Emotionally Dealing with palmar Hyperhidrosis

[rolllingstone]

Hi,

I'll start with the question and then explain my situation. Has anybody found a way to emotionally accept and deal with HH of the hands? I can only find posts about ways of curing it or complaints about how it is ruining peoples lives. Some people will never be able to find a cure and it would be nice to have at least ONE resource about how live WITH the condition rather than fighting it (especially for those fighting a losing battle).

I am 22 and have had HH on my hands since I was young. Throughout my life, it has caused me, like I've heard from many of you, more anxiety, stress and depression than anything else I have ever had to deal with. Luckily, I found botox to cure it for a couple of years until the treatments stopped working. Then I found Iontophoresis to work and have been using it for the last 2 years but I am constantly afraid that this cure will come to an end for me someday as well and have recently noticed that it's becoming slightly less effective. If ionto stops working, I will be out of treatment options as I am not willing to take the risks of the surgery and have already tried every other less invasive treatment out there.

I let HH control my life in what my hobbies are, how often I am social, every aspect of dating, where I will work, the list goes on and on. Aside from that, even if I do push myself to be more social and outgoing and "true to myself" when I sweat, I simply cannot enjoy myself and usually cannot find a way to be happy like when I am dry. During the periods of life when I have been dry, I have lived a very happy life. I of course still experience anxiety from work and school but nothing close to what I experience from HH.

So I will state it again: has anyone found any coping methods that help them live WITH the condition and has actually developed the ability to not have any extreme anxiety associated with hyperhidrosis of the hands as well as live your life without restrictions because of hyperhidrosis of the hands?

I am looking for any advice here but one thing I am really looking for is the name of a therapist or psychologist who has experience dealing with patients who suffer from hyperhidrosis. I have been to therapists who all think they can help me (and they do help me in many ways) but none that have ever had another palmar hyperhidrosis patient and I feel that they do not really understand where I am coming from no matter how hard I try to explain it. I don't care where they are located as I have a parent who works for an airline so I can fly for free, and gladly would in order to relieve this cloud that has hung over me my entire life. Also, maybe skype sessions would be a good option.

Any advice, anecdotes, links to useful websites, therapists names, etc. would be greatly appreciated but please focus on mentally overcoming and living WITH palmar HH rather than physical treatments. I have spent an incredibly large fraction of my life looking for physical solutions and am fairly certain I have already dug up every possible cure from the common ones to the downright weird.

Thanks for reading,
Andy

 

[0707129r]

You're situation sound very similar to mine. I find that when I'm dry, I get an instant boost of confidence and contentedness, whereas the same situation when sweaty means I feel dirty, uncomfortable and anxious.

I have found that drugs that work on GABA receptors (benzodiazepines, alcohol, phenibut etc) do make you care less that you're sweating, along with general reduction in anxiety. I would give low dose phenibut a go (sensible use as it has tolerance, withdrawal implications). Other than that, I don't think any psychiatrist / therapist would have sufficient experience in similar cases to really understand, and would only be able to assist you from a generalized anxiety perspective.

 

[ukchick]

After living with this crappy thing for 25 years I decided to live my life doing things that I'm comfortable with and happy. I shy away from most social situations,sad but it makes me happy. I feel most contented in my own home and with only close family,that's how I deal with this situation.
I have been married for 20 years and have 2 gorgeous daughters. They see me as a fun and happy mum who is not outgoing and who never invites people over but thats how I get through. They do their thing and I support them in everything they do and do go to events/ things I know I need to but on the whole I'm content in my 'comfort zone' at home. I have accepted that this is how I will continue to live my life.
Good luck x

 

[aries86]

I try to cope as best as I can. It's hard and I have a lot of trouble still accepting it most days. I have found some peace in the fact that it is an actual disorder and I'm not the only one who has it. For years I never knew it was a disorder. I thought I was just weird. I will never forget the day that I decided to google "sweaty hands" and a plethera of information came up and I learned about HH. Since then I realize that I'm not just weird. It doesn't matter what happens, I'm going to sweat more than the average person until I find something that works for me. I've tried a couple of things and I've not had much luck. I'm confident however, that eventually there will be a good cure. This gives me hope and is somewhat of a coping tool. I also, literally treasure the few times a day when my hands or feet are not sweating. It makes me feel good about myself, that at least I get some breaks during the day even if they aren't much or as often as I would like for them to happen, or when I would like them to happen. The hardest part can be facing the world. Most people don't know what HH is. I hate that my sweating can come off as me being nervous, or uncomfortable. I'm actually a very calm, comfortable, easy going, fun person but my HH portrays something different and I hate it for that.

