How Were You Diagnosed?

In a perfect world, all of the Sjogren's warriors should be diagnosed from having one of the common symptoms; excessively dry eyes or dry mouth, and having your doctor request diagnostic bloodwork. Even the dreaded lip biopsy would suffice as the deciding factor. Well as we all know, there is no such thing as a perfect world, especially when you have an autoimmune disease.

My journey of initial diagnosis would be one full of despair, confusion, and in the end, awareness.

A sudden ER visit and unexpected news

One warm July day, while driving to work, my vision became impaired. Everything looked as if it were vibrating. I took my time, cautiously proceeding to the office. Once I arrived, trying to view my computer screen was a fete. I could not focus my vision. I became very dizzy trying to walk to a coworkers office to alert them of how I was feeling. It felt like the room was spinning.

Needless to say, I proceeded to the emergency room as I knew something was off. I had never felt like this before.

After bloodwork, a halted CT scan, and MRI of the head, and hours of waiting- I would leave the emergency room a ball of emotions.

Navigating the results

When the CT scan was stopped, I knew it was not good. Though the tech tried to smooth things over, she did not go a good job. After, the doctor let me know very matter of factly I would need an MRI due to my brain tumor that he wanted to take a closer look at.

"My what?!" I exclaimed.

He said he thought I knew due to age of the meningioma. I let him know I was not aware at all as my reaction should have implicated. The shock, nervousness and anxiety I felt from this news was overwhelming.

After the MRI, the doctor poked his head in and asked if anyone had ever told me I had a dry mouth disease. I said no. He went on his way.

Now I began asking myself, does that mean I have one or is this still part of the tumor? Upon discharge, I was told I needed to see a neurologist and that I was experiencing vertigo.

Just the beginning

After many phone calls to get an appointment that was three to four months out (thats a subject for another time), I would see a neurologist who let me know that my meningioma was calcified and almost as old as I am so she wasn't as concerned as she was with the lump in front of my left ear.

She determined from my bloodwork and MRI that I had Sjogren's disease and would need to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. I was diagnosed, but what did it all mean? Little did I know this was just the beginning of my initial Sjogren's introduction.