Chris,
I'm so impressed with your detailed story of your struggle to fight Sjogren's. It wasn't easy, and it required an enormous amount of self-discipline, self-examination, and perserverance. Hats off to you, young man!
It's encouraging to hear that it took Plaquenil three months to kick in. This gives me incentive to continue with it and to be patient. I went to my first Sjogren's support group yesterday, and was disheartened to hear the woman sitting next to me claim that after only one week on Plaquenil, her symptoms had disappeared. Then she later admitted that she didn't have any of the classic symptoms at all-- no dry eye, dry mouth, or fatigue. Perhaps she was in the wrong group!
Ironically, Hannah Joseph's book is the first one on Sjogren's that I ordered. At first I was put off by her diagrams, charts, arrows, etc., but I will go over some of the chapters now that you have simplified it.
Like you, I've had no success with Restasis which i've been taking religiously since March 13. So, I'm going to explore other options, like the punctual plugs, and even some of that collagen cocktail. Anything that has "cocktail" in it sounds appealing to me!
Regarding whether someone is an alternative practitioner or not, I think it's important to me to find a qualified medical professional who has had sound training, but who is willing to think outside the box when it comes to his or her patients who are not responding to traditional medicines. That kind of person is hard to find.
Let's continue to support each other in our quest for good health.