July 23, 2021 is World Sjögren's Day

For much of my adult life I have experienced unexplainable health issues.  Fast forward to May 2014, I was working at a Fortune 500 company as a VP of Technology.  I was under a lot of pressure and juggled many responsibilities.  The more burned out I got, the more I experienced fatigue, brain fog, and such significant pain in my fingers it became difficult to type.  One day I was on a conference call and I couldn’t remember my own name to introduce myself.  It was frightening and motivated me to drop everything I was doing until I had an answer.  In October 2014 I was finally diagnosed with Sjögren’s.   

The hallmark signs of Sjögren’s are dry eyes and dry mouth and I’ve experienced those symptoms since college.  As my disease state progressed it began affecting my central and peripheral nervous systems, causing a stroke in 2012 and a host of other problems through the years like recurring Bells Palsy.  It was a huge weight off my shoulders to finally know what was causing my challenges, but it was disheartening to learn there are limited treatment options and no cure.

This disease has changed everything for me.  Somedays I feel wonderful and other days it feels like I’m in a losing battle with my body.  The unpredictability is isolating because its hard to make plans with others when I know I’ll have to cancel a lot of the time.  It’s also very humbling to go from being an extremely independent person to someone who sometimes needs help opening the door to my house because my hands won’t work.  I had to learn to ask for help.  And I’m asking for your help now.  Let’s kick the shit out of Sjögren’s!