Hand sweat. What helps you? Here's what I've noticed.

[ahazaq2]

Hey guys. I have a hand sweating problem, and it's really annoying.

Here's what I've tried:
-iontophoresis: I tried this, and it didn't really work for me. And even if it did, I'm going to college in about 2 weeks, so it's obviously not really...going to work.

-using certain dri/mitchums on my hands: I put mitchums on my hands for 20 minutes during the day, and use certain-dri at night. It does help, but not enough.


What I mean by that, is that when I feel no anxiety at all, it's fine (just as usual). When there are slight level of anxiety, where I would regularly have sweaty hands, the sweat takes a few minutes to come. You can FEEL your hands tingling and FEEL the sweat trying to push through the glands to get to the surface. So deodorant hasn't really worked for me either.

I really really wish I could go for ETS, but the side effects seem so bad...and I already use certain-dri for my armpits to control sweating there, and I'm a pretty heavy sweater already, so I'm pretty sure that the compensatory sweating would be pretty bad too....Hm.

Does anybody have any suggestions? I saw the sticky on things to try, but recommendations are always nice.

I'm trying to kind of use mental techniques to stop my hand sweating. I noticed that during social situations I tend to FOCUS on my hands to see if they're sweating, and that this makes them sweat even more. Have you guys ever had the occurrence where you are socializing, and you SUDDENLY NOTICE that your hands AREN'T sweaty, and then they become sweaty JUST because you noticed?

Yeah. So if I can make it a habit to STOP focusing on my hands, I think it could help. I'll try this.

 

[HH]

I would say give iontophorsis another try. What was your rountine for treatments and the machine you was using?

Iontop has worked for me-maybe you just need to give it time (it took me about 3 months before I got the results I wanted). Before using iontop for my hands I was using odaban which worked to a certain extent and I wasn't very comfortable with the idea of all those chemicals going into my body (iontop is a much better way of treating the condition-its only water).

Maybe a combination of odaban and iontop will work. Good luck with it all

 

[ahazaq2]

I would say give iontophorsis another try. What was your rountine for treatments and the machine you was using?

I made the machine from a video shannonbowling had posted on youtube.
I did it for 20 minutes everyday, and I got SOME results, but not the results
I wanted. And I'm perfectly up and willing to give it another try, but as I'm
living in a cramped dormroom with a roommate starting in two weeks, it's
really not something that's gonna be practical =/.

Maybe a combination of odaban and iontop will work. Good luck with it all

Thanks man. It's really annoying, how ETS COULD be this perfect solution, but
that it comes with all of these side effects.

I'll keep applying certain-dri, and I'll try meditating stuff. To give an analogy,
you know how "normal" people talk about how their palms start sweating
when they're under like large, significant stresses? My hands start sweating
under the slightest slightest social stress/any stress at all. But when I'm just
hanging out with close family and friends, my hands don't sweat at all. Like I just met one of my uncles for about an hour in my house, and my hands weren't sweating at all. So hopefully it's just anxiety and not a real condition I have, and I can meditate it away. Hopefully. But I definitely am a heavier-than-usual sweater.

 

[SweatSweatGoAway]

I made the machine from a video shannonbowling had posted on youtube.
I did it for 20 minutes everyday, and I got SOME results, but not the results
I wanted. And I'm perfectly up and willing to give it another try, but as I'm
living in a cramped dormroom with a roommate starting in two weeks, it's
really not something that's gonna be practical =/.



Thanks man. It's really annoying, how ETS COULD be this perfect solution, but
that it comes with all of these side effects.

I'll keep applying certain-dri, and I'll try meditating stuff. To give an analogy,
you know how "normal" people talk about how their palms start sweating
when they're under like large, significant stresses? My hands start sweating
under the slightest slightest social stress/any stress at all. But when I'm just
hanging out with close family and friends, my hands don't sweat at all. Like I just met one of my uncles for about an hour in my house, and my hands weren't sweating at all. So hopefully it's just anxiety and not a real condition I have, and I can meditate it away. Hopefully. But I definitely am a heavier-than-usual sweater.

