Sjogren's Syndrome...

I went to see my doctor yesterday. She diagnosed me as having Sjogren's Syndrome.

If I'd ever heard of that, I'd paid no attention.

But something that started to be a nuisance a couple of years ago had become an annoyance, and in the past few weeks had become a real problem. Which is what drove me to the doctor.

Putting a name to it: why should that make a difference? Does that make it any more difficult to deal with? Any more serious? Why does this bother me?

Wikipedia says it's "the second most common autoimmune rheumatic disease" and most people who get it are women in my age group. So I'm hardly the only one. Autoimmune diseases seem to be my specialty. I didn't want to add another one to the list.

But I notice the Wikipedia line: "Sjögren's syndrome can exist as a disorder in its own right (primary Sjögren's syndrome) or may develop years after the onset of an associated rheumatic disorder, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma..." Bingo. Scleroderma. Okay: I beat the scleroderma; this might recede too.

On the other hand, it means I'm probably not really allergic to wheat or fruit; it's just that they trigger problems related to the xerostomia. That's my new word of the week. Dry mouth. What happens when you can't get enough saliva.

So far it's been $200 for pills which may or may not work, and I can't afford that indefinitely.
I either have to find a job, or alternative remedies.

Has anyone here had this problem? How did you deal with it?

Olympics

Watched the Olympics opening ceremonies with maaseru and Pim.

Loved it all, especially the sequence with the Queen. Loved the historicity of it.

I don't usually watch sports at all; I'm not sure how to find out when and where to watch the things I'd like to see - equestrian, fencing, archery (that seems to be this weekend), taw kwon do. Not sure I get the the TV stations that show it. We shall see. Perhaps maaseru, who is savvier than I am about Olympics, will tell me... and invite me up to her place.

Of course, I particularly loved seen Kenneth Branagh doing bits of The Tempest. Gorgeous!

Book club...

Tonight: a book club meeting a my place. We were discussing The Hunger Games. Only one person disliked it; four of us had seen the movie, for comparison; we tended to like the same things. And by the end of the discussion, I think all of us saw more there than we originally had.

In discussion of archetypes in the story, I was struck by parallels to The Iliad, in which the gods play deadly games with mankind in warfare for their own purposes and amusement. Previously, the parallels in my head were more to distopian novels like 1984 and Brave New World, with the reality-tv twist.

At one point Sue asked if anyone of us had ever seen a reality show. I said I'd seen How Do You Solve a Problem Named Maria, which was Andrew Lloyd Webber's vehicle for casting The Sound of Music a few years ago in London. Then again, in Toronto.

We really aren't a typical TV-watching crowd.

Next month: our book is What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim by Jane Christmas.