What is the best treatment for Sjögren's disease?

Sjogren's disease is a relatively common disease. Most of the causes are autoimmune diseases. When Sjogren's disease occurs, the secretory functions of the human body's salivary glands and tear glands are greatly restricted, which often causes patients to experience dry mouth and dry eyes, and other secretory glands will be affected. If you have Sjögren's disease, you must receive timely treatment, such as systemic treatment, hormone therapy, and immunosuppressant therapy.

1. Systemic treatment:

Immunosuppressants such as hormones and cyclophosphamide can be used; immunomodulators such as transfer factor coenzyme Q10, levamisole and thymosin can also be tried, but attention should be paid to the pros and cons of the drugs.

2. Hormones:

For patients with stable conditions, hormone therapy should be avoided. For patients with various connective tissue diseases, hormone use is indicated. Prednisone 30-40 mg/d can be taken orally in divided doses. The dose should be reduced after relief and hormones should be withdrawn as soon as possible. If maintenance treatment is needed, it is appropriate to do it every other day.

3. Immunosuppressants:

Commonly used drugs include cyclophosphamide (CTX) and azathioprine. CTX is 100-200 mg/d (for adults) and azathioprine is 100-200 mg/d (for adults). If maintenance treatment is needed after remission, the minimum maintenance dose should be selected. During treatment, peripheral blood counts should be checked every week. If the total white blood cell count is lower than 4.0×109/L or the platelet count is lower than 100×109/L, the drug should be stopped for observation. When the effect of hormones is not obvious, immunosuppressants can be added or used instead.

4. Immune activators:

Transfer factor treatment can be tried for this disease, and it can relieve symptoms in some cases, but there is no change in immunological indicators and there is a fever reaction. Coenzyme Q10 5-10 mg per day, intramuscular injection, can relieve symptoms in some cases. Thymosin treatment can be tried for this disease. Although it has certain therapeutic effects, it often takes 2-3 months or even longer to achieve the therapeutic effect. For cases with rapid disease progression, it cannot control symptoms in time and has certain side effects, which is its biggest disadvantage. Therefore, the efficacy of thymosin for this disease remains to be seen. If the benign lymphocytic hyperplasia of the patient has turned into malignant lymphoma, it should be treated according to the lymphoma treatment plan combining Chinese and Western medicine.