I'm so complicated...

[LilyPony]

New rheum is awesome! So I've had a MRI of my head and no results reported to me yet. My quick urine/blood work is totally normal. She has given me yet another diagnosis, not undoing the weg's diagnosis but adding to it. What's good, is on the basis of what has come back so far, this is not a wegs issue. A new ENT that works with autoimmune issues with "lots" of weggies in his care, says that what he can see up my nose doesn't look remotely like wegs.

A new diagnosis of Sjogren's has been added to the mix. This often occurs in conjunction with other autoimmune problems and basically dries out every part of your body that is supposed to be moist. My nose and sinuses are so horribly dry that they're crusting over in self defense which causes pain. It explains my severely dry eye on the wegs side. My horrible stomach problems are likely connected to it since my esophagus is overly dry and allowing the reflux to occur. My awful rib-breaking cough is also related with the dryness, and possibly not cough-variant asthma at all. I've been blaming much of the joint pain, cold hands, dry skin, and "girl problems" on aging, but made I made her giggle when I said that because I'm only 35.

This rheum has connected random dots in a way that makes sense. I've got to wait on the MRI to rule out a wegs flare. Either way, it's going to go about the same way. Got prednisone on board right now and my new team (rheum, ENT, and eye doc) are going to figure out exactly how to treat this.

[Jack]

Hi LilyPony,
I'm usually very sceptical when doctors come up with multiple diagnosis when dealing with Wegener's since it is capable of presenting in so many different forms. There is also the matter of statistics when someone is said to be suffering from more than one very rare disease. However, from what you have said (I have not even heard of Sjogren's ) they may be on to something. Let's hope so, since pinning a name on it is half the battle. Good luck with your treatment and hope the diagnosis can be confirmed.

[Sangye]

I agree with Jack. Also, Sjogren's can be as difficult to pin down as Wegs. Here's a good website for those interested. A quick look at the image with symptoms will show you how much Sjogren's overlaps with Wegs symptoms. If it were me, I'd high-tail it to a vasculitis center and get their diagnosis. A team of good local docs might be fine to treat Sjogren's, but personally I wouldn't trust that they have the skill to treat Wegs, a mix of Wegs and Sjogren's, or to differentiate between the two.

[JanW]

What Sangye says.

[Sangye]

LOL!

[elephant]

I agree with JanW!