Sjogren's & dry eyes -wondering Response to Sharon

[Guest guest]

Sharon:

It wasn't difficult for me to get diagnosed. Sometimes the dry eye, etc. can

be simply caused by the RA, sometimes docs diagnose as Sjogren's. I know that

primary Sjogren's (which is not what I have) has the symptoms without another

auto-immune disorder as a factor (in other words, the patient doesn't also have

RA, etc.) I had horrible dry mouth and would even wake up several times a night

to drink. I kept water on my bedside table at all times. Of course, after I was

diagnosed with sleep apnea, and was treated (I use my CPAP machine faithfully),

the dry mouth got better (but didn't completely go away). I see my dentist for

the dry mouth problems and my optometrist for the dry eye problems. If you have

Sjogren's (or RA that involves your mouth or eyes), you need to find that out

and keep it in check with the appropriate doctors. Even if the dry eye is

caused by something else, if you're putting drops in your eyes several times a

day because the dryness is so bad,

talk with your eye doctor.

Best advice I can give you is to educate yourself on this topic and talk with

your rheumy.

God bless you.

in Texas

sharon studley <seescallop@...> wrote:

This Sjogren's is this another hard to tell thing? I just wondered as

I have the dry mouth, thing can not go without water at all, never. I also was

told by my optometrist a couple yrs ago that I had dry eyes, I don't blink

enough which causes me to not make enough tears and use moist drops. ??? I

always blamed symptoms on my thyroid condition, or lack of having one. But this

I keep seeing and sounds like what I also have symptoms, though you know since I

went through so much get the right Dr. to help me and diagnois my Fibro, without

making me think it was all in my head, I have great ones now, but catch myself

not daring bring up another thing wrong to them because of it. Sharon

Pou <jenncrew@...> wrote: Sue:

When I complained of dry eyes and mouth, my rheumy said that I probably also had

Sjogren's and that I needed to follow up with my eye doctor (and dentist). My

optometrist did the Schirmer's test (the little paper in your eyes that measures

your tear production). He also could visibly see that my tear film was almost

completely gone and observed tear production while I blinked my eyes. I have

since had plugs installed in the punctums (the drain holes on the top and bottom

eyelids to keep more of my tears on my eyes longer and also use Restasis to help

increase my tear production. I also use Refresh Liquigel when necessary, also

per my optometrist.

in Texas

Sue <marysue@...> wrote:

Those of you who have Sjogren's, how were you diagnosed? Were you given

a specific test, or did the doctor just go by your symptoms?

I recently went to a cornea specialist to have my Fuchs' corneal

dystrophy and cataracts assessed. As a result, I will be having

cataract surgery soon.

They did all kinds of tests on my eyes. One of the technicians said

that she thought that I might have dry eye. So she stuck a little strip

of paper into each eye, said something about three minutes, and left

the room. She gave me no instructions. I thought that I was supposed to

keep my eyes closed, so I did. I waited and waited, and my eyes started

to be very irritated. I finally took the strips out, but my eyes were

still killing me. I got up and looked in the mirror and found that the

end of each strip was stuck firmly to my eyeball.

The tech did not come back in for 20-30 minutes. I told her what had

happened, and she proceeded to try to get the paper out with a q-tip,

which did not feel good at all. I said that those numbing drops were

not working anymore, so she put more in and finally got the paper out

of my eyes.

I have since learned that this dry eye test is called the Schirmer

test. I was supposed to keep my eyes open and blink normally. I would

have done this if I had been told to.

Sue