glass of water with me all the time! Gritty eyes make reading difficult. As I mentioned earlier, I have bad dry eyes, myself! However, my eye doctor has prescribed Restasis Eye Drops for me to use twice a day. I also use Systane Eye Drops during the day, if I need them. I'm not using the Systane Eye Drops as much as I was when I first started them because the Restasis helps so well. But for some, the problem goes further. A deficiency of saliva can lead to serious tooth decay and oral infections, dry skin can crack and become infected, and a lack of eye lubrication can lead to corneal ulcers and even loss of vision. In a small percentage of women, the problem gets even worse, affecting the lungs, kidneys, and digestive and nervous systems. And, in about 5%, it leads to potentially fatal lymphoma. There is no known cause or cure for sjogren's. It's classified as either primary or secondary. Primary sjogren's is separate from any other disease process. Secondary sjogren's occurs in the presence of another connective tissue disease, such as lupus, scleroderma, or rheumatoid arthritis. The average age of occurence is late 40s.