Enough is enough, what's the point of living such a life?

[linuxiol]

Hi, let me introduce myself before i start with my life story or rather what is destroying my social life , destroyed my self confidence, made me leave 3 jobs and and induced agoraphobia.

English not being my native langauge, bear with the spelling/gramatical mistakes..

Well, to make a long story short: HH (PLANTAR) has made me a totally different person. Before it got seriious and before i started to realise it just wouldn't go away that easily, i was rather a self confident and definitely positive individual. I enjoyed going out, meeting people, in a word, socialising.. Then a few years ago i started to notice my shoes smelled quite bad when i removed them, i tried not to wear the same shoes everyday.. At the times, it did not occur to me the problem was my feet and that the sweating was not normal. I thought it was just the norm to have slightly moist socks after a day out.

Then, he got worse and worse. Although i ve always had a good hygiene, i started to question if taking a shower once a day was enuff, whether wearing the same pair of socks all day long was unhiegenic or not. It's not like the kind of thing you discuss with your friends: 'Hey mate, how many pair of sicks you've used today??'

So i started carrying an 'emergency kit' with me: Spare shoes, 2 spare pair of socks etc etc... then i washed my feet twice a day , then 3 times a day then every hour.. Try to explain to ur workmate why u always go to the toilet every hour with a big bag... But i felt i had to do that...

Then no matter how many times i washed my feet, how many times i changed my socks,,, the shoes would get smelly as basically, my feet would not stay dry more than 10 minutes even after i changed shoes and socks..

Then it became obvious this was not normal and that i had a serious problem on my hand ( or feet rather!) to deal with..

Then i started the hellish of journey of trying every single foot products, first at boots, super drugs then online.. I have spent up to £100 just in foot products (creams gel. special socks, special soles, acunpuncture , chinese herbs...)

Sometimes the products would make the smell WORSE and noticeable!! Odor eaters is tedious for HH, i guess it works for regular sweating but not HH. The smell of the product plus the the smell of the most socks was SWFUL. Of course i became VERY self conscious , and then i heard a few comments, never to my face, but people genuinely wondering where was the smell coming from... it went from embarassed to me being completely paranoid.. I would lock myself in every toilet i could find to smell my shoes and reasure me they were not smelliy, changed socks etc etc...

little after little i was more and more embarssment and was anticipating where i would sit on the bus/subway, mostly where it was not packed. Public transport became a nightmare as the air travel from the bottom up on a bus. I am not saying it was saying all the time, but becasue i felt my feet really wet, socks soaked, i assumed (and still do) every smell is mine.

I went to my Gp, took me a lot of effortt as it's an embarassing issue. I said my shoes were always smelly even though i ahve tried evrything on tye market.. That was before i even knew about hyperhydrosis, i didnt even knwo that thing had a name. Anyway my PG, totally useless, refered me to a psychologist. Ok, i know there is a condition, not sure how it's called that made people feel they smell even when they dont. Baiscally was like ; look you came twice and i cannot smell your hoes' No wonder... he was sitting behind his desk, he did not ask me to remove my shoes or even looked at my feet... Needless to say i ddi not go to the psychologist as i dont i dont imagine it, my feet are wet, socks moist ....

Now, for the last 4 months, i have managed to find some very helpful products, my feet doesn't sewat as much, the sole absorbs the sweat, and i wear socks made out of silver fibers... but this doesn't come cheap...

Now i have controlled the smell. seat itself doesn't smell, the bacetrias caused by moist feet created the smelled. By eliminating bacteria on the feet, the smell is not as bad. HOWEVER, i still have wet feet and i can feel it. So, psychologically i associate wet feet=smell.. so i am still totally paranoid when i get people really close to me. I still do the toilet check... still change my socks...


even though i am glad my shoes don't obvioulsy smell as before.. i would love to have TOTALLY dry feet and regain my confidence. Every time i see people take their shoes off in a public place, i envy them. They dont realise how lucky they are to take their shoes off without ANY smell, not even leather smell, dry socks without marks , or marks on the flor when they put their feet on the floor.

What is annoying is people automatically assume sweaty people= unhiegienic people. Beleive i wash my feet more than most people, spentd on footcare what most people don't even spend in a lifetime..

Please help me have dry feet, sometimes i do feel i d rather be dead than having to live with this curse and the psychological effets it induces.

 

[hyp-hi]

Hang in there. I know it is tough living with HH, but there are a lot of other people out there who have it. Be thankful that you just have it on the feet and not the hands. Its a lot easier to conceal on the feet.

I know moist socks might be uncomfortable, but as long as you are wearing shoes, no one else should know about it. I don't think they will smell anything. It might be you are just focusing on it too much. Try not to think about it. Most times when you are going out in public, you are wearing shoes right? I usually wear one pair of socks at work, and then change when I get home. That's what I would recommend.

 

[klamm76]

Hi Linuxiol.

I have palmar and plantar HH,and its the most stupid,shitty diseas I know of.Offcourse because that is what I got.

Sweating can destroy life.

I think you should try dehydral foot cream.

I have tried odaban,swaet-stop forte for my hands,but it has not helped much.

Now I use ionto and dehydral for my finger tips and it is working much better then all things i tried.

Have not tried it for my feet yet,but it is on the feet it is suppose to help,since it is called a footcream.

I have not smelly feet/hands but I do have swellingproblems,and I dont now what to do to get rid of that.

Its like when you get the sweating little under control,then there is new problems like swelling or sweat more other places.

Hope this can help you.

 

[binatoner]

Not so sure about this. HH is debilitating. I suffer from constant armpit, groin, hand and foot HH. But I would rank the foot HH as the least of my worries. My feet are always soaking within about 30 minutes of me putting my shoes on. But honestly, how often do you take off your shoes in public? You can plan for most things in advance...i.e. changing into a fresh pair immediatly before going through security at an airport, or entering a mosque or a Japanese house :wink: Its the sweat that other people can see that causes the social problems and depression.

 

[seekinghelp]

Hey.

First, hang in there.

Second, do try iontophoresis. I've bought a machine, and I have been able to stop my sweating in both hands and feet.

Third, all the psychological torture, social mishaps will go away when you get your HH under control. It's not the end of the world. My suggestion is to give iontophoresis a try.

Once you get your HH under control, all your social fears will drop off the face of the earth. I used to be super paranoid about shaking hands, and now I don't even give it a thought. Comments like, "Damn why are your hands so wet?" don't even apply to me anymore.

 

[bill-uk]

I don't suffer the plantar HH so can't add to the comments above. Just wanted to say that if english isn't your first language then you are pretty good at it and you should be confident in your ability to succeed in life. You have a talent to speak and write another language fluently and you should use this talent to your advantage. Concentrate on your positive abilities and let the negatives take a back seat.