Sjogren's and Lymphoma

[Linda196]

Hello Slross, sorry I missed your post earlier, but (better late than never) welcome to Sjogren's World.

JannaLee, the list I was given of things to watch for said to call the doctor if you have had any symptoms for longer than 2 weeks, and they are new or sudden onset,such as:

Painless swelling in the lymph nodes in the neck, underarm, or groin.
Unexplained fever.
Drenching night sweats.
Extreme fatigue.
Unexplained weight loss in the past 6 months.
Itchy skin.

Of course all of these symptoms can be present in SjS or a number of other autoimmune diseases, that's why my doctor included the bit about "new or sudden", because if not, I'd probably be there once a month!

I was originally diagnosed with non-Hogkins Lymphoma nearly 30 years ago (by mistake), and have been assessed several times since, always with negative results (which is actually a positive outcome). I've been assured that the actual increase of incidence isn't nearly as bad as the numbers make it look, because of the comparative base numbers of SjS population vs world population.

[JannaLee]

Thank you Linda.

[RitaB]

I went out and did a search on the internet on "sjogren's and lymphoma" and there is one more symptom that is always listed and that is "persistant painless swelling of the parotid glands" and I've been complaining about this for a year now.  And there are no signs of the glands getting better.  When I saw the rheumy this past week (which was the first time with her) she seemed surprised that the ENT I saw a month or so ago did not do a biopsy on my glands.  Maybe this is why??

Well now I am concerned.  I am suppose to hear back from her - the rheumy - (as I mentioned in another post) after she reads the reports from the MRI's herself as she told me that she is pretty sure that I need a biopsy but she did want to read the MRI report first.

As always, it is "hurry up and wait and wait and wait!'

I guess we will all hang in there together.

RitaB

[stegello08]

Rita,

I am also concerned. I only have swelling in my left gland, but it's lasted for a few months now, and it does not show any signs of going completely away. It gets bigger and then gets smaller, and goes back and forth. I'm now growing my hair back out to help cover it better. When I finally go see a ENT, I  am going to be pretty insistent that they check it out.

Hang in there, and keep us posted about your appointments.