Sjorgens Syndrome???August 4, 2011

My daughter Sam that we thought might have mono or the mumps a month ago came to me a few nights ago telling me that her glands were still swollen, and I checked and indeed she is, and she tells me she is having trouble swallowing, her taste has really disappeared and her mouth is so dry, she sometimes is woken up by it. Drinks all day long too, so in addition to her much worsen fatigue, which has gotten increasingly worse in the past 18 months, I knew it was time to get her into a doctor and really get this looked into. She has dark circles under her eyes as well daily now. Her sister and her joke about her "black eyes", it's so prominent most days. She has had this fatigue and tireness despite lots of sleep since grade 12, and she's in 2nd year of university now. Her boyfriend who she hasn't seen for 2 months due to his attendance at a U.S. university came home last week and she couldn't even stay up to visit with him, she told him she had to sleep(at 10:00pm) and lay down on the couch and went to sleep. We've had physical's and bloodwork and they always come out fine. The doctor seems to think it could be sjorgens syndrome, which is an autoimmune disorder that attacks the exocrine glands and potentially other organs. Her hands hurt daily as well, when she's doing stuff. When I look at the description I just want to cry. She's so young and so ambitious and hardworking and kind. It breaks my heart to think that my child will have to suffer a life long struggle with this. I pray it's mono or a virus that may go away. At least the Dr. doesn't think it's lymphoma since she "has glands all over her body affected" and typically he said lymphoma one gland system is affected. Although if she does have this, the odds of her eventually getting lymphoma or non-hodgkins lymphoma are increase dramatically. She had to make an appointment for bloodwork on Monday morning and an eye doctor Tuesday morning. It's a difficult thing to diagnose if it's autoimmunce. I need to breathe and gather my strength so I don't get myself worked up over what may be nothing, and if it is anything I will have what I need to help her. Right now I am grateful she's at Racheal's for the night, because I feel like I might need to fall apart a bit tonight and get it out of my system. Easy does it.