I also have palmar hyperhidrosis and this condition has always been depressing for me. I wouldn't be fully against ETS because most of the complaints on various forums are from people who've had the surgery a long time ago (before 2001) when correct techniques weren't developed. Also, most of the people that are the complainers had it solely for facial blushing. ETS for facial blushing is very bad, as the surgeons cut/clamp the T2 nerve which is also responsible for heat regulation processes (that's why you see people complaining of a decreased heartrate). Also, there's an unofficial consensus that facial blushing is not as bad as hand sweating (so the blushers don't know what they're getting into). Thankfully hand sweating is caused by the T3 and T4 nerves which are what most/all good surgeons operate on now. This is supported by an experiment over a long time done by a couple ETS surgeons called the Lin-Telaranta classification (http://www.privatix.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Lin-TelarantaClassification2001.pdf). As for the compensatory sweating, as stated in the experiment report the higher the 'T' the less compensatory sweating you get (T4-operated patients reported very little to even no comp. sweating). I personally haven't had ETS because I'm 17 and living with my parents and am currently trying to convince them that the surgery isn't that bad, and I'm a good candidate for it.

Also as a sidenote, iontophoresis didn't work for me either, and I built the homemade machine. For me, it just had the same result as the topical antiperspirants, where the middle of my hand would be pretty dry but everything else would be left untreated. Right now to suffice I'm using a cream called Dehydral which contains an ingredient called methanamine. It works better than the norm but still is difficult dealing with everyday professionally and socially... I feel the same tingling as you wrote, I feel the sweat pores opening up, etc. It is an extremely frustrating thing to deal with, and especially when your knowing it's going to happen everyday...

Any questions feel free to ask I'm in the same boat as you (and off to college soon as well).

Oh and also I've tried every little mind trick for palmar hyperhidrosis that one could think of... and it might seem like it really is helping but in the end you always go back to the frustration of sweating hands. My parents at first thought it was psychological, despite me telling them otherwise, and sent me to a psychologist who also happened to be a hypnotherepist... it's all bull****. Don't fall into the little "think traps" that you may develop. The way nature intended you to think is how you're comfortable thinking, and it's the physical hyperhidrosis that's hindering that state of mind.

 

[ahazaq2]

I would really say that every single bit of my social anxiety (but I don't have it cripplingly bad or anything. But it's really annoying, and the thought of doing hand shakes with people has prevented me from socializing a LOT more than I would have.)

I had no social anxiety during middle school, when I didn't sweat much at all. Then in high school I started sweating, and that's when my social issues started for sure.

 

[g35]

try and dish out to buy a proper ionto machine, I'm usng Idromed 5 and it's working perfectly. Before I bought it, I used shanonbowling's ghetto ass homemade sloppy machine, and it didn't work. It might have reduced a LITTLE bit, but definitely not enough, I was still sweating a lot. My setup was exactly the same as the video's so I know i didn't do it wrong. It has a lot to do with the amperage, which the batteries did not provide enough. So just buy the proper machine and keep doing it for 2 weeks- 1 month.

 

[hyp-hi]

I think the metal part does have a lot to do with it. I have also been in situations where I noticed I wasn't sweating and then just because I thought about it, the sweating started up.

I also think environment and temperature contribute to the HH. I went on a short trip to a cooler climate and didn't sweat at all the whole time. As soon as I got back to my usual warmer climate and environment, it started up again.

 

[SweatParty]

I've been taking glycopyrrolate (brand name Avert or Robinul) for 3.5 months with great overall success. I take 2-3mg/day. It is not a 100% cure, but the results are extremely good, with some minor side effects (dry mouth, dry eyes, somewhat hoarse voice if you don't drink enough water).

I'm trying to get the Idromed 5 pulsed current ionto machine but still working with my insurance company to cover it.