 

[Englishman]

It is hard to accept... I don't think I ever will. It makes me go insane sometimes knowing how **** my luck is to be in the 1% of the whole popluation that suffers... To me this is evidence that there is no religion or greater being, why should offers suffer their whole lives whilst another person can live freely?

 

[Sprawling]

Palmer HH affects me in social situations when ionto isn't working. I dread the hand shake thing, but it doesn't stop me. I've organized all kinds of social events even before the ionto. As much as I'm extroverted I'm even more introverted. I'm comfortable spending plenty of time alone. This was my coping mechanism since being a child. HH hit hard at age 6 that I can remember. School was torture. My hands were literally dripping all the time. I ended up being self employed in order to deal with the hand sweating. Life went on despite all. Got married, had a child, got divorced, made new friends, dated etc.

I just ordered some phenibut via amazon. I didn't order specifically for HH use but it will be interesting on how it effects HH.

Sorry rolllingstone, there is NO cure for what we have. Only temporary solutions at best. Your fear of ionto stop working is warranted. Ionto work great for me for years then magically stopped. In my case Fibromyalgia is the culprit as to why ionto stops and then suddenly works again. It's a crap shoot as to when it will work or not.

Just do your best to live your life. We all have different coping mechanisms. The long term magical cure does not exsist. Yes, people might have short term success for several years with ets, then it without warning it turns into full body sweating. Just keep doing the ionto.

 

[hyp-hi]

It is hard to accept... I don't think I ever will. It makes me go insane sometimes knowing how **** my luck is to be in the 1% of the whole popluation that suffers... To me this is evidence that there is no religion or greater being, why should offers suffer their whole lives whilst another person can live freely?

You have to remember that HH is just one condition and there are thousands of other conditions out there that other people have to live with that you don't. Some may be worse. Just something to keep in perspective. Everyone has problems in one way or another.

 

[Sprawling]

And we all view our unique problems as "the worst". That's ok. Our individual problems are the worst... for us.

 

[0707129r]

Palmer HH affects me in social situations when ionto isn't working. I dread the hand shake thing, but it doesn't stop me. I've organized all kinds of social events even before the ionto. As much as I'm extroverted I'm even more introverted. I'm comfortable spending plenty of time alone. This was my coping mechanism since being a child. HH hit hard at age 6 that I can remember. School was torture. My hands were literally dripping all the time. I ended up being self employed in order to deal with the hand sweating. Life went on despite all. Got married, had a child, got divorced, made new friends, dated etc.

I just ordered some phenibut via amazon. I didn't order specifically for HH use but it will be interesting on how it effects HH.

Sorry rolllingstone, there is NO cure for what we have. Only temporary solutions at best. Your fear of ionto stop working is warranted. Ionto work great for me for years then magically stopped. In my case Fibromyalgia is the culprit as to why ionto stops and then suddenly works again. It's a crap shoot as to when it will work or not.

Just do your best to live your life. We all have different coping mechanisms. The long term magical cure does not exsist. Yes, people might have short term success for several years with ets, then it without warning it turns into full body sweating. Just keep doing the ionto.

Be careful about using phenibut, start slow not more than 500mg a day on an empty stomach. Also do not use more than 3 days running without a washout period of at least 3 days to prevent tolerance building. It's like being drunk without the mental/physical impairment, in fact I find it increase mental clarity and verbal fluency. Good luck

 

[Sprawling]

Be careful about using phenibut, start slow not more than 500mg a day on an empty stomach. Also do not use more than 3 days running without a washout period of at least 3 days to prevent tolerance building. It's like being drunk without the mental/physical impairment, in fact I find it increase mental clarity and verbal fluency. Good luck

3 days maximum at a time is sound advice. Thanx