Sjogren's syndrome

The ability to make tears.  For years my partner has teased me that I don't cry; that I "mist".  Meaning that I look like I am crying but the tears rarely come.  In some ways it is funny that I can't cry.  I mean who can't cry??  I never mentioned it to my doctor because I didn't think anything of it.  I just thought it me. 

Finally, I mentioned my dry eye issue to my eye doctor because I was having trouble seeing the TV.  Of course not being about see my favorite TV shows would cause me to see a doctor; not the fact that I can't cry.  Oiy!  He ran some tests and found that I produce no tears.  None, nada, zip, zilch.  Crazy, huh.  Who produces no tears?  Me.  No wonder I don't cry.  This is a symptom of Sjogren's syndrome.  The other symptom is dry mouth which is why when you see me I am most likely carrying a water bottle.  I used to think my dry mouth was from my medication but now I know it probably is not.

My eye doctor put some punctal plugs in my tear ducts to see if they would increase my eye's tear film and surface moisture to relieve my dry eyes.  The plugs fit into my tear ducts and stop the remaining tears from draining away.  I have not felt such pain in my eyes.  The plugs were temporary and dissolved in three days.  But it was the longest three days of my life!  I told the doctor I do not want the permanent plugs, thank you very much.  I told him the pain was so bad that I would have cried, if I could have produced tears!  Ha ha. 

Another experiment failed.  I am sticking with the eye drops and maybe another procedure can be found to help with dry eye in a few years.  So if you see me at a sad movie and I am not crying, now you will know why!  Remember, I only "mist".