Depression caused by HH

damsco

New member
Hi all,

My name is 'damsco'. I'm 31 years old from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Since my early twenties I have been suffering from HH in mostly the facial area. I won't go into details as to what kind of awkward situations this causes. We all know that by now.

As some of you might recognize, suffering from HH has caused me to become isolated and introvert. I'm turning 32 soon and I have been asking myself what is to become with my life while suffering from HH.
It has had such a big impact on forming me the last years and at this point I'm not happy with the man I have become. It has come to a point that I really don't see a 'normal' or happy future for myself. I'm losing interest in anything and everything in my life. I've slipped into a depression.

There are a number of things that contribute to that state of mind, however HH and all the indirect issues that come with it are the biggest contributors.

The perspective that this is an issue that we will probably be dealing with for the rest of our lives is really making me sad. When I close my eyes, all I see are those moments of great shame that have been and will be.

I'm using glyco tablets, but they aren't as effective as I had hoped. Other forms of medication have been ineffective as well.

As I'm getting older I feel like i've reached the max of what I can reach living with HH.
I have a pretty good job so that's OK, but the biggest problem is the social aspect of my life.
HH has made me so insecure that I'm having serious doubts about if I'll be able to find a girl I can build a life with. I haven't had a steady relationship since highschool (I didn't suffer from HH back then).

Obviously I'm pretty messed up. Started out as a physical problem, but the mental impact is starting to show. There's not really anyone I can talk with about this, so I'm just gonna post here. Likely you may recognize yourself in this story (or not). I am curious as to how people deal with namely the mental impact of HH.

In any case thanks for reading!
 

Sprawling

Well-known member
You might need to talk with a counselor to help work through some of these issues. I've had bad planter/palmer since being a child. I'm in my 50's now. Yes, it has impacted my life in many ways. Despite all I've had girlfriends, been married and so forth. In my 40's I decided to tell family and friends about my HH. It's amazing how supportive people can be. Now I can openly talk about with whomever. It's kind of sets you free being open to talk about it.

In my case other health related has far surpassed the HH problem. Ionto greatly reduces my hand sweating, yet sometimes it doesn't. Take baby steps and start telling your friends and family about it. I find most people find it quite interesting.
 

TravisHD90

Active member
how are you taking the glyco pills? what is your schedule? those things are very sensitive to food and requires perfect timing. I gave up breakfast a long time ago because you cannot eat until 2 hours later. including alot of liquid.

I take 4mg in the morning (around 8) and eat lunch at 12. this makes the side effects very bad but i have adapted to them. This is the only way it will work for me though.
 

JustG

Well-known member
Like Sprawling said it may be good to talk with someone. A consultant at my local hospital recommended I talked to a psychologist. I was totally against this, its just not what we do in the uk.

I bit the bullet and have been doing Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. I think I'll never truly buy into this as I don't like disclosing things to people. With conditions like HH you build up your defences.

My mood seems improved, although this could also be because I told myself "enough is enough", and I was in danger of letting life pass me by. I've already done that for 20+yrs.

I exercise which helps to keep my mood on a level. I think exercise can play a huge part.
I also no longer drink ( doctors orders ) and stay away from other things I have dabbled in, in the past. This helps my mood.
I use Lyrinel XL 20mg and surprisingly having some success ( but some strong side effects at times ).
I also use an Idromed 5 GS which helps on top of the medicine.

I have four conditions, none that will kill you but they do grind you down and some such as HH are akward & embarrassing. I just try to be more composed and have a clearer mind and more upbeat attitude.

Thankfully, you have a job, which gives you purpose. I don't and it provides too much time to think but I just tell myself things will change.

Again as Sprawling said, try and take the first step and hopefully good things will happen from there. Good luck
 

damsco

New member
Hey guys,

Thanks for your replies.
I am taking glyco, and it works. At least, I can noticably tell its having effect. However as Travis pointed out, it's kind of an inconsistent measure as the amount of effect heavily depends on your eating habits. Regardless of that I am taking them daily and they do help, but not to a point that I feel comfortable leaving my baseball cap at home.

I have searched for some counseling. However, the official (public) psychologists, the ones my insurance covers, will not help me as I have a problem with smoking marihuana. Therefor they feel they cannot treat me as I need to rid myself of that addiction first.
The funny thing is though, I got the impression that their treatment was gonna consist of giving my anti depression drugs. The reason they want me to stop marihuana is because it would interfere with that treatment. It's kind of ironic. I would have refused that kind of treatment anyway, as for my work I need my concentration (I'm a software developer).
On top of that, the waiting list is very long and like JustG said, I'm not 100% comfortable opening up to 'strangers'.

This HH is so intrusive. I can only live day by day. I've completely stopped planning ahead. I really don't know what to do anymore...
 

tiago1995

Active member
This HH is so intrusive. I can only live day by day. I've completely stopped planning ahead. I really don't know what to do anymore...

