PBC and Sjogrens

The two are part and parcel of the same overall auto-immune syndrome. A syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms rather than a specific disease, which means different individuals will get different subsets of problems. It's also why it can take so long to get a diagnosis for these conditions. It took ten years of seeing my GP, dentist, ophthalmologist, dermatologist and rheumatologist before my GP finally got inspired to to put the lot together and order a (perfectly simple) test for anti-salivary gland antibodies in my blood. To be fair, I hadn't figured out what was wrong with me either and I'm a former nurse (SRN, trained under the old UK system).

I'm afraid you drew one of the shorter straws when it came to which of your systems would be affected. It's my understanding that quite a lot of PBC sufferers also have Sjogren's, but the vast majority of Sjogren's sufferers don't have PBC. I don't know a lot about the specifics of PBC, and don't suffer from it myself. However, I believe there are a number of support groups out there which might point you in some useful directions. And I know there are a couple of others on this forum who suffer from PBC too, so I'm sure they'll be able to give more specific advice.

Best wishes,

Lily

Hi yes Sjogren's can cause PBC! I have a young lady in my FB group who has it. Her real problem is she is young, a medical professional herself. Far too young to have Sjogren's, and exceeedly far too young to have the additional problem of PBC. I think you are Lilly are correct that the overlaps of autoimmune diseases know no bounds. I have many in my FB group who like me have EDS various types, Psoriasis and PsA, Hughes, SLE, RA, I think one you have a confermation of one AI disease the others jump on for the ride. If your in the UK your most welcome to join British Sjogren's.