I needed to disable self sign-ups because I’ve been getting too many spam-type accounts. Thanks.
Sjögren's Disease: VA overload?
Sjogren's Disease: Along with Lupus and Raynauds I think my symptoms (over my lifetime) would probably qualify me for this word. Lupus, Raynauds and Sjogrens are sister-diseases, often seen in combination. I've already written about my thought that the mysterious, ancient and hard-to-define "Lupus" is probably VA-overload, and that probably Raynauds (fingers, toes, feet going white or blue when chilled or during stress) is long-term damage from VA overload.
Perhaps you would agree that these seem like very common issues here at this site?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sjögren%27s_disease
"In a 2021 article on Sjögren's patients, a majority of individuals stated that eight symptoms had a major or moderate impact on their life: fatigue (79%); dry eyes (75%); dry mouth (73%); joint pain (65%); trouble sleeping (64%); eye discomfort (60%); muscle pain (56%); and brain fog (54%).[13][14][15]"
I thought I'd start a thread in case people have this diagnosis or would like to discuss it.
(aside: I think that Nestor's book on Breath can help with Raynauds symptoms, ie to push blood out to the extremities with breathing, like a yogi would)
I'm not ruling out that other toxicities besides VA can probably add to the pig-pile of awfulness. All toxins matter.
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Ancient Greece:Hippocrates (460-377 BC) described a skin condition with symptoms similar to lupus.
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13th Century:Rogerius Frugardi used the term "lupus" to describe a facial skin disease that resembled a wolf's bite.
The lupus facial "butterfly" was noted way, way back. I used to have this very badly and it is mostly gone. (although I still have minor breakouts and some scarring in this zone.)
To my mind the case is closed on "Sjogren's". Seriously, their symptoms are indistinguishable from someone who hit the 'Tane too hard:
Retinal vein occlusion on right eye. Brain numbness and needling . Heavy sweating during night to make my bed wet! Headaches and migraines that cooccured with vision changes. Pain behind eyes. Strange feeling in head and forehead when i go to sleep. calf muscles spasms. kidney pain. Light sensitivity and snow dots. sound sensitivity. depression and suicidal tendencies. double vision. stomach issues and cramps. Constipation and nausea. feeling lump in throat and GERD. Nasal congestion. short breath and difficulty breathing. Sudden high blood pressure . fast heartbeat and arythmy. Eye lid and muscle twitches. anxiety and irritability. swollen lymph nodes. Flu like symptoms. hearing hissing and beating. Facial dermatitis sebhureic. Neck stiffness. extreme wight gain. Lethargy. Itching . memory loss and forgetfulness. extreme insomnia. fatigue and mood swings. erectile dysfunction and loss of libido. Low serotonin(9 instead of 100. Cold feet
My symptoms are daily joint pain (3 years) with pretty severe morning joint pain lately (last 6 months), bilateral skin rashes (4 years), dry eyes/burning eyes (10+ years), dry skin (always), dental problems (always), sensitivity to light (always), hair thinning/hair loss (4 years), GI issues (6 years), and chronic fatigue (10+ years). Also constantly “sick” with allergy/sinus/cold symptoms (10+ years).
I was going to post more of these but it's actually gross-feeling reading all of these autoimmune subreddits. They wear their diagnosese like badges of honor, and the ones who for example have dry mouth, dry eyes and fatigue, but don't get the antibody test back positive for Sjogren's, are the saddest lost puppies you can imagine. I suspect a part of this has to do with needing a label for insurance purposes, but the rest is to my mind just a frankenstein combination of masochism with an otherwise hollowed out and meaningless existence.
Awe it appears one of our participants has gone, Alex3: bon voyage...
did something go wrong here?
All of his posts are gone and also his avatar. Too bad, he was a good poster.
I hope he returns in some shape or form.
Was this another case of "something I said?"
Probably my fault. I regretted my last sentence immediately after I posted it. I have a real hard time with the modern cry bully phenomenon wherein the weaker a person is, the stronger they become. There are endless perverse incentives in our society which reinforce the victim mentality.
To feel better about being such a $#@%head I looked for information to bolster my position and did find that people get on permanent disability for everything from Sjogren's to anxiety, but it's really a pyrrhic victory since it's a poverty trap. Where the victims are most handsomely paid is in the veteran population. One link:
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4304058-how-runaway-disability-compensation-is-straining-veterans-affairs/
Quote from article:
From 2000 to 2022, the number of disability compensation recipients with a rating of 70 percent or more increased by 7-fold (from 0.34 million to 2.66 million) while the number with a rating of just 10 or 20 percent hardly changed (from 1.23 million to 1.30 million). This rating system used by the VA encourages disability compensation recipients to apply for increases in their ratings and may discourage some from improving their health.
Doesn't change the fact that I'm a #$%#. Whether he left on my account or not, mea culpa.