u/Dear-March-2433

No joint pain, no chronic fatigue but I have dry eyes confirmed with schirmer test and a very dry mouth confirmed by dentist. I did an ANA last year that was 1:160 nuclear homogneous, was tested again 6 weeks later and it was 1:80 dense fine speckled.

I was negative on Sjogrens anitbodies test. I have an appointment Friday to get an ultrasound of my salivary glands done. And I had an appointment for today for a lip biopsy but I backed out because I got too nervous about the horrible pain people talk about having afterward for weeks. I've also seen some people say that their rheum actually advises against it. I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts on this are?

I have a positive ANA of 1:160 Nuclear Fine Dense Speckled pattern which I understand usually does NOT indicate autoimmune issues? But prior to that I was 1:80 Nueclear Homogenous. Negative for all antibodies.

I have had issues with not being able to sweat a lot my whole life even when I worked out super hard. Then in my mid 20's (I'm 30 now) I started having dry mouth a lot but it would come and go. No big deal. Then last year my eyes suddenly got severely dry. I went to a dry eye specialist who did a tear production test on me and it indicated I was not creating enough tears in my eyes.

Then around that same time I went through my first super bad flare of dry mouth that was so intense and painful. Luckily it subsided and since then it comes and goes every few months with each flare lasting 2 or 3 weeks.

I saw that a new medication for Sjogrens is coming out this year and I'd assume for anyone to have it they'd need a definitive diagnosis of Sjogrens and I also want to try scleral lenses for my eyes which are not covered by insurance unless you have another condition like Sjogrens. So part of me wants to do the lip biopsy. I also just want to know WTF is wrong with me.

But I've seen some horror stories on here about people being in horrible pain, having speech issues after, a paralyzed lip, etc.

Just looking for some advice. I have it scheduled for this Thursday.

Positive ANA, negative antibodies so going to the ENT this thursday for a lip biopsy and I'm so nervous! What is it like? Does it hurt? I've seen some people talk about negative side effects

Can anyone share what has helped their dry eyes? how long have you had sjogrens? has your dry eye gotten worse over time? I've tried so much

https://preview.redd.it/bivxxj211tvg1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=453c975184b4c23a07c29c8895eff4734ac8d547

I'm a -8.5 and these are my glasses. I've already gotten 1.74 lenses and have round frame that I feel helps how small my eyes look. Would getting glasses with double aspheric lenses make even more of a difference in how small my eyes look?