Sjögren's syndrome

For a lay person:

Sjögren's syndrome is an autoimmune condition that attacks the glands that make tears and saliva, causing dry eyes and dry mouth, often with tiredness and joint pain.

For a trained medical person:

Autoimmune exocrinopathy with anti-Ro/La antibodies; it may be primary or secondary to other connective tissue disease, with a raised lymphoma risk. Management: symptomatic (tear and saliva substitutes, pilocarpine), hydroxychloroquine and systemic therapy for extraglandular disease.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Wind heat; Damp-Heat; Yin deficiency with internal dryness; Qi and yin deficiency; Yin and Yang Deficiency; Qi and Blood Stagnation; Phlegm turbidity internally binding. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.