Sjogren's Disease...

i'm sorry. i too am younger and making an appointment to go see the rheumatologist . Ankolosing Spondalitis runs in my family and I test positive for the gene and have the symptoms..boo. I think a lot of the issues surrounding these autoimmune diseases is that people think you're exagerating or have nothing wrong with you. I'm ashamed at times to tell people I might have...but I guess I'll get used to it and get a definite answer soon. I think you should tell the people who love you and have them there to support you, everyone else is up to you
GOODLUCK
sorry I have no advice

I don't think that you have any obligation to disclose your illness to others. You can mention it in passing if it comes up and you feel like it, but you don't need to call a meeting. Let other people follow your lead. If you have to miss a really important family event because of it, you can say, "Oh, my Sjogren's is really kicking my butt today. I hope that tomorrow will be better." Make sure that you don't wallow in it; treat it as just a fact of your life. (I know somebody who lives with it, and she still runs at least two marathons per year and works long days, etc.)

Hey M.,
My FIL had Sjogren's, a pretty bad case of it. I don't want to scare you, but at some point this is not something that you'll be able to keep to yourself. At least not keep from close family. As an autoimmune disease, it affects so many things in the body. My advice would be to tell your family and let them support you. You will need it. Also, I'd just like to mention that my FIL had Kaiser Permanente insurance for decades. Kaiser had 5 HUGE binders full of my FIL's medical diagnoses. The wonderful thing about Kaiser is that all of their doctors are "in house" and communicate and coordinate care with one another. This was absolutely CRITICAL in managing my FIL's care because the Sjogren's led to muscular distrophy, Lymphoma and finally Leukemia that needed to be managed. I don't know if this coordinated care would be possible if he had had a regular insurance group. Anyway, Kaiser never once denied him a service and let me tell you, he was a very expensive patient to say the least.

I wish you the very, very best. Tell your family. A family helps you carry and manage the burdens in life. Peace!

In my opinion you need to decide whether you are going to talk to your FIL as family or as an employer. I'm currently going through issues with a connective tissue autoimmune disease (no diagnosis yet) and my employers have flat out said "We don't want to know and we can't know". I send in paper work because I miss a lot of work due to fevers/pain/fatigue but otherwise, no one knows about my condition.

I'm very secretive about it as well. My close family knows, and my good friend, I complain to some people about it for the simple fact that I need to vent myself, but like Just M said, I get worried about people not believing me or taking me seriously. I'm only 21 - how can I be going through all this pain? How can I have stiff joints and all this fatigue? I'm sure a lot of people think I'm lazy. I Thought I was lazy for a long time until I realized there was something wrong with me. It's hard to keep up "normal" when you aren't normal, but in my house we do what we can and I have nights off.

You have every right to be "Selfish" (which you are NOT being) and to not tell people. They honestly don't need to know. They can know when you need/want them to know. If it matters to them or they are your emergancy support, you need them to know, but otherwise it's none of their business. It can be embarressing to share it...

I think you should tell your in-laws. Your MIL might not be angry if she finds out later, but I would think she would be hurt that you didn't confide in her and she might question the relationship she thought she had with you.

I also think you FIL should know. If you tell him, maybe you can work out a schedule that allows you to come in to work a little later one day per week to give you that time to recharge.

I don't see anything good out of keeping it from your family.