Do I have Sjogren’s Syndrome?
Hi- I am 20 years old and concerned with my health. Before I consult a doctor, I want to go in having an idea what my problem could be. About 4 years ago, I got a sore on the side of my tongue. It didn’t bother me too bad, and it wasn’t very visible. For the past 4 years this sore comes and goes, (it can be on both sides of my tongue) it really is not too disturbing though.It does not even look like a sore, but I can usually feel it when it comes. I feel it probably about once a month for a couple days. I looked this up and discovered this could be from an auto-immune disorder. At about that time, I started suffering severe headaches. The pain has pretty much gone away. Two years ago, I started experiencing a dry throat- didn’t think it was too much of a problem. However recently, I have very swollen lymph nodes in my armpits. I have very dry mouth- (i actually have burning tongue syndrome). My throat is very dry. My eyes are extremely dry and feel like sand paper! i have been experiencing some blurred vision. My dry eyes actually began about 1 1/2 years ago. I figured this was just from my contacts, but it has been getting progressivley worse and now my dry eyes bothers me every single day. I have had dry hair my entire life. I have some sore throats and heart pains. For the past month, I have felt extremely tired and fatigued. I feel like I can’t get up in the morning and it is very difficult to function throughout the day. The exhaustion I have been experiecing is depressing. I have gone a complete month with no relief of this fatigue. Even if I get 10 hours of sleep in a night, I still wake up tired and fatigued. My joints are starting to get pretty sore- i notice this most at night before bed. I’ve been really worried about all this, I know I need to go to a doctor and I will- but I would like some opinions please!! Also….when I was young I had LOTS of cavities. I had about 8 cavities on my baby teeth. And now I have about 4 cavities. I haven’t had a cavity in about 5 years or so though. I know this could also be a sign on Sjogren’s Syndrome. I have no family memebers who have had Sjogren’s Syndrome that I know of.
Sjogren’s Syndrome is rare, especially at age 20 (but certainly not impossible). Sjogren’s often does overlap with other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus so it’s important to get a full autoimmune blood test work-up if you suspect any autoimmune disease.
Although you may think that your symptoms all line up with Sjogren’s, keep in mind that your symptoms could simply be a combination of one or more of the following: (1) normal human stuff, (2) allergies, (3) residual growing pains/overexertion, (4) a virus, (5) poor dental health, (6) needing a new contacts prescription…and most of all (7) stress. Or it could be something else entirely.
Only a qualified medical doctor can tell you if you have Sjogren’s or not. ****No one here on Yahoo Answers is qualified to diagnose you.****
Go ahead & make an appointment for a doc right now. By delaying making an appointment, you’re causing yourself unnecessary grief. You should go to see your primary care doctor in the next few days so you can get some peace about this.
To prepare for your appointment, on a piece of paper, make a nice list of all your symptoms and any questions or concerns you may have. Make two copies: keep one for yourself and give one to your doc.
Here are some blood tests you might want to ask about:
- ANA (anti-nuclear antibody test)
- rheumatoid factor
- anti-SM
- anti-centromere
- anti-dsDNA (double-stranded DNA)
- SS-A
- SS-B
- ESR
These are basic autoimmune/inflammation blood tests that will help clarify RA vs. Sjogren’s vs. Lupus/SLE (not that any of them are possible to diagnose just from a blood test). Your doctor may want to run ANA first, see how that turns out and then use that to decide if he/she runs anything else. If your primary care doc seems oblivious about autoimmune disease and/or these tests, ask for a referral to a rheumatologist.
You should also see your ophthalmologist about your blurred vision, dry eyes and headaches. If you’re concerned about Sjogren’s, ask for a Schirmer’s test. In this test, they put little pieces of paper in your eye and see how wet it gets. Based on how many millimeters of wetness you have, that lets them know if you have Sjogren’s level of dryness or not.
Obviously, you need to see a dentist and get those cavities filled. A qualified dentist can check your saliva output. There are specific Sjogren’s levels of mouth dryness. Sometimes it might feel like you have a dry throat when it’s just irritated from drainage or allergies. Mention your mouth ulcers as well (which can have many causes). Meanwhile, are you brushing regularly and flossing daily? Using cavity-fighting mouthwash? Avoiding sugary foods? Avoiding spicy foods that cause mouth ulcers?
I can tell you one thing for sure: you are stressing yourself out too much (I can tell because I’ve done the same thing!!). Reading about autoimmune diseases will make you far more anxious, nauseated, tired, depressed and focusing on every little symptom. Most autoimmune articles focus on worst-case-scenarios and don’t talk about the fact that many people with autoimmune disorders live happy, reasonably healthy lives. I have a friend who’s 50 who has lupus, fibromyalgia, GERD, bipolar disorder, lactose intolerance, migraines, IBS, TMJ, celiac disease and a bunch of other stuff. She’s living an active life and is doing just fine. I have another friend with MS who’s doing great. And, her mom has had MS since she was in her 20′s and is now in her 60′s and is doing fine. Don’t let the yucky stuff on the web scare you.
Seriously, you’ve got to stop reading stuff on the web about it for now. *If* something comes back positive, then spend time researching.
Any rheumatologist will tell you that stress only makes autoimmune diseases worse. So, if you do have something, you’re making yourself worse by worrying about it. If you don’t have anything, then you’ve caused yourself a lot of grief for nothing and you’ve wasted your time. Take a break from researching. Do something fun. Get your mind off it. Pray & trust God that everything will work out for the best. 
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