Originally Posted by Aliya

Hello...I've been over in the peripheral neuropathy forum for about two weeks now, and thought I would find my way over here as well based mainly on a comment that one or two people over there made to me...My neuro issues are (knock on wood) almost totally sensory in nature, without motor involvement, and involve pain and tingling/abnormal sensation and/or numbnesss and yet increased sensation/sensitivity. Started in my hands, now also involves my face (on the left side, the cheek, teeth, sinus, eye, jaw, ear, etc. area). Also have pain in the lower jaw on the left side that seems more swollen-glandlish, ENT pressed on a specific spot on the one side (where I've had pain for years) of the floor of my mouth and I nearly wanted to scream, he said it was the "sublingual gland" area or something like that. He also said the back of my throat looked really dry. He did an MRI (w/ and w/out contrast) of the area to rule out cancer or stones or such, it showed nothing and his guess is it's some sort of "backed up" or inflammatory issue and recommended I drink more water, and massage the area to keep it from getting backed up (it hurts like hell to touch in there, I will NOT be massaging it).

I also tend to have VERY dry eyes. REALLY dry eyes. When first diagnosed with dry eyes years ago, I had punctal plugs put in. They didn't do anything. Zip. Nothing. In fact, when I subsequently more recently went to another eye dr., she was like "wow, your eyes are really dry" when looking at them...five minutes after I had put eye drops in, *with* punctal plugs in. The one time I felt I had any relief from my dry eyes (even partial) was when one eye doc put me on something called "Lotemax" (some steroid eyedrop) for two weeks. Sadly, she said you can't stay on it long than that, and my eyes got way worse again once I came off it.

Someone over on the peripheral neuropathy board asked if I had ever been tested for Sjogren's, after hearing I had sensory neuro issues and dry eyes, and I thought I would come over here to learn more about how I would go about getting tested for it and what the tests are. Also, while I have never been specifically tested for Sjorgren's (or any other autoimmune conditions such a lupus, etc.), I have had two or three (over a period of several years) normal SED Rate tests, two or three (over a period of several years) normal thyroid tests, and one normal c-reactive protein test. (I think it's b/c of my normal SED Rate tests, in fact, that none of my doctors has ever done any other tests of any kind on me for autoimmune stuff).

Because I've had multiple normal SED Rate tests, should I figure I can rule out Sjogren's and other autoimmune conditions? Or should I get other tests done, and if so, what kinds, and what kind of doctor should I go to in order to get them done?

Thanks!