Hello! (newbie)

[beckiboo]

Hi all! im new to this forum so I thought an introduction would be in order,
my name is Becki, im 22 and have been suffering from Hyperhidrosis from around the age of 11.
I mostly suffer in my hands and feet (sometimes in the armpits but this isnt half as bad as the other areas) towards my late teens, early twenties it has been worsening and now causes me bad social issues. I mustered the courage to first visit my doctor about a year ago, after being 'fobbed off' a couple of times (he didnt seem to know alot about HH and the devastating effect it has on your life at all which was dishartening) I decided to really put my foot down and he arranged for me to see a specialist who then started me on Iontophoresis treatments at my local hospital, im now on my 5th session and have two more to complete my month's course...im sad to say it hasnt really done anything so far, I still sweat alot especially in social situations and other annoying circumstances such as paying for items at a till or driving (dangerous!) but, ive recently discovered you can add a drug called glycopyrronium bromide to the water when doing iontophoresis and this generally helps so when I go to my next session I will be mentioning this to my nurse and see what she says...if all goes well ill save up and get a machine for home use and persist with it till I have this under controll.

I really feel having HH has had such a negative effect on my life, im stuck in a crappy job as im too afraid to go to job interviews or go back to college to study something I would enjoy doing, also socially I tend not to go out as much as id like because it just gets too much and I really get upset if I get introduced to someone and I have to shake their hand-its awful!!! relationship wize, im pretty lucky, I got with my partner when my HH wasnt so bad as it is now, I was 17 and it really wasnt as much of an issue, and he is really supportive and understanding about it. My family are also supportive, there doesnt seem to be anyone else in my family who suffers from HH, this baffles me as I thought it ran in families!!

wow, my introduction turned into a vent, I guess im just glad to find a place where there are other people like me! ive never met anyone else with HH of the hands and feet like me, one of my friends has HH in her armpits, but this seems easier to hide and doesnt effect her socially as much as me,

it would be SO nice to chat with other HH sufferers- thats why im here! hope to gain some more knowlege about this condition and hopefully make some friends in the process too!!

thanks for taking time to read my essay! Becki

 

[hydroman123]

Welcome beckiboo,
Dont be disheartened about not seeing results with the iontophoresis. I followed the schedule given with the Idrostar (I assume you use the same machine at your hospital) and saw next to no improvement after the sixth treatment. So, I started doing treatments every other day and saw a good response after about four treatments. Its different for each person and requires quite alot of experimentation, which is difficult to do if you dont have your own machine. Long story short- iontophoresis WILL work, just stick to it.

 

[beckiboo]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

I think I may have posted in one of your topics on an msn board, under the name stratomaster2.

I have hand and foot hyperhidrosis too, except i've had it all my life. I just turned 20 now. I've been using iontophoresis for 2 and a half years and it does have its ups and downs, but it should do something for you. I don't think I had seen any effect after 5 treatments at the hospital, I honestly can't remember it was so long ago. The improvement might come along all of a sudden.

Have you ever had your thyroid checked? I was wondering because you say it came along later on.

Hopefully you'll find some useful information here. All the members are pretty clued up lol, more so than the doctors it seems.

hey! yes I definately reconise the name stratomaster4! good to see you on here too! and thanks so much for the reply, it feels so good to talk to other HH sufferers if you know what I mean!
so you started off at the hospital with your treatments also? then bought a machine, if you dont mind me asking, what machine do you use? I would like to get as much info on the right one to buy before I make my choice..its alot of money for me!

I had a blood test when I went to my doctor the second time and all was clear with the thyroid gland- so as far as im aware thats all ok, I wish it was something as simple as that!

I had my 6th treatment today by the way..and Im happy to see a small improvement in the palms of my hands, especially on the left side...(wish it was the right!!) my fingers are pretty much the same as usual but the bit where my wrist joins the hand is the driest its been in SO long!
I spoke to the nurse about the glycopyrronium bromide and she said next week on my final session she will go over everything then...

so, how has using iontophoresis changed your HH? how would you recommend using it? I read somewhere that if you ice your hands before using it it works better...have you heard of this? would you say you are a heavy/moderate/light sweater? im pretty heavy, would you ever think about ETS or other alternatives or is iontophoresis good enough alone to controll it for you?

sorry for all the questions btw!!

thanks again for the response! becki xx

 

[beckiboo]

