the autoimmune professor

This week, I wanted to post about Sjogren’s syndrome. Sjogren’s is one of the autoimmune disorders that I have. About one in ten people with lupus will also have Sjogren’s, though some statistics believe it is more like one in six.

Sjogren’s syndrome is an immune system illness where your immune system attacks your healthy cells, just like all autoimmune disorders. In this disease, the mucous membranes and moisture-secreting glands of your mouth and eyes are usually affected first. This leads to dry eyes and dry mouth.

This was definitely an autoimmune disorder that I did not know much about; however, it all made a lot of sense when I got the diagnosis. I always had dry eyes as I have worn contacts since middle school and while I do not sleep in them and do not wear them all day long, I still just assumed that it was the contacts. I have had dry mouth for quite a while as well, but again just chalked that up to working out more, hot in the summer, dry here in the winter. I even thought maybe it could diabetes because I was constantly thirsty.

It is another autoimmune disease that scientists do not understand in terms of development, but it seems that it is possible that there is a triggering mechanism such as an infection, etc. that could make it come out making it very similar to lupus in that way.

Those that have been following the blog or my instagram know that the doctors believe all of my autoimmune issues were triggered by the Covid vaccine and Covid itself. I received the vaccine (Johnson and Johnson 1-dose) and then contracted Covid about two months later. The vaccine itself made me very ill for about two weeks (I have never had issues in the past with any vaccine) and Covid knocked me down for about four weeks. Because I had been tested prior to these for autoimmune issues and had always tested basically negative, all of my doctors believe that these were definitely the triggers for me.