July 23rd is World Sjogren’s Day, a day set aside to honor Dr. Sjogren who identified the illness. The syndrome was officially recognized in 1933,
yet it remains an often undiagnosed/misdiagnosed illness. There is still no specific treatment for Sjogren’s. Because researchers still do not know with absolutely certainty what causes Sjogren’s it remains without a cure. Before you can truly fix something, you need to know how and why it is broken.

So though I have only posted on my blog once since this day last year, World Sjogren’s Day has me poking out of my hole to remind those “in my world” awareness needs to continue so that some day there may be, if not a cure, at least targeted effective treatment.

It is amazing what one can get used to when you experience it daily for years – in my case the chronic exhaustion, muscle and joint pain, the dry sore corneas and mouth, the side effects of chemo meds for Sjogren’s related autoimmune hepatitis. In spite of it all, I am doing quite “okay”.

On this day, my heart goes out to the newly diagnosed who are just learning to accept and navigate the myriad of symptoms and illnesses associated with Sjogren’s Syndrome. And to those who are yet to be diagnosed but searching for answers as they go “shopping” from doctor to doctor looking for one who has knowledge of this still seldom known illness with its diverse constellation of symptoms – do not give up!

For more information read my archived blog posts and/ or contact the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation.

Click on chart to enlarge:

P.S. Stay tuned; I plan to be here more often thanks to some inspiration from a writing friend mentor. Reading her recent work has reminded me that writing is indeed “good medicine”. 🙂