How much has sjorgens affected your daily life. Has it been a big or fairly insignificant change?

I was diagnosed at 5 years old, I am 20 now. When I was first diagnosed I couldn't properly walk and had very little energy. I didn't run around like most kids and would only walk/crawl when prompted with food or a toy/book. When I got on plaquenil things got much better and I fit in better with other kids. I was mostly normal from about 6-12 years old. I needed a wheelchair and umbrella/lots of sunscreen on field trips and I couldn't really do anything involving running or lots of walking for any extended period of time. I didn't do sports or after school activities, basically just went to school and did homework on weekdays. But, I could still go to school and play with other kids on the weekends just keeping in mind my limitations. I did not feel that different, and I was able to do almost everything I wanted to in life. I had an awesome childhood. When I hit puberty, things got worse. I developed Raynaud's and psoriasis. I started having more fatigue and muscle/joint pain. Stress started becoming more intense and caused me to flare much more often. However, I still lived a relatively normal life. I just felt sick and tired more often than my peers and couldn't participate in sports or gym. This lasted from about 13-17. Then I started getting even worse and my fatigue started increasing even more. Eventually in Dec 2019 I had a big flare and developed a severely swollen lymph node on my neck. I now have to take prednisone in addition to plaquenil and a series of other drugs. I cannot walk right now because of severe muscle weakness that I believe is from the prednisone. However, please don't let my story scare you as it is on the more extreme end. Everyone is different and you could have very little disease progression and very little impact on quality of life or it could cause more severe complications and problems. There is no way to know which way your disease will be. I hope that your disease is mild and that you live a full and happy life.

/r/Sjogrens Thread