Papers of the Week

Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes the inflammation of the lacrimal and salivary glands, resulting in dryness of the eyes and mouth. In addition, fatigue and musculoskeletal pain, often described as aching, are very common. Treatment directed towards alleviating the fatigue and pain associated with SS is currently very limited. In March of 2019, the first peer reviewed case report showing clinical improvement using low-dose naltrexone (LDN) in a patient with suspected SS was published in Cureus. This report describes two additional patients with SS whose conditions responded favorably to a treatment with LDN therapy. The first case is a 24-year-old female with documented SS. Her diagnosis was based on a history of dry eyes, dry mouth, joint pain, fatigue, and headache. In addition, she had very high measures of inflammation and a positive anti SS-A antibody. She improved clinically with LDN therapy. The second case is a 66-year-old female with documented SS based on a history of dry eyes and dry mouth, joint pain, and elevated anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibodies whose joint symptoms responded to treatment with LDN.