Dry eyes and mouth? - Sjogren's Syndrome Symptoms Checker
Sjogren’s Syndrome on its own lacks a higher risk of dying for whatever reason in comparison to healthy individuals. However, its symptoms can be very bothering.
Sjogren’s syndrome is a common autoimmune disease that affects exocrine glands. The function of exocrine glands is to release substances into other organs or body surfaces. Some of the essential exocrine organs are salivary glands, pancreas, breasts, lacrimal glands, and stomach.
The cause of Sjogren’s syndrome remains a partial mystery. Doctors think it’s 50% genetic factors and 50% external factors. Importantly, Sjogren’s syndrome can be primary (no presence of other autoimmune conditions) or secondary (coexisting with other autoimmune disorders, like lupus). Among the most common risks factors we have:
Suffering from other autoimmune conditions
Age (older than 40 years old)
Furthermore, since it’s an autoimmune disease, the leading cause of Sjogren’s syndrome is the inflammatory reaction within your own tissues. In this case, it primarily affects the exocrine glands.
The Sjogren’s syndrome symptoms are very characteristic but can be mistaken for other conditions. The most common symptoms are dry eye, dry mouth, change in smell or taste, and dry skin. Besides, it can also cause extraglandular manifestations. This means that tissues other than glands are affected. The most common include yeast infections, joint pain, blood alterations, and gastrointestinal affections.
The tool is a Sjogren’s syndrome symptom checker. Therefore, It gathers the most common and significant risk factors and symptoms for this disease.
Only a doctor can diagnose Sjogren’s syndrome. Sometimes, this condition is challenging to diagnose since the symptoms may vary from patient to patient. Still, both the symptoms and the physical examination are very suggestive.
When doctors suspect you have Sjogren’s disease, they will indicate a further analysis to confirm the diagnosis. This includes blood tests, imaging tests, and a biopsy. Blood tests will confirm the presence of autoantibodies, proteins that attack your healthy cells. Imaging tests like sialometry and salivary scintigraphy measure how much saliva you produce. And finally, a biopsy of your lip or salivary gland will show white cell infiltration and inflammation.
Sadly, there is no cure for Sjogren’s disease. Therefore, the treatment focuses primarily on making the symptoms better. The treatment includes artificial tears, saliva producers, over-the-counter pain killers, immunosuppressants, anti-rheumatics, and steroids.
This tool is designed to tell you how likely it is that you may be suffering from this condition. It takes into account all of your symptoms and the risk factors for this disease.
Remember that the goal of this tool is to tell you how likely you are to have this condition. It’s not designed to substitute a medical diagnosis in any way. Its only purpose is to estimate how likely you are of having or developing Sjogren’s syndrome.
We invite you to use this tool to know if you have risk factors or Sjogren’s syndrome symptoms. It’s completely free, and it only takes a few minutes to complete.
Have you had head-and-neck radiation treatment?
Do you have active hepatitis C infection?
Do you have amyloidosis?
Have you been diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, systemic sclerosis, cryoglobulinemia, or polyarteritis nodosa?
Do you feel you have dry eyes? (gritty or sandy sensation in the eyes)
Have you had these dry eyes symptoms for more than 3 months? Or, have you been using artificial tear drops at least three times a day to calm down dry eye symptoms?
Do you feel you have dry mouth? [It can manifest as Inability to eat dry food (eg, crackers) because it sticks to the roof the mouth, tongue sticking to the roof of the mouth, or trouble speaking for long periods of time]
Do you have enlargement in both parts of your neck? (look at the typical skin bulge below)
Do you have dryness or itchiness of the skin?
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