Coping with the associated debilitating fatigue and other symptoms experienced by Sjogren’s patients is a severely limiting factor on personal, social, and work life.

Patients feels a sense of a loss of control. Patients may try to plan around expected fatigue, but its onset may also be sudden. Chronic fatigue may lead to work issues and performance problems. Patients may have to give up preferred extracurricular activities such as running. In some instances, they lose control of their appearance, for example, being forced to switch from contacts to glasses because of dry eyes. Many will experience the downside of oral issues such as tooth decay.

Sjogren’s impacts not just the patient, but the patient’s family as well. Playing with children and assisting around the house is affected. A desire to do more with loved ones is at odds with the inability to do anything but rest and recover.

These limitations extend to the workplace. Patients with Sjogren’s may struggle with unemployment or may need to change jobs to avoid physical activity. Those who do work must cope with pain.

Compounding this frustration is that patients often do not appear sick. Furthermore, the disease itself is hard to diagnose often leading to misdiagnosis and years of suffering Sjogren’s effects without relief.

Research on symptoms caused by Sjogren’s Syndrome has measureable impacts on quality of life.  Such studies consistently show that DED has a measureable impact on several aspects of patients’ QoL including pain, vitality, ability to perform certain activities requiring sustained visual attention (e.g. reading, driving), and reduced productivity in the workplace. Research also shows a substantial economic impact of DED as a result of these QoL impacts.

Additionally the impact of dry mouth conditions on oral health has been well documented by Turner et al. 2007. Dry mouth causes significant oropharyngeal disorders, pain and an impaired quality of life. The symptoms associated with Sjogren’s syndrome can definitely and negatively impact patient quality of life.

Citation:

Barrow K. Patient Voices: Sjogren’s Syndrome. New York Times. September 15, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/16/health/healthguide/sjogrens_syndrome.html?_r=0. Accessed February 22, 2017.

Michael D. Turner, DDS, MD1, Jonathan A. Ship, DMD, FDS RCS. September, 2007. “Dry Mouth and Its Effects on the Oral Health of Elderly People.” JADA. http://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(14)62738-0/abstract