My right hand is colder than left

Jezza

Well-known member
I noticed something new about my HH; my right hand is way colder than my left hand...

My HH goes along with sometimes very red, wet and warm hands (and feet/limbs), but usually they are dead cold (really dead cold) and clammy. I think this has something to do with the in my Guesstimation cause of HH (either excess or lack off, I'm not sure about that, vasodilating peptides like CGRP) but that's another story.

However, recently, to show my HH a bit, I grabbed my mother's arm with two hands...she mentioned that my right hand was much colder than my left hand. I checked myself by putting my hands in my face and she was right. I never took notice of this before, since you know, it's HH, it's all the same to me, bad on both hands.

I checked the following days as well though, and more often than not, my right hand is even colder than my left. If you read some studies about complex regional pain syndrom (a kind of inflammation often going along with cold clammy skin) I thought this is interesting.

Is HH some kind of neurologic inflammation? It would explain to some extend why indomethacin reportedly worked for some I guess...
 

xlisax

Well-known member
My skin is always cold, but always sweating. The only time my skin is ever hot to touch is when it is actually boiling or have have been doing exercise.
 

Jezza

Well-known member
@troubled

Yeah, the overreactive SNS directly creating too much acetylcholine is one explanation, but actually, several studies have showed that HH sufferers don't have an overactive SNS at all.

What's more; eccrine sweating isn't only regulated by acetylcholine, but some peptides like CGRP and possibly VIP as well as nitric oxide (vasodilator) have been implicated in eccrine sweating.

So, I'm thinking; what if the SNS isn't overactive; but some other factor (like excess of certain neuropeptides like CGRP) causes an excessive reaction on otherwise normal impulses from the SNS.

There has been one study comparing HH sufferers to a control group measuring NO levels. They were statistically significantly raised in HH patients compared to controls actually, but in this case, administering a NO Synthase inhibitor didn't stop the HH.

I really think though that there should and could be more of these kind of studies; comparing levels of substances (most importantly CGRP, VIP and some others, because
they are clearly indicated in eccrine sweating) in HH patients versus controls. These are relatively simple studies and they might well yield some very usuable results for us HH sufferers. It's really frustrating this doesn't happen (yet) but then again I don't have to tell you about that...
 

dougy

Well-known member
I've noticed only 1 of my armpits sweating sometimes...

Very true, my right underarm is more over-active then my left. Before I started using Driclor, I could feel the sweat squeeze and drip out of my right underarm, pretty bad. Now I can't feel the dripping but I still get sweaty under there. Sometimes my left underarm is quite dry while my right underarm is not. It's better, but I'm just hoping I'm putting Driclor on wrong or something, also waiting to try Odaban.

Cold hands was a major problem too and I think friends, family, girlfriends noticed the coldness more than the sweating (as I did a pretty good job of hiding the sweating.) Atm, my hands are 100% dry and warm it's really amazing and everything is so different to touch.

I hope you can get on top of it soon. Couldn't say I noticed which hand was colder, but I would go with the right one as well seeing as my right underarm was more over-active.
 

bigchris

Well-known member
Very true, my right underarm is more over-active then my left. Before I started using Driclor, I could feel the sweat squeeze and drip out of my right underarm, pretty bad. Now I can't feel the dripping but I still get sweaty under there. Sometimes my left underarm is quite dry while my right underarm is not. It's better, but I'm just hoping I'm putting Driclor on wrong or something, also waiting to try Odaban.

Cold hands was a major problem too and I think friends, family, girlfriends noticed the coldness more than the sweating (as I did a pretty good job of hiding the sweating.) Atm, my hands are 100% dry and warm it's really amazing and everything is so different to touch.

I hope you can get on top of it soon. Couldn't say I noticed which hand was colder, but I would go with the right one as well seeing as my right underarm was more over-active.

May be coincidence but my right is the one that is the problem pit. I totally agree with feeling that trickle running down the side, now it's never like that.

What do you use for your hands btw?
 

Jezza

Well-known member
BigChris,

Nothing for my hands at the moment, although I'm planning on starting doing ionto again. I have a machine here but the last time I tried it didn't work for me. This time I'm going to try it once more with (more) shallow water.

What I'm really waiting for is to do ionto with a glyco solution. I have an appointment with a doc that might be able to get me some of that in about a month. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time to get appointments here most of the time.

All the other things (creams and stuff) I don't feel really work to the point of making an actual difference so I don't bother with them anymore.

I have a vague plan of trying some benzos some time, but I'm going to read up on it some more first, because before I'll go to all the trouble of seeing a doc and convincing him/her to prescribe me some I'll at least need some info that it might actually work. So far I haven't seen much studies or patient experiences on using a benzo for HH, only some general lines like 'if HH is set on by anxiety, a benzo or betablocker might ameliorate the symptoms'. I already tried the betablocker but that didn't do anything at all, but I'm thinking a benzo might be better suited. Because of the addictiveness however I'm sure it will be a real pain to get them prescribed here.
 

surfsider

Well-known member
my hands and feet can get cold two. my feet are cold and damp right now it's worse on my feet than hands. i don't know what to do about it? ??? anyone?
 

dougy

Well-known member
May be coincidence but my right is the one that is the problem pit. I totally agree with feeling that trickle running down the side, now it's never like that.

What do you use for your hands btw?

I use Driclor, I've got it down to once a week sometimes twice a week if I'm lazy and don't put it on properly. Got to admit so far so good. It's been a month so I just hope it doesn't lose its effectiveness over time..
 
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