Dry syndrome easily misdiagnosed

  The manifestations of dry syndrome are diverse and may include dry mouth, dry eyes, joint pain, swollen parotid glands, or multi-organ damage, such as kidney, hematological system, and lung damage. Patients may visit ophthalmology and dentistry for a particular symptom that stands out. The diagnosis is often not easily missed when the patient has dry mouth and dry eyes. In contrast, the diagnosis is easily missed when the patient does not have dry eyes and dry mouth and presents with skin rash, joint pain, and low potassium muscle weakness. It is easy to misdiagnose as rheumatoid arthritis when there is joint pain and positive rheumatoid factor; hepatitis due to high transaminases, etc.  Often, underdiagnosis or misdiagnosis is due to the lack of awareness of the disease among clinicians and patients. In fact, the epidemiological survey shows that the prevalence of this disease is higher than that of rheumatoid arthritis, which should be given sufficient attention. Once you suspect this disease, you should go to rheumatology department or related departments for relevant examination to avoid misdiagnosis and delayed treatment.  Dry syndrome is a chronic disease, and most of them have good prognosis. There are no definite drugs that can change the course of the disease, but mainly alternative and symptomatic treatment. Hormone treatment should be cautious. Chinese herbal medicine has some efficacy.