What were my symptoms.

What were my personal symptoms that lead me to being diagnosed with Sjögren’s?

It took years, because there seemed to be a reason for every symptom.

Dry eyes and mouth are the main symptoms of Sjögren’s, and I have had dry eyes for a long time now. My mouth started to be dry and I was always so thirsty, and I was so tired all the time. Doc had me checked for diabetes and my thyroid, which were both fine.

Then horrible pain in my leg and was given muscle relaxers. The pain then started on my lower back and buttocks, and my thigh would get so numb, I didn’t have any feeling at all – sciatica – more pain meds. I had an x-ray done when the pain did not subside.  I have anterior subluxation facet arthritis and mild multilevel degenerative disc disease throughout the spine. I was advised to lose weight, watch what I eat, and more pain meds. If my pain continued, I was going to get an MRI done.

But I did not get a MRI and put it off. My husband fell off the roof in 2020 and broke his right ankle, shattered his left foot and fractured 7 ribs, after not healing and 4 surgeries, he developed a bad infection. We thought he was going to have his foot amputated, but 1 more surgery and almost a year of not being able to walk – well, it just was not the right time for me to be hurting. I did not go get an MRI and kept the pain to myself and suffered. My husband needed me, so I decided to wait until he was better before letting him know how serious the pain was.

After he was better, I went back to the doc to complain again of the pain. I also went to a chiropractor for almost a year. My eyes would get so dry and red, my mouth would get dry that it was hard to swallow at times, my skin was so dry and itchy, that I lost my eyebrows, my hair was getting brittle, every part of my body seemed so dry. My doctor had more blood work done to get to the bottom of all this. My inflammatory markers were elevated and my doctor recommended that I see a rheumatologist.

The rheumatologist had more bloodwork and a MRI done. My bloodwork showed possibility of Lupus, Sjögren’s or some sort of an autoimmune disease. So, more test – I thought the worst was a shimmer test – which is putting these plastic thingys in my eyes to measure how much tears I had– that was weird and my eyes hurt for days afterwards. All test were coming back with signs of Sjögren’s. One final test was a Salivary gland biopsy, where they surgically pulled salivary gland tissues from the back of my lower lip.

Then WHOOP WHOOP – finally a diagnosis – Sjögren’s. Relieved, so let’s fix it now! There is no cure for Sjögren’s! Just changing my lifestyle habits and managing my pain!