Glycopyrrolate and Calcium

hhslayer

Member
Hey guys,

I used to frequent this forum a fair bit during desperate times a few years ago when I felt that hyperhidrosis was ruining my life. Thought I should come back here and share what’s actually worked for me.

BACKSTORY(not that important; skip if you wish)
Dealt with palmar/plantar hyperhidrosis since early childhood, and also developed axillary along the way. Tried Drysol/Certain-Dri/various topical treatments but they only made a 5-10% difference. This forum made me interested in oral antiperspirants but my mom was firmly opposed to it (didn’t want me putting weird chemicals in my body; didn’t help that we would have to order it online). That is, until the beginning of grade 11, when I broke down a little and she saw the genuine anguish this condition had been causing me. So she finally relented and let me order it.

I don’t remember TOO clearly what it was like in the beginning. I think it worked for the most part, except for times of intense anxiety/feelings of self-consciousness. It was terrific, on the whole. Wasn’t perfect (occasionally on some days the absorption didn’t work at all) but the pills were a godsend!

Gradually, maybe a year later, it seemed like the glycopyrrolate was becoming less and less reliable. The absorption seemed a bit hit-or-miss, and if I thought about it too much, I could induce some serious sweating in myself. IB exams at the end of grade 12 were a major sogfest! Haha. But on the whole, the pills were much more effective than anything else I had tried.

About a year and a half ago I noticed that taking a calcium pill with glycopyrrolate at bedtime works wonders. Something about the calcium seems to really increase the absorption (despite the fact I’ve read several people say that calcium kills the absorption of their oral antiperspirants, though I assume most of those accounts aren’t referring to calcium in the form of supplement pills). I hope I’m not burning a hole in my stomach or something but it’s a very potent combo for stopping that sweat! I’m so glad I stumbled across this method.

ABOUT ME (so you have a context for the amount of glyco I take)
Gender: female
Age: 20
Ethnicity: Chinese
Height: 5’4
Weight: 105 lbs
Condition: severe palmar/plantar/axillary hyperhidrosis (maybe~ 8/10 on the ‘severity scale’ of all people with hh)

THINGS I’VE TRIED
Drysol, Certain-Dri, Maxim, Odaban, Hydrosal gel, possibly other topical antiperspirants I don’t remember. Only reduced sweating by about 5-10% on average.

WHAT WORKED OKAY
Setting an alarm 3ish hours before getting up (so around 4AM), just to swallow 2.5-3mg of glycopyrrolate on an empty stomach, then fall back asleep. ~One year after first taking glycopyrrolate, absorption was successful, by my rough estimate, ~60% of the days I took it. Other ~40% of the days the sweating was usually lessened, but still substantial.

WHAT WORKS REALLY WELL
Taking 1.5-2mg of glycopyrrolate (yes, less mg than before) with a calcium tablet (250 mg but I don’t think it really matters) before I go to bed, and sleeping 5-8 hours. I usually haven’t eaten for ~1 hour before I go to bed out of habit, but I can remember times I’ve gone to bed with some food in my stomach and the absorption doesn’t seem to be affected. After taking this combo for 1.5 years, there is still successful absorption ~95% of the days I take the pills. (I still get a rough day here and there ~5% of the time, usually just on days I have anxiety before a final exam or something similar). I only take it ~5 days a week, when I’m in school, because I don’t want to overload my body.

SUPPLIER
I’ve only ever tried the Avert pills through pharmacy.ca I live in a city in western Canada and I usually receive my supply 4-5 working days after ordering it. They seem to be a reputable company, as I’ve never had issues and they have a physical pharmacy location in Ontario.

SIDE EFFECTS
Usually none. Maybe slight dry mouth and dry eyes (sometimes towards the end of a long day my contact lenses don’t feel like sticking, but eyedrops usually fix that)

CLOSING REMARKS
I really hope this helps some of you out there. I know that when I first started taking glycopyrrolate, I wished that I had more information from other people’s in-depth glycopyrrolate experience to go off of. If anyone has any further questions, feel free to ask. I’m just so grateful I’ve found glycopyrrolate because I feel so free not sweating all the time! I never thought I’d find something that works as well as those pills do. Quality of life has improved immensely.