This describes me so very well at this point. Right now I can only think of trying botox injections or ETS for my sweatiness. Just can't think of any other options for me.
 

taco

Member
Hey, I am pretty much in the same boat as you...

I have a good job, made it through college, though not sure what the future holds. I know things won't ever change, so just living day by day.

I think the worst of it is the facial sweating. It's the one thing you cannot hide easily. I started doing botox last year. In the armpits and forehead. It never seems to work for my forehead, but in the armpits it does wonders.

Spending about 1200 every 6-8 months though. That should drop since I won't get it in my forehead anymore since it doesn't work.

I did find that putting milk of magnesia on your forehead does work. I put it on, let it dry, then use a moist cloth/toilet paper to gently rub away the dry stuff.


That, oxybutynin, and the botox are the only things I found to work.


This HH is just something that people will never understand until they have to live with it.
 
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backfish

Member
I' ve had extremely excessive Palmar HH since I can remember .I recognize your description of the social and psychological problems that change the life of the HH sufferer. What changed my life was discovering the iontophoresis therapy .Check it out , there is lots of information on the web about this .it works in 98% of the patients ,so you have a good chance of having success with it. I got dry using an Idromed 5 PC iontophoresis machine and it keeps me dry . try it out ,it is much better than taking pills , cheaper than Botox and not as risky as surgery. wish you luck!
 

driping jon

Well-known member
hi .i am now 59 it does not go away.just be strong learn to be on your own i have.i am happy in my own world
 

Sprawling

Well-known member
I'm just a couple of years younger than driping jon. HH doesn't go away. At best it can be controlled. The above poster above this one is basically out to push Idromed 5 pc which although I'm sure is a very effective machine, there is no reason to purchase one. It's obvious he's on the boards to push this, so beware. There are many cheaper alternative to help with HH.
 

Maciek

Member
You might need to talk with a counselor to help work through some of these issues. I've had bad planter/palmer since being a child. I'm in my 50's now. Yes, it has impacted my life in many ways. Despite all I've had girlfriends, been married and so forth. In my 40's I decided to tell family and friends about my HH. It's amazing how supportive people can be. Now I can openly talk about with whomever. It's kind of sets you free being open to talk about it.

In my case other health related has far surpassed the HH problem. Ionto greatly reduces my hand sweating, yet sometimes it doesn't. Take baby steps and start telling your friends and family about it. I find most people find it quite interesting.

I dont want to be rude but can you tell me why you tell your family and friends that you have HH? They were blind or mby your HH is just a joke and it is invisible? Cuz when i am sweating everyone knows that is am sweating so it is hard for me to understand what you have on mind. Anyway i wish i would have so supportive family. My is just like - people got bigger problems then yours and they live normal life, you can deal with it but you are too weak or too lazy :)
Advices for taking glyco - try to open the pill and snore the powder by nose. For me it is only way to give me sweat reduction, and i dont need to care about food.
 
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Sprawling

Well-known member
I dont want to be rude but can you tell me why you tell your family and friends that you have HH? They were blind or mby your HH is just a joke and it is invisible? Cuz when i am sweating everyone knows that is am sweating so it is hard for me to understand what you have on mind. Anyway i wish i would have so supportive family. My is just like - people got bigger problems then yours and they live normal life, you can deal with it but you are too weak or too lazy :)
Advices for taking glyco - try to open the pill and snore the powder by nose. For me it is only way to give me sweat reduction, and i dont need to care about food.

I told my family and friends about my sweaty hands because I was tired of hiding the fact that this was a problem. By me telling others about this issue made it easier for me to cope with the sweaty hands. If a stranger wants to shake my hand and if for some reason my hands are sweaty I can easily tell them that I can't shake your hand because my hands are sweaty.

I also have full body sweating during the hot months and I can deal with that without a problem.

Sometimes it's just nice not to hide the the fact that we have HH and talking about with someone can help ease the mental pain,
 

Maciek

Member
I told my family and friends about my sweaty hands because I was tired of hiding the fact that this was a problem. By me telling others about this issue made it easier for me to cope with the sweaty hands. If a stranger wants to shake my hand and if for some reason my hands are sweaty I can easily tell them that I can't shake your hand because my hands are sweaty.

I also have full body sweating during the hot months and I can deal with that without a problem.

Sometimes it's just nice not to hide the the fact that we have HH and talking about with someone can help ease the mental pain,

So lets clear this situation - when you are going outdoor and when sweat is dripping from your head, back and torso so everyone are staring at you it is no problem? When you are totaly soak you can do everything? Speak with people go to social events and you will feel fine? When i am telling someone that i have HH it isnt helping me - i am still sweating and i am still feeling terrible.
 
