Sjogrens syndrome is an autoimmune condition, where immune cells attack the glands that produce fluids, like tears and saliva, causing dry eyes and mouth. However, it can also cause wider symptoms such as fatigue and joint pain and can affect some organs such as the kidneys, lungs, liver and central nervous system.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms vary from person to person, but most common is dry eyes, dry mouth and fatigue. As these areas are dry, they can become sore, ulcers and bleeding can occur, which can affect chewing and swallowing. Severity of these symptoms, and how they affect daily life significantly varies between individuals; some people have no symptoms at all.
Who is affected?
The disease mainly effects woman, with approximately 9 in 10 people being diagnosed being female. It is typically diagnosed between the ages of 40 to 60 years, but it can affect anyone at any age.
Why does it happen?
The exact cause of Sjogrens is unknown, but it is thought there may be a genetic link. Also, female hormones may play a role, which could explain why it is mostly woman affected by the disease.
Treatments
There is no cure for Sjogrens, but there are many treatments to help with symptoms. For example, if you have dry eyes, you may be given eye drops to help relieve this. You may consider wearing glasses that wrap around to help prevent wind drying the eyes and attending regular opticians to check eye health. A doctor may prescribe medications to help with the production of tears.
Good oral hygiene is also very important, and you can keep your mouth moist with regular water, sucking ice cubes or chewing sugar free gum to stimulate saliva production.
People can also suffer from dry skin, and women from vaginal dryness. Speak to a pharmacist about creams that can be used safely on the skin. And woman may wish to consider lubricants or creams that can be used intimately to ease vaginal symptoms.