Transcript
Announcer:
You’re listening to Living Rheum on ReachMD. On this episode, we’ll hear from Dr. Nancy Carteron, who’s a Health Sciences Clinical Professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry, as well as a Co-Investigator of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases Program. She’ll be discussing the evaluation and management of fatigue in Sjögren's disease. Here’s Dr. Carteron now.
Dr. Carteron:
Fatigue in Sjögren’s certainly is a major complaint for patients, but it's also very important to rule out more common causes of fatigue. And that would include things like thyroid function, vitamin deficiencies like B12, or anemia. And so it’s important to go through the though process of excluding those before attributing the fatigue to Sjögren’s.
But focusing on the fatigue that patients describe in Sjögren’s, it is quite severe and, I think, underrecognized by many providers just how severe it is. Fatigue may lead patients to change lifestyle and even profession for that. And I think, after one sees if there's any co-factors contributing to the fatigue, then ask the question of whether there's a reversible component to the fatigue.
So certainly assess a patient's lifestyle, diet, and sleep habits, and give them any tools or suggestions in that venue. But I think there is a role for discussing with a patient and considering a clinical trial of a mild immune-modulating agent if there's an immune component.
And the most common one that's used off label currently is hydroxychloroquine. And usually, just in my own experience, if the patient is interested in trying that, the timeframe is three to six months, but in my own experience, I've seen a patient be able to respond in even two to six weeks. Some of my colleagues feel that it takes much longer, so I think it's nuanced and depends on your experience. But I do think that's something that's important for clinicians to think about and to discuss with their patients.
Announcer:
That was Dr. Nancy Carteron talking about how to assess and manage fatigue in Sjögren's disease. To access this and other episodes in our series, visit Living Rheum on ReachMD.com, where you can Be Part of the Knowledge. Thanks for listening!
