Hello all,
_ I have been reading posts here for a couple years but never posted as I had nothing to offer really until now. I’ve appreciated the advice and tips found here and the supportive environment. I realize this might not be helpful for many of you, but if just one person can benefit from our story it’s worth noting. This post mostly may be helpful to those who have not yet gotten the diagnosis of Sjogren’s or any definitive diagnosis but are exhibiting symptoms and looking for answers. _
_ Firstly, it is not myself, but my daughter who has been suffering, for about 4 - 5 years, she is just turning 25. She has had severe dry eyes along with dry mouth and throat, painfully dry, and has had few full night’s sleep in years from always waking in pain. Nothing she tried would give her relief for more than a few hours at most. Dryness permeated her days and nights, but night’s were the worst._
_ After all sorts of doctors and tests, there was never any conclusion, but she was told repeatedly it looked like Sjorgrens or Lupus, despite the lack of any other symptoms or markers in the blood tests of which there were many. Allergies, infection, thyroid, you name it we looked at it, we thought. All test results in every area showed a healthy young woman. So many shrugs and puzzled doctors. She was encouraged to see a rheumy, yet had the toughest time getting a referral. It’s a long long story all the docs, tests, and things tried, medical and natural, so for brevity’s sake I will skip the whole tumultuous tale. It would sound very familiar to most of you anyway, this journey through our health care system, the specialists and the tests, the compounding frustration as results keep coming back negative._
_ While waiting for the referral to the rheumy to come through, we started looking at the hormone question again more closely, despite the dismissal from the endocrinologist, twice. Several things hint at the hormonal connection, particularly being that women are affected by a huge margin with Sjorgren’s. Dry eye also arises often in pregnancy and on birth control pills. Granted it was not just her eyes, but that was the worst. It occurred to me since testosterone was successful with dry eye in older women, there could be something to it, and she has a history of difficult menses and indications of PCOS. Since testosterone is so difficult to obtain for women I learned, I thought why not try some progesterone cream, so she did. Why not indeed as so much tried already was not effective, so nothing to lose, and it’s readily available._
_ Oh my!! Right away she noted an increase in saliva and was able to sleep through the night. Still needed morning eye drops but none throughout the day. This continued to improve, much to our amazement and delight. Now that it has been a full month, it is safe to say this is the solution for her. Hormones! She had not had more than a couple good days in a row for years so this is no fluke. It makes perfect sense now after thinking it through, as during ovulation, the body produces moisture to hang on to the egg, and progesterone becomes the dominant hormone at this time. With just a daily dose of progesterone cream, her moisture has returned, like 95%! Really it has been miraculous! Tears of joy and happy dances for this mom, and at long last, sleep for my daughter, sweet sleep._
_ After years of suffering, including the terrible financial drain, all it took was a cheap bottle of natural progesterone cream. That not one single doctor had thought to consider a hormonal cause is shocking really. The endocrinologist and the opthamologist, at least, surely should have been aware of the connection and had given it some consideration. There are published scientific studies proving the correlation, going back years. Really wish we’d had come upon the solution much sooner as real physical damage was occurring with dental issues and her meibomian glands, and who knows what else. Not to mention the emotional toll. I will refrain from ranting, but these docs could definitely use some education so perhaps they can help the next person. This “no cause, no cure” message the doctors were repeatedly expressing was just unacceptable. She was so exhausted, depressed and worn down by now, she was ready to give up. We stumbled upon it in the nick of time._
_ Anyway, I wanted to reach out here, so if this could help even just one person it is certainly worth mentioning. Not going to be a solution for everyone of course, many of you have the definitive diagnosis which she had not obtained at this point. All we had was the doc’s best guess and they kept pointing to autoimmune. Clearly it’s been hormones all along for her and relief was found sitting on a shelf at the store. _
_ I pray for all of you here struggling with this condition and hope that you find relief. Thanks for being here for each other. Leave no stone unturned in your journey. As they say, it’s always found in the last place you look._