Iontophoresis - Personal Log

[Soy Sauce]

I am starting this thread as a personal log for my iontophoresis treatments. It's more for myself, but I felt it might be of interest to others also, so I'm posting it up here. If you want any advice, or have any to share, feel free to post.

A little background: I suffer from pretty severe palmar/plantar HH. Since starting iontophoresis treaments back in 2008, I've developed very mild compensatory sweating in my armpits and groin/thigh region. It's very mild and causes me very little annoyance.

I discovered Avert (glycopyyrolate) around 2004 and used it almost daily until 2008, when I began iontophoresis treatments. I hated using Avert because of the side effects, but it was effective and definitely better than nothing.

I purchased a Drionic unit in 2008 and continue to use it to this day with success. I do however, plan on purchasing a more expensive unit within the next month or two, which will hopefully be even more effective and be easier to clean.


I will try to update this first post with any pertinent information that comes to mind later on. Right now, I'm short on time so just wanted to begin this log to begin with.

 

[Soy Sauce]

So it's been about 4-5 weeks since my last iontophoresis session and my hands have begun to sweat pretty profusely again. The level of sweating hasn't come back a full 100 percent, but it's close. I don't do maintenence sessions mainly because I'm lazy, but the effects of the treaments seem to last me at least 2-3 weeks before any sweating starts again and I usually wait another week until it gets annoying enough during day-to-day life before I begin treatments again. Basically, I'm lazy lol

So today I grabbed the Drionic unit out of the closet and I realized I forgot to clean it before putting it away. Eww. There was a little mold developing in the well. I must've been in a real hurry and put it away with a little water still in the well. I've cleaned it with soap n water and am about to begin my first treatment in 4 or 5 weeks.

I will continue to update this thread with my progress and any bits of inormation I discover through my treaments that might be of interest to others. Thanks.

 

[HH]

Probably best to get yourself a better machine and try and do one treatment every two weeks instead of waiting 4 weeks.

 

[Soy Sauce]

Probably best to get yourself a better machine and try and do one treatment every two weeks instead of waiting 4 weeks.

I've already stated that I plan on getting a more expensive machine soon.
Honestly, the Drionic unit has never failed me, which I'm surprised by, given that the construction of the machine doesn't seem all that robust or high quality, but it's always worked and always got my hands dry.

The cons of owning the Drionic for me are that it's a pain in the ass to clean and maintain. I try to clean it thoroughly, but gunk will build up in the corners and in the grate that seperates the platform and well. And because of the seperation between the well and the platform for the different polarities, I have that little 1 inch area across the middle of the palm that always sweats even if the rest of my hand has stopped sweating. It's kind of funny to see, but annoying. Also washing the pads and keeping the hard water build up from accumulating on the plates (I sand them down once in a while) is annoying. I don't even use the pads in the well portion of the device because I threw them out accidentily. Hasn't seemed to affect the effectiveness of the treatments.

If you are on a budget, I definitely think the Drionic is worth it. Apart from the disadvantages compared to more expensive models, it works, which is what matters in the end. But if you can afford a more expensive model with the bells n whistles, I'd suggest going that route.

Everyone seems to suggest the maintenance treatments, but I don't see any reason to change my routine. It usually only takes around 3 hours worth of treaments and then I'm virtually sweat-free for 3 weeks usually, sometimes 4. The sweating will gradually come back after that and when it's annoying enough, I'll start the treatments again. I'm happy with that routine, but whatever routine people are happy with is the one they should follow. I usually intend to start treatments at the first sign of sweating, but I usually put it off till the sweating starts interfering with normal, daily tasks.

-------------------------------------

Anyways, I managed to fit in a 40 min session today. I'll try to fit in another one tomorrow. I usually like to do 40 min sessions. 30 min sessions are the minimum for me. If I can't fit at least a 30 min session in, I usually won't bother and I'll do it the next day.

 

[Sprawling]

Thanks for sharing. If your treatment style works for you, wonderful. It just goes to show how treatment can be different from one person to the next. There is no right or wrong way. If it works... it works.

 

[Soy Sauce]

Managed to fit in a 40 min session today before leaving for work. It was actually broken up in 10, 20 and 10 min intervals because I had to get up to go do something important a couple times. I was only gone a few minutes between intervals anyways. Normally, I'll do the whole session without taking my hands out.

80 mins total so far.

The bottom of my palm, which is the part of the hand that rests on the raised platform section on the Drionic, is already sweat free. This always happens. I'm not sure why. I don't know if it's the polarity or the fact that there is more pressure on that part of the hand, since that is where I rest my hands, while the upper palm, fingers and thumbs kind of hang in the well portion of the Drionic. I don't bother switching polarities because I'm lazy lol and I know the rest of the hand will stop sweating too, it just takes a bit longer than the bottom of the palm.

 

[Soy Sauce]

So I did a 30 min session on the 3rd before leaving for work and then I missed 3 consecutive days do to a hectic schedule. Today, I've just finished getting in a 30 min. session.

I have found that when I am in a treatment period (which can last a few days to a week, depending on whether or not I miss days), my hands will be sweat-free for short periods, and then when it starts to sweat, it's full blown. As in, sweat dripping off my hands full blown. But just prior to starting my treatments again, my hands were sweating pretty much all the time, but only at about a 75-80% level.

Also, sometimes, it only takes a couple hours worth of sessions for the sweating to go away and sometimes it takes 4-6. Different factors such as the length of time that has passed since the sweating came back before starting treaments again, the length of each treament sessions, etc. may play a part in how many hours of total treatment I have before becoming sweat free again.

One other thing I notice is sometimes I`ll do 2-3 hours worth of sessions and then I`ll miss a few days and then I`ll notice I`m 100% sweat free all of a sudden. So even though I missed a few days, and my hands were stilll sweating during those few days, all of a sudden I`ll be sweat free the next day. Weird.

 

[Soy Sauce]

Did around a 30 min session on the 8th (2 days ago) and starting yesterday when I woke up, I've been sweat free!

So in total I did 2:20 (140 mins) of treament to get dry, doing 30-40 min sessions (both hands at the same time). Did not do my feet (I've never done iontophoresis on my feet before), but sweating decreases when my hands are dry anyway. Don't know why, but they do.

I hope to have a higher-end iontophoresis device before I have to start up treatments again. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them.