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Sprawling

Well-known member
Maybe it's a cultural thing with you to sound as if you are attacking? Let's try to be less judgemental.
Basically I have hand and feet sweating.
I do not have facial sweating unless I'm doing something strenuous outside and that would accompany full body sweating which was way worse in my youth (upper 50's now).
For the most part ionto treatments work on my hands..... most times.
Arm pits sweat only in extreme situations.
Before ionto treatments my hands would be at the point of dripping.
So yes, now I'm able to cope. Talking about it with others helps ME.
I gather you, Maciek are young, maybe 20's and "still are wet behind the ears" as the saying goes.
 

Maciek

Member
So we got to the point that talking about your hands and feet HH is helping for YOU.
In your opinion i am fresh cuz i am young? What my yearbook have to do with it? I have better experience than you mate even if you are upper 50 now cuz i have facial HH and full body HH. When sweat is dripping from my face i am feeling so tragic that conversation with someone wont help me and it would be last thing i would like to do. Of course i could be masochist aswell.
 

Sprawling

Well-known member
Maiek, I'm sorry that you suffer horribly with HH and not much seems too be working. When I was younger in High School I did experience full body HH at times.

You are correct; talking about HH with someone won't make it go away. For me, talking about helped with the mental aspect of it. I felt I didn't have to hide what I have from anyone. For you, HH is always visible. I'm sure it's very difficult for you to deal with. Sometimes it about educating others who cross your path. It's amazing how understanding people can be. No, it doesn't make your HH disappear. Telling others that you have HH do to an over active, instead of them thinking you are just nervous etc. They will see you in a different way, maybe even get to know you better. This why age is a factor. It took me many years before I was able to educate others about HH.

The unfortunate part is nothing works for you. On the bright side, if there is a bright side we have had some people, or many people with the same degree of HH that you have. Some were married, had children etc. Try not to give up.... There are lots of women who really don't care about the sweating. I have met them, dated them long term. You can only do the best you can do and educating them about your HH maybe will help you cope mentally. Physically we know you will keep sweating until some miracle cure comes our way.
 

Maciek

Member
Avert is working for me pretty good but i must open te tablet and pull the powder by nose. I already send question to pharmacy.ca folks what the think about this method. I am waiting for answer at the moment.
Well i know that there could be girl who wont care about my HH but still this is mainly my problem, and i just cant behave like a normal people. HH ruin me so badly physically and mentaly that i am just different. As stronger i tried my fail was bigger.
I just hope that i will find girl also with some health problems so we could understand each other.
 

almoore86

New member
I too have hyperhidrosis and have struggled with depression over the years. It's been a long road to trying to be happy in life knowing I have to deal with this on a daily basis. I've tried basically every product on the market and have seen positive results few and far between.

But a couple years ago I decided to start seeing a therapist for these issues. I highly recommend it! It could really help you, like it helped me, develop positive coping mechanisms and ways to mentally deal with everything.

For products, I mostly experience the worst sweating in my armpits. Took me awhile to realize antiperspirant is much better than deodorant for these problems but I've finally settled with one product CertainDri. Sometimes my sweating is worse than others so I actually own all 3 strength options that they sell so I can use them according to how bad it is that day. The website also has some good informative stuff that helped me just understand the facts. Check it out and I hope it helps! https://www.certaindri.com/

But overall I'd say seeing a therapist would be the biggest help in developing a better mindset about it all. Don't let it get you down!
 

86theHH

Well-known member
Hi Damsco,

Your feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness are felt by many people who visit this website, including me. Hang in there. Find ways to cope with this and forget about the people who don't understand it. As difficult as it may be to realize this condition doesn't define who you are and what you are capable of, it is very important to know that you can find people caring enough to be there with you through this condition. Keep believing there are people in this world who care enough about you regardless of conditions and struggles. It's up to you to seek out those people because you and everyone else need those types in our lives.

Definitely keep searching for ways to bring your HH under control. You never know what technologies will spring up to help you out.

I've hit deep depressions from HH that seriously made me believe that I could not go on another day. The horrible feelings I've experienced caused me to write down all the things I've thought about and have faced. It's painful when I see what I have written, especially when I write about giving up. When I see that, I think, "This is truly not what I want for myself. I work hard. I give my time to make things right and I'm smart enough to know how to make the right decisions.
There has to be some way to make things better or at least some way of coping with these struggles in my life. What can I do to make it through another day?"

There are times in life when the answers are not there. I do realize though, that it is up to me to either answer them, or work with people who can help to answer them. This is what life is about. You need to work through the struggles and seek out the answers. Progress doesn't always come easy so you'll need to find people to help you in your search. Having the company of caring people in your pursuits WILL help you feel better. Those people can be friends, family, professionals in psychology, or people on the internet. You should make the decisions on who will be in your life to help you. Keep the people out of your life who will not help you or make you feel less than what you are.
 
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