What are the symptoms of hormone therapy for Sjögren's syndrome

Sjögren's syndrome can present a variety of symptoms, such as dry mouth, dry skin, and easy to cause tooth decay, secondary oral infection, etc., so we need to understand the symptoms and then treat them symptomatically.

1. Sjögren's syndrome is a systemic autoimmune disease with dry mouth and eyes as common manifestations. Sjögren's syndrome can exist alone or in other autoimmune diseases. Those that exist alone are primary Sjögren's syndrome, while those that occur secondary to other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc. are secondary Sjögren's syndrome.

2. This disease is an autoimmune disease characterized by invasion of exocrine glands, especially lacrimal glands and salivary glands. It is characterized by decreased secretion of the tear and salivary glands, resulting in keratoconjunctivitis sicca and dry mouth.

3. Sjögren's syndrome is a global disease. More than 90% of the patients are women. Most of the patients are middle-aged and elderly people aged 40-60 years old, and there are fewer children. Due to the lack of uniform diagnostic criteria, the prevalence of the disease is very inaccurate. It is generally estimated to be 0.1%-0.7%. In the United States, Sjögren's syndrome is second only to rheumatoid arthritis in incidence.

4. For many years, this disease has been relatively unfamiliar in China. It was not until after 1980 that it attracted attention, observation and research. A domestic survey of more than 10,000 people found that the prevalence of the disease was 0.29%-0.77%, indicating that the prevalence of this disease in China is not lower than the 0.3%-0.4% incidence of rheumatoid arthritis.

5. There is currently no cure for this disease. The main thing is to take measures to improve symptoms, control and delay the progression of tissue and organ damage caused by immune response and secondary infection.

6. Improve symptoms

(1) Alleviate dry mouth symptoms, keep the oral cavity clean, rinse the mouth frequently, and reduce the possibility of tooth decay and secondary oral infection.

(2) For keratoconjunctivitis sicca, artificial tear eye drops can be used to relieve dry eye symptoms and prevent corneal damage.

(3) Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and hydroxychloroquine can be used for muscle and joint pain.

7. Patients with systemic damage should receive appropriate treatment based on the damaged organ and severity.

Patients with concurrent neurological diseases, glomerulonephritis, interstitial lung disease, liver damage, low blood cells (especially low platelets), myositis, etc. should be given adrenal cortical hormones in the same dosage as for the treatment of other connective tissue diseases. For patients with rapidly progressive disease, immunosuppressants such as cyclophosphamide and azathioprine can be used in combination. Patients with malignant lymphoma should undergo active and timely combined chemotherapy.