Venus Williams described the process of not knowing what was happening with her to learning that she had Sjogren’s syndrome as “a head-trip” but vows to fans to keep going just like she did over a decade ago when she was diagnosed with an auto-immune condition.
For several years, the seven-time Grand Slam champion was dealing with tiredness and exhaustion, as well as dry mouth and eyes. While some of that stuff is not uncommon for athletes – especially for someone like the American who was competing at the highest possible level – she just had a feeling that something was off. And in 2011 at the age of 31, she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s disease – a condition that happens after the parts of the body that produce fluids are damaged.
After the diagnosis, Williams spent some time away from tennis to address her health and figure out a plan for how to continue her career while still managing her medical condition. For the former world No. 1, learning that she was battling an autoimmune disease wasn’t the best possible outcome but at least she finally knew what was causing her troubles and was mentally at peace because she didn’t have to break her head anymore thinking about why she didn’t feel her best.
“I had all kinds of symptoms, but that was very challenging as an…
