You are right Nancy;
Janers, sjogren's definitely is a 'force' to be reckoned with on it's own,
even as a secondary dx to lupus; it can stand alone as can raynauds though
most lupies have both as secondary dx's.... and yes, all the linings of the
body tissues are involved especially the mucosal ones like the nasal,
vaginal, oral and gastric passages....
EG: for me sinusitis was so severe that it caused my brain to expand and
press against the sides of my skull, causing me to blackout and 'lose time'
etc. necessitating an ambulance ride to emerg where i was admitted and kept
for over 3 weeks with ct scans and all;
Sjogrens is not to be 'brushed off' by any doctor and should they attempt to
write it off, or you off, then do get a second opinion for sure! good
thinking Nancy...I have had it for so long that all I twig to is the
treatments now.... conjunctivitis in both eyes just recently was a direct
resultant of sjogrens...
and I am still on the drops, Rx and otherwise to keep them 'clean' and
nights are the worst, always have been really with sjogrens alone, never
mind the mucky messes it can cause!
wishing you lotsa luck janers!

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"janers" <rojakort@bright.net> wrote in message

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Sjogren's Syndrome is a stand-alone autoimmune disease. Besides destruction
of the tear & salivary glands muscous throughout the body is lessened,
thickened. Sjogren's can manifest in the CNS, the GI tract, lung damage, as
extreme muscle pain, extreme fatigue. Many have migraines associated with
it, also chronic sinusitis. So there is primary & secondary Sjogren's. As
many of us have it secondary to lupus. But believe me, it is more & worse
than "just dry eyes". I think your eye doc just tosses away the words, like
you mentioned in one of your other posts. ;).

Well tis the season to be "jolly"?

I had to see that opthamologist and he did check my eyes and believe me the
pain had not let up. Did the Schirmer's test, the one for "dry eyes" .
almost had to peel that sucker out of my eyes.  Ever have one done?
Make a long story short, it is the lupus, sjogren's he says is JUST a fancy
word for "dry eyes"  LOL.  So that is what it is.  Pain is from the eyeball
not being able to make the tears and drying.  I am now on natural tears
hourly. Then a cortisone drop for inflammation for 2 weeks, and ointment at
night,  PLUS the new drug restasis twice a day.  I told him well looks like
I know what I will be doing the rest of my life, dropping drops in my eyes.
He didn't think that was funny LOL. But I have to go this route and it is
not a good route because this apparantly can get worse.  LIKE it is
getting.

SO I was doing the right thing by the natural tears.  He did say humidifier
at bedtime is a must and I have to use one due to my sinus junk and such.
So that was already being done.
The restasis takes about 6weeks to be really noticible and see a
difference.
Right now any eye drop burns but sun glasses help too.  Man this is no fun,
I can't set here too long either.  Let's hope it clears up but he didn't
look like he was promising me zip.
There ya got it.  Another round of something or other and My vision is my
life saver, because I am hard of hearing wear aide and need that for lip
reading...
good thing there is something to try and fix it..

hugs to all and to all a good night.

me again janers