It's really been a godsend but at the same time I've read of people not having much success with glyco so I don't want to proclaim it as some end-all miracle drug for hyperhidrosis. It's definitely worth a try though (and with calcium :)). If anyone else decides to experiment with a similar method to what I've outlined above, I'd love to know the results.

TL;DR: Try taking both glycopyrrolate and a calcium tablet before you go to bed.
 
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0707129r

Well-known member
Hm, very interesting. I'll definitely give this a go. I have experimented in the past with supplements to increase efficacy and did find piracetam helped to a certain extent. I take this is straight up calcium with no other additives?
 

jay77

Well-known member
Hi, thanks for the info!

So, do you take it at night and it works all through out the next day? Also, have you gotten any other bad side effects from taking glyco. I haven't tried it with calcium, but when I take it alone, I feel very anxious and get a racing heart beat.
 

hhslayer

Member
I take this is straight up calcium with no other additives?

Yep, just your regular drugstore calcium tablet.
Actually, looking at this "Swiss Natural Sources" bottle right now, I realize it also says "with Vitamin D 200 I.U". I used to use the brand from Costco though so I feel it must be the calcium that actually makes a difference. I suppose I can't say for sure...

Hi, thanks for the info!

So, do you take it at night and it works all through out the next day? Also, have you gotten any other bad side effects from taking glyco. I haven't tried it with calcium, but when I take it alone, I feel very anxious and get a racing heart beat.

Yep, I take it at night usually around 1AM right before I head to bed. I don't know what it is about laying down for 5+ hours but that really works for me. Something about the slow digestion and slowly making its way through my system? I really have no idea. It works for me throughout my whole school day usually (so until 5 PM). Then I come home and shower and usually after that, I'm back to sweating but by that time I don't care since it's just family around.

It's sort of variable though....I've gone all day without sweating by just taking 1.5 mg and lasting until 9PM. To be safe though, on days I'm going to be out all day, I tend to take 2.5 or 3 mg the night before. Or I take an extra 1 mg randomly in the middle of the day. Overall though I find that taking glycopyrrolate during the day when I'm awake has REALLY spotty success.

As I said, as far as side effects, the only things I've experienced are mild dry eyes and dry mouth at random. On days I take higher doses like 2.5 or 3 mg I usually wear glasses instead of contact lenses just because it's more comfortable. I can't say if it's had any long-term effects on my memory/personality/anything like that, other than it's boosted my confidence and sense of wellbeing exponentially.
 
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0707129r

Well-known member
Hi, thanks for the info!

So, do you take it at night and it works all through out the next day? Also, have you gotten any other bad side effects from taking glyco. I haven't tried it with calcium, but when I take it alone, I feel very anxious and get a racing heart beat.

I don't see how the two could be related as glyco does not cross the BBB. Do yo u feel like you are overheating at the same time?
 

jay77

Well-known member
I don't see how the two could be related as glyco does not cross the BBB. Do yo u feel like you are overheating at the same time?

yeah, I don't understand why it happens either. Every single time I take glyco I wake up3-4 hours earlier than normal with a racing heart. Then I feel anxious the entire day. It doesn't feel like I am overheating and it also happened in the winter when I was cold.
 

sean_turner74

Well-known member
Awesome post, hhslayer! I'm glad to hear that this treatment is working for you. :)

And many thanks for sharing this. I think it's great that you included all those details, I think it's more helpful this way. To me, the more info shared, the better, because it gives us all tips we can use and try out for ourselves.

I'm currently taking 2mg of Avert around 1pm because I need it for when I go out to my evening classes at school for 6pm. I've had complete success so far this way, but haven't tried taking it at night before bed; I think if I had to go outside earlier in the day I would do this.

When I start working again and have to leave the house in the morning, I will try taking Avert at night before bed.

Meanwhile, adding calcium to your Avert dose sounds interesting. I think I will try that out.
 

