I agree with the diet recommendations and there are diet recommendations for people who are chronically ill. I also agree with the fact that people are now testing high for mercury, lead and other heavy metals and sometimes, this can play a negative role with illnesses and potentially cause some illnesses.
Are youw anting to heal your body back to health or jsut deal with symptoms? The answer to that question will help with what direction you want your health care to go. Many people just want to feel better, in example deal with the symptoms ( and you have many I am sure with all those diagnosis) and once they get to feeling a bit better they then want to know the answer to questions like "how did I get this way?" "Can I ever STOP what's happening?" "What caused all this in the first place?"
So not trying to be a smart @@@ or anything just asking the question so as to clarify where you're at on this health journey.
In my personal opinion, you must look at what you are putting in your mouth everyday..and sometimes 3,4,5,6 times a day. FOOD is a lot of what is wrong with people because we are not FEEDING our cells on a cellular level. IF we did that the body would have a strong defense system and correct these things before they become full blown diseases. So what do you want?
Enjoy your day.
~Amy~
Well, if it helps...sicca syndrome is sort of another name for Sjogren's. Sicca Syndrome is supposed to mean that you have all the symptoms of Sjogren's but your blood tests are negative for antibodies. For instance, my lip biopsy confirmed I have Sjogren's, but my Sjogren's antibodies were negative, so some doctors say I have Sicca Syndrome, and some just call it Sjogren's. Same thing. Raynauds is very common with Sjogren's. It's supposed to be not just cold hands and feet, but that they turn white in the cold, then get very painful and red when they warm back up. I've had just cold hands and feet, and also Raynauds, and it's very different and extremely painful. Scleritis means you have inflammation of the white part of your eye. Happens all the time with Sjogren's because the eye is too dry. It can happen in other autoimmune diseases too, so if Sjogren's or RA is the cause, Scleritis is one of the effects. Don't know what the difference is between RA and degenerative joint disease is. Hope this helps you some :)
You might want to google mercury poisoning and check out those sympthoms. I had some of the sympthoms you mention.
Irritating, isn't it ? I have CFS and yet I have a positive ANA titer and once had pleurisy symptoms.... a symptom of lupus. I have dry eyes and I'm always thirsty and so a physician could diagnose me with Sjogren's Syndrome. I also have poor circulation (cold hands / cold feet), and am now finding out that pretty much every chronically ill person has this and does not have Raynauds necessarily !
Many people with these syndromes and autoimmune illnesses have overlapping symptoms. I honestly think the rheumatologists need to update their books and include more symptoms for some of these diseases. One theory that REALLY makes so much sense is that the majority of us have a bacterial infection. Well... bacteria multiplies and so we could take on symptoms of other illnesses. For more info.... visit MedHelp's autoimmune (expert) forum or http://www.immed.org