http://www.the-rheumatologist.org/details/article/5438851/Under_the_Radar.html
SK,
Thank you so much. It is a fascinating article I plan on sharing!
tj1 put that on the tab above entitled 'under the radar' and I wanted to make sure it was seen!
Great article. I had dry eyes and mouth for about five years before I was diagnosed. The rheumy at the time diagnosed it from clinical symptoms. It probably was a piece of cake since I already had lupus. Nobody has ever doubted the diagnosis.
These docs have to get it together about autoimmune diseases in general. There are so many.
You got to hold on.
Thanks SK. It was a great article… I wish some of this stuff was required reading for med students.
Oh, I know it Kaz, always good to see the Drs walk in our shoes!
Hi Maureen, you're gathering up some good info! Hope it sends you in the right direction! Stay strong, girlfriend!
USAgurl, I know, my eyes and mouth were dry for years and I blamed it on the huge circulating fans in the stores I worked in, and I must say I am always dry eyed and thirsty, more so than usual, when I'm in a large retail store or mall! Being seated under one of those fans in a restaurant is out too, they dry me out very quickly, and if they're cold air, lock up my joints! Aren't we just a blast to be around? HA!
You bet, EnjoyLife! This reminds me of the movie 'The Doctor', with Wm Hurt, ever seen it? He takes a scary walk in the patient's shoes and becomes the most compassionate of Doctors, and the very best teacher the residents will EVER have!
Thanks again tj, this is a HIT!
David,
You do have a point. But I had a different perspective. I glossed over the medical information. To me there was empathy. And, I see very few docs with that characteristic. Criteria, whatever. How many times growing up I'd be diagnosed with the flu that I never got over--the hypochondriac. I truly see that this doc was humbled.
You got to hold on.
Perhaps the reason the 2012 ACR criteria disappeared from the Sjogrens Foundation site (who by the way is a PATIENT advocacy group) is because they have not been generally adopted and have been rejected by the larger body ACEG. Of course there is a storm in the journals. The ACR is not necessarily the only authority here. There are a number of specialties involved. So at present the only use of the 2012 criteria is as the author suggested - defining a study cohort. SS remains a differential diagnoses at present as do most "syndromes" Journals are an old fashioned but revered method of docs communicating with each other as scientists and sometimes even as humanitarians. They are NOT scripture.
Tempest in tea pot applies here
Just as a personal note, I wasn't given treatment 1 before a diagnosis. In spite of all of my symptoms, I spent nearly 10 years being told the blood tests say there is nothing wrong. (And not just one doctor). It wasn't until the Sjo test finally came back positive that anyone took me seriously. Then and only then did I receive any kind of care. Its pathetic but a reality.