Sjogren's syndrome dietary taboos

Spicy, warm, dry, and easily irritating foods, foods with high salt and sugar that aggravate dehydration of the mucous membranes, and foods that you are allergic to. Most of the rest of the taboos are personalized, and you do not need to copy the strict taboos from the unified recipes on the Internet.

I just met a 32-year-old female patient in the clinic last week. She was diagnosed six months ago. She searched a bunch of taboo lists. She didn't even dare to touch onions, ginger, and garlic. She only dared to boil vegetables with plain water for meals. Recently, her albumin was significantly lower during a review, and her face turned sallow. When I asked her, I found out that she had tabooed all the "fat foods" listed on the Internet, including eggs and milk. It was completely unnecessary.

First, let’s talk about the spicy and warm foods that everyone is most familiar with. Needless to say, spicy foods such as butter hot pot, spicy hot pot, and kebabs. Most patients will experience dry mouth and eyes, and even induce parotid gland enlargement. There used to be a retired old teacher. His son Xiaoshun bought red ginseng tablets to replenish his body. After soaking in water for three days and drinking it, his parotid glands became swollen as if he had a walnut in his mouth. He was so painful that he couldn't even swallow porridge. When he came to check, the inflammation indicators tripled. But not all warm foods need to be beaten to death with a stick. I have also met patients with weak constitutions. Their hands and feet are usually cold, and they will have diarrhea after eating two mouthfuls of cold watermelon. Occasionally, they feel comfortable after eating a few longans and drinking less than half a cup of ginger tea. In this case, there is no need to strictly limit food. On the contrary, it will hurt the spleen and stomach and affect the absorption of nutrients.

Don't think that only spicy food can aggravate symptoms. Many heavy-tasting foods that you don't pay attention to at ordinary times can secretly hinder your symptoms. Many old people like to drink porridge with pickles and pickled radishes. Young people have strong tastes and will nibble on a few packs of candied fruits and potato chips when they have nothing to do. High salt and excessive sugar will increase the osmotic pressure in the mouth and the whole body. Originally, salivary glands are not secreted enough due to inflammation. Half an hour after eating, their mouths will feel sticky and bitter, and they will even be so astringent that they can't open their eyes. There are also sugar substitute snacks that are very popular nowadays. In order to control sugar, a little girl ate five or six packs of zero-calorie jelly and three or four bottles of sparkling water a day. Instead, her mouth became so dry that she had to get up and drink water three or four times at night. This is because although sugar substitutes do not raise blood sugar, many ingredients will increase the secretion burden of the salivary glands, and the more she eats, the drier she becomes.

There is also a category of completely personalized allergenic foods without a unified blacklist. Some people eat mangoes and pineapples without any problems, while others get red, swollen lips and rashes when they touch them. The allergic reaction will directly activate the immune inflammation in the body. The glands have already been attacked by autoimmune, and the inflammation will only worsen the secretion function. So no matter how nutritious others say this food is, if you feel uncomfortable after eating it, don't touch it. You don't need to listen to others saying "This is good, why don't you eat it?", your own body feels the most accurate.

As for the controversial questions that people often ask, such as whether you can drink coffee or alcohol, there is currently no unified clinical conclusion. Some doctors believe that coffee is a diuretic and will speed up the body's water excretion, so it is best to avoid drinking it. Others believe that as long as you don't feel uncomfortable after drinking it, a cup of black coffee every day will have no effect at all. ； The same goes for wine. Some patients feel relaxed after drinking a small glass of red wine, and their dry mouth does not get worse. There is no need to quit completely. If their face becomes hot, their dry mouth gets significantly worse, or their parotid glands ache after drinking, just don’t touch it.

I have come into contact with hundreds of patients with Sjögren's syndrome, and few of them eat strictly according to the general taboo list. You can keep a simple food diary by yourself. What you ate today, and whether you feel your dry mouth is getting worse, your parotid glands hurt, or you have a rash. Keep this for half a month, and your own exclusive taboo list will come out, which is more effective than all the general recipes on the Internet. One of my patients even wrote down that "it's fine if you order a clear soup pot when eating hot pot, but your mouth will be dry if you order a tomato pot." Later, when she occasionally wanted to eat hot pot, she would just order clear soup, which relieved her cravings and did not aggravate her symptoms.

To put it bluntly, getting sick is troublesome enough. There is no need to embarrass yourself too much about eating. Avoid the three types of foods that most people dislike. Eat less of the rest if you want to. A happy mood will be better for your condition.