test more test and doctor offers more anxiety pills

[jas1223]

went to my gp to see whats next

he ordered ana test
reumitod factor test
sed rate

my sed rate has been normal in last tests

does sjs show up in any of those test if i have it
he thinks this is all my thyroid and anxiety from my thyroid
but he is not sure

dryness did not start until after i was on synthroid so he said maybe i should stop synthroid but it was up to me

and offers me anti anxity pills

frustrated and loosing it

[irish]

jas, You might want to ask your GP for a referral to a rheumatologist or an endocrinologist(specializes glands thyroid, etc). The ANA can be positive in any autoimmune disease or it can be negative if you are sero-negative. Also, thyroid issues and sjogrens together are very common. I doubt whether it would be in your best interest to stop your thyroid medication. I would think he would know better than to think the med is causing the dryness.

Sjogrens tests that are specific are Anti-Ro/ssA which doesn't always show up positive in Sjogrens and Anti-La/ssB which also doesn't always show up positive. Autoimmune diseases are very hard to diagnose and the doctor who goes entirely by the testing is doing the patient a disservice. They need to listen to the patients symptoms.

Ask to get your thyroid antibodies checked also. Much of the time thyroid disease ends up converting to autoimmune as the years go by. Don't let any doctor tell you it is all in your head and that you are a nervous wreck. I was treated like that for over 30 years and the docs would not listen to me. Turned out I was right about being sick---people know their own bodies better than the docs, however, the doctors have bigger egos than we do as they like to be right all the time. Good luck. Irish

[Linda196]

Jas, Irish is right, you probably shouldn't just stop taking Synthroid, but you should know why you were put on it in the first place. If you are truly hypothyroid, you need to take replacement, and you should be seeing an endocrinologist to get it stabilized.

The Rheumatoid Factor can show positive in SjS, but it's also a vague marker for other Autoimmunities, a rheumatologist should be able to order more specifically and interpret the tests with less apparent "guess work".