Felicita

New member
Well, you guys are lucky that you can get them easily. Because, I haven't asked my doctor about that kind of medicines yet, but I guess it is pretty difficult to get them in Turkey. And yes, the weather feels like I'm in the hell. -.- they are my biggest hope. I've heard it for a week, and still keep looking for what I can get about them on the internet.

And I had a theory about people who live in the north countries sweat less than me. Now what? :| Or you haven't had any idea what kind of thing living in somewhere like Turkey is, yet. :/

ps. Yes, I am gonna go kill myself now.
 

0707129r

Well-known member
well I tried it last night. Took 2mg at around 10.30pm, with 400mg calcium. Perhaps a slight increase in effectiveness, however nothing drastic. Was maybe 40-50% dry, may need to increase the dose, or take later at night.
 

margiehope

Well-known member
yeah, I don't understand why it happens either. Every single time I take glyco I wake up3-4 hours earlier than normal with a racing heart. Then I feel anxious the entire day. It doesn't feel like I am overheating and it also happened in the winter when I was cold.

Hi Jay--I'm not sure the blood-brain barrier is the issue. I don't want to "diagnose", but I know when I first got Avert, I had to get an approval from my doctor. I have slightly high blood pressure, and (according to the pharmacy) glyco can make your heart race. My doctor was OK with it, and I've had no problems over many years. Something to check out, anyway.
 

hhslayer

Member
And many thanks for sharing this. I think it's great that you included all those details, I think it's more helpful this way. To me, the more info shared, the better, because it gives us all tips we can use and try out for ourselves.

I'm currently taking 2mg of Avert around 1pm because I need it for when I go out to my evening classes at school for 6pm. I've had complete success so far this way, but haven't tried taking it at night before bed; I think if I had to go outside earlier in the day I would do this.

You're very welcome! Hyperhidrosis certainly isn't the worst thing out there but I'm with all of you in knowing how truly awful it can be to suffer through. I definitely encourage more people to share the details of their glycopyrrolate experimentation/methods for successful absorption. As taking the pills in the middle of the day only works part of the time for myself, there's evidently a lot of trial and error involved in finding what works best on an individual basis.

Well, you guys are lucky that you can get them easily. Because, I haven't asked my doctor about that kind of medicines yet, but I guess it is pretty difficult to get them in Turkey.

And I had a theory about people who live in the north countries sweat less than me. Now what? :| Or you haven't had any idea what kind of thing living in somewhere like Turkey is, yet. :/

ps. Yes, I am gonna go kill myself now.

It may seem like a hassle to jump through all these hoops/deal with the stigma of other people judging your excessive sweat, but I really think you owe it to yourself to try your best at finding a solution that works for you. Do talk to your doctor about glycopyrrolate; you have so much to potentially gain from getting a hold of these pills. I would suggest printing off information about the drug to bring to your doctor, as it's very likely they're not aware of glycopyrrolate being used in this manner. Hope you're just kidding about the killing yourself part - totally not worth it to let hyperhidrosis ruin your life!

You know, it's really weird WHERE in the world I sweat. Within my city, somehow I always seem to sweat in my basement, and certain places like my last place of employment, even on glycopyrrolate. And whenever I travel, whether it be to the west coast of Canada, Hawaii, the Caribbean or Japan, I seem to sweat a normal amount. In San Diego I seemed to sweat more though.... but I wasn't there long enough to accurately judge.

I really don't think it has to do with differences in anxiety levels at any of those places, but I've failed to notice a pattern. Humidity??? Elevation??? Nothing really makes much sense. It's a personal phenomena that really, really puzzles me.

well I tried it last night. Took 2mg at around 10.30pm, with 400mg calcium. Perhaps a slight increase in effectiveness, however nothing drastic. Was maybe 40-50% dry, may need to increase the dose, or take later at night.

Keep trying different variations. I'd definitely suggest a higher glyco dose though, since I take 2mg frequently and erm well given the info about my small-ish stature, I assume you're probably bigger than me.
 
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