To

Christina's Story

    Hi, my name is Christina.  I live in San Antonio, Texas.  I was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome in the month of February of 2000, at the age of 14.  I am now 15 turning 16 in the month of February.  I have two brothers, one sister, and a mom and dad.   Of course when I was diagnosed my family took it hard.

 
    It all began when I started getting chest pain attacks.  I thought I was having a heart attack.  They continued to happen so my mom and dad took me to my doctor.  While I was waiting in the waiting room for my doctor, I had another attack.  This was by far the worst attack I ever had.  My doctor told my parents to rush me to the ER.  When I got there they did an EKG, they ran a urine test, blood test, and they did a chest x-ray.  They found nothing wrong.  They thought it was just stress.  I knew it wasn't.  

    So weeks passed and every time I had an attack I had to take Ibuprofen.  My mom still felt something was wrong with my heart so she took me to see a pediatric cardiologist.  He ran so many tests.  He did a sonogram of my heart but found nothing wrong.  He also thought it was stress.  Ever since I was young I would always complain of pain in my joints.  We never really thought anything of it at the time.  We always just figured it would go away, but when I started getting my attacks my mom felt she had to do whatever it took to find out what was wrong with me.  So, we finally took my pain into consideration and called an arthritis specialist.

    When I went to the specialist, he ran tests on me to find out what would be causing my chest pain attacks and my joint pains.  He told me to come back in two weeks to find out my results.  It was a very hard two weeks for me and my family.  Finally the day came.  My doctor explained each and every test to me and how everything came out normal.  Except one test.  It was the SS-A in my body.  He found out that I had what is known as Sjogren's Syndrome.  He explained to me what SS was.  He told me about how I can get swollen glands, dry skin and dry mouth and how it might affect me when I have a baby later on in life.  He also gave me a website that talks about Sjogren's Syndrome.  

    I took it hard, but at least I know what is wrong with me.   I try not to think about it but I know it's there.  At the beginning when I was diagnosed I would just get tired very easily and get dry eyes and dry mouth.  This summer I haven't been at my best though.   I recently got a kidney infection.  Ever since then I have just always been feeling nauseous for some reason and really tired.  The school year is coming up and it scares me because I have just been really feeling ill.  After I got my kidney infection I got sick again about a month later with a stomach virus.  Now I throw up ocasionally and feel nauseous practically everytime after I eat.  Even before I eat I get nauseous, my appetite has gone down significantly and my skin has been getting really dry lately.  My main worry is about my eating habits.  Ever since I got sick it's like I can't eat like a kid anymore.  I always worry about whether this certain food is going to go down correctly or what have you.  I try to go about my day ignoring what I have, but I can't help how it makes me feel.   On the other hand, I am thankful I have a loving family, boyfriend, and friends who care about me, help me, and make me feel better when I am down because of my Sjogren's.  I know it's hard for them too, to deal with me when I am sick, but they never fail to be there.  

      I am now 16 years old and I am here to update you a little on how I am doing with my nausea and vomiting.  After about 10 months of suffering with nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and all that bad stuff, I was finally cured about 3 months ago.  There isn't a name for it, but I can tell you what made me feel that way.  I get spasms in my intestines and stomach.  When a regular healthy person eats, their intestines either work at a fast or slow rate and my intestines never knew what to do so they would kind of do both which caused me to feel the way I did.  It was a hard period for me but again my family, boyfriend, and friends were right there next to me the whole way through.  I am now currently taking a pill that controls my spasms.  It is called Levsin.  I am pretty much going to take this pill for the rest of my life.  Ever since the doctor prescribed me with that pill, I have been doing great.  I gained back all the weight I had lost and now I am healthier than ever!  At the moment my Sjogren's hasn't flared up with the exception that my joints hurt every now and then but other than that I am great.

    Thank you for taking the time to read my story.  If you have any comments on my story or just want to talk, feel free to e-mail me anytime or for those of you who have AIM, my screen name is AgsterGal08!  Thank you and God Bless to everybody and especially those who have Sjogren's Syndrome and for those who care about them deeply.

 UPDATE: 9/2005

     Howdy All!  I just wanted to let everyone know how my Sjogren's has been.  I am currently now 19 years old.  For a while I had been getting a lot of severe arthritis pain, especially on my knees.  So sure enough when I went to see my specialist he told me I had tendonitis on both my knees.  He prescribed Mobic and it works wonders.  He also recommended I take a supplement known as Glucosamine Chondotrin that I take twice a day and that too combined with Mobic works wonders.   I can finally walk for more than 20 minutes without getting tired, or getting any severe knee pain.   My digestive problems are still under control, and my dry skin as well has finally settled down a bit.   On occassion I will get really bad dry skin.   Now that I am at Texas A&M University (sophomore year), I have to really manage my Sjogren's since stress makes me more prone to flare ups.  So far I am managing well!   I hope everyone is doing great!  Feel free to contact me on my AIM screen name AgsterGal08....God Bless Everyone!

Story Copyright © 2000-2007 Christina

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