What would "components of Sjogren's" mean?

intheorchard, is there a centimeter measurement on your report. An enlarged ascending aorta can press against the windpipe when you lie down face up causing shortness of breath. I'm quite entertained by the composition of your post.

The eye doctor ran test on my eyes. The outer layer was badly scratched up and I didn’t know it. I was put on special eye drops to heal the lens. Then drops for the Sjogrens. I went to the ent (ear nose throat) doctor for a lip biopsy where they take four glands and send them off for testing. Yes you are numbed up. My glands were so enlarged they just popped out.
Yes, a positive ssa is for Sjogrens, My Ana( have a speckled Ana) is not elevated but my sed rate is over 130 and my complement C3 and C4 are off. . Sjogrens is so much more than dry mouth and eyes. They call Sjogrens Disease the sister disease to lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis.
There are so many test that my rheumatologist runs a ds dna. Mine came back positive for lupus no one in my family has lupus. It is a genetic marker. Chest pain you see a cardiologist with the exception if it’s neurological based. I was sent to a neurologist first you have to test positive for small fiber neuropathy. Tested for neuropathy emg/ nerve conduction test and biopsy for small fiber neuropathy (causes chest pain). Dysautonomia also is a form of neuropathy. You can have it progress into your heart causing CAN cardiac autonomic neuropathy. You get chest pain arrhythmias (bradycardia- heart beats too slow/tachycardia-heart beats too fast) along with blood pressure going up and down. The cardiologist does a one month holter monitor test and tilt table test and sent me to an electrophysiologist where I was diagnosed with CAN. I get pericardial effusion. Also, the Moderna Covid 19 vaccine causes CAN and if you have had Covid.
There are a lot of autoimmune diseases that cause neuropathy. You may not have the symptoms yet but you can test positive for it and have other symptoms like joint pain. There are a few people that only have Sjogrens. Every time I see my rheumatologist he orders 15 tubes of blood. I nicknamed him blood sucker.
https://sjogrens.org/understanding-sjogrens/sjogrens-disease-signs-and-symptoms
Sjögren’s disease is a complex, systemic autoimmune disease with symptoms that extend far beyond dryness. Among 6,360 respondents, patients reported experiencing 46 different Sjögren’s disease symptoms affecting multiple body systems. The top five symptoms experienced were dry eyes (95%), dry mouth (93%), fatigue (90%), joint pain (81%), and brain fog (77%). More than half of the top 20 reported symptoms were not associated with dryness.

@intheorchard sounds to me like you need a new doctor! One that listens and responds. Does your insurance require a referral to specialists? Mine does. When I can’t get answers from my doctor I find one that will at least try to find an answer! I got mine though I didn’t necessarily like them! Also, I don’t just assume something abnormal is ok because my doctor didn’t mention it. My T3 level was high for a year and I didn’t say anything…turns out my doctor missed it! We have to be our best advocate!

@gently There was. 3.9 cm. Like she said, not an aneurism. 🙂

@artemis1886 Thank you for the reply. From your words and what I have read on the internet, it does seem as though it should merit more than a note on my chart sent to me via email.
My c3 and c4 were normal. ANA titer was 1:640 with heterogenous and nuclear dot. I really have no idea what all this means. I feel like if I question him, he will think I am a hypochondriac.
Healthcare in this area is entirely overloaded. I think a referral to a cardiologist would require cardiac arrest. We have a friend who has had a kidney transplant and open-heart surgery in the past. Even he only gets telehealth appointments.
If I might ask, does your neuropathy cause numbness in the face? Pain upon exertion where shoulder meets neck?

@intheorchard granulomas and enlarged lymph nodes that show up on a CT scan (that they’re not worried about being malignant) could be autoimmune in nature - that’s what popped up on my husband’s chest scan, and we worried sick until we got the call from the pulmonologist …. he has sarcoidosis. He’s been on methotrexate for the last 6 months. Sarcoidosis can cause chest pain.

@intheorchard and it is too small to be causing airway obstruction. So what about sleep apnea? ?

@intheorchard I constantly question my doctors
They make mistakes working in the medical field I have seen a lot of errors. Including doctors prescribing me sulfite drugs when it sends me into anaphylactic shock. The er gave me morphine sulfate I turned purple and quit breathing if my husband had not been there I would be dead The doctors make errors someone has to ask questions. My fingers are numb when I touch my face I don’t feel anything. I freaked out thinking I had lost the feeling in my face. When my husband got back into town he touched my face and I could feel it. I do have problems with dystonia (severe muscle spasms from the neuropathy). I have a permanent knot in my neck that has been botoxed very little relief. It pulls on the occipital nerve. That causes my problems. The knot is between the neck and shoulder so it pulls on my neck going into my face and brain it also pulls on my shoulder. Another medical error that almost killed me is a contaminated batch of cortisone given in the bottom for my asthma. I was throwing up running a fever er pumped me full of Demerol said it was a migraine. My husband took me back to the er I had mrsa bacterial spinal meningitis my spinal tap showed over 250 bacterial infection. The er doctor said to my husband if you would not have brought her back inn she would have been dead. The cortisone abcessed and moved into the spinal column into the brain. Do not be afraid to ask questions. If it showed a nuclear dot the doctor needs to run a bunch more test. That typically is the start of an autoimmune disease. Did the doctor run a dna ds? Ask for a copy of your labs. My last visit to the rheumatologist my sed rate was 135 and the doctor said my labs were fine that sed rate is way too high showing inflammation in my body.

@gently Sleep apnea would maybe explain the waking up gasping. But I am thinking not the fact that it happens if I sit still too long. I admit, I have caught my self nodding off during too long sermons from time to time so apnea might apply then as well :). Having researched over the past couple of weeks, my best guess considering all the symptoms, adding in autoimmune, low hdl and high ldl, etc. is atherosclerosis. Next appointment with GP is fall. And I doubt that I will get the nerve up to ask the rheumatologist on the early morning televisit in August because I am guessing I will be dismissed as a hypochondriac. My husband has asked me repeatedly to do the flat-fee, out-of-pocket life-line scans that come to our area. I am thinking I will break down and do it the next time they are here. Maybe they will find a clue that the doctor will have to look into.