Welcome beckiboo,
Dont be disheartened about not seeing results with the iontophoresis. I followed the schedule given with the Idrostar (I assume you use the same machine at your hospital) and saw next to no improvement after the sixth treatment. So, I started doing treatments every other day and saw a good response after about four treatments. Its different for each person and requires quite alot of experimentation, which is difficult to do if you dont have your own machine. Long story short- iontophoresis WILL work, just stick to it.

thanks for the reply hydroman123! yes its the Idrostar im using at the hospital, I cant wait to get my own machine so I can experiment more, although I doubt I will be able to afford that machine myself, I had a look at prices today while I was with the nurse and the cheapest one is £290ish..(I cant remember the name of it tho)
when you say you had a good response from doing it every other day do you mean you had a complete ceaseation of sweating?
I had my 6th treatment today and the palms of my hands are almost completely dry..the fingers are the same tho..I feel this is because they do not fill the trays with enough water personally,
thankyou for the advice, im determined to stick to it as im a bit cautious about surgery so hopefully the future is looking brighter now..today I was in such a good mood even from this slight improvement!

just a quick question, do you use water or glycopyrronium bromide added to the water?

thanks again, becki xx

 

[Theo55]

Hi ! I guess you live in England as well. I have the same problem as well, I sweat mostly on my hand and feet. I been trying a product call Perspirex on my hand and it seem to reduce the sweating by around 80% and work better with my left hand as well (i dont know why).

I had a Idrostar machine but it doesnt seem to work for me , i take too much time. I heard that you can add Glycoprroniate to the water and it suppose to work better .

If you look thru the forum , you prob found something called Secure Wipes and Glyco Cream which worked for a few peoples . (Ask Pinker ! ) . There are something called Avert tablets but it have a few side effects , so I am not prepare to take something which can affect my whole body. As for ETS , never thought about it cus of CS and my GP didnt recommand it .

Anyway , Best of luck

Theo
x

 

[hydroman123]

Hey Becky,
I ve only used iontophoresis for the last month or so, but so far I am very happy with the results. Unfortunately its a bit hard to get the fingertips dry (you ll find out soon enough) but the rest of my hands are >90% dry and remain so even in the most stressful situations. Its different for each person- maybe you ll get bone dry hands with once a month maintenance treatments; you never know.
The Idrostar manual recommends putting 400ml water in to each tray. I found this grossly inadequate and now put in twice as much. There is a lot of rubbish in their manual( eg. cessation of sweating in 4 treatments; the stupid protocol) so be wary.
As for using anticholinergics, I think you should try to get tap water alone to work for you. Why use drugs if you have an alternative? Check out hyper-hydros and Pinkers posts- they mention ways of optimising your tap water to get the best results. Keep us updated on your progress. Good luck.

 

[cadmonkey]

Hi Becky,

I cannot comment on the iontophoresis, but ETS is a different story!

I had ETS for palmer HH back in 1996 when i was 18. There did not seem to be as many options around then as there are now, well none which were offered to me anyway.

If ever you want to know the TRUTH (what the doctors etc dont tell you!) about ETS give me a shout and i will tell all :roll:

Good luck - remember that expecting to be totally dry may be unrealistic, as long as your sweating is reduced to 'acceptable' levels....thats good enough!

 

[beckiboo]

Thanks all for the advice and shared experiences, its much appreciated!

Theo55: hi! thanks for the reply! yup, im in Norfolk I like the sound of this product Perspirex, maybe I could use that in conjunction with the iontophoresis...did you get it on pescription or over the counter? im definately going to look into the other products youve mentioned too, ive still to read all the threads properly, looking forward to finding out more! cheers again, becki xx


cadmonkey: thanks, i'd definately like to ask you a few questions at some piont, ill drop you a msg,
id be happy with any improvement tbh! xx


Pinker: thanks, I think thats the same website where my nurse told me to order from, they didnt tell me I could get money off tho, ill ask next tuesday how I go about getting the NHS to help out..nice one, you could have saved me some cash there!
when I started they had me on 8 mA and theyve increased it over the sessions so im now at 20 mA which is the highest they will take me to...It does feel a bit uncomfortable at first but it soon becomes bareable (after about 2 mins) bicarbonate of soda??-lol!
for now im going to concentrate on the iontophoresis and se if how that goes, ETS or similar procedures really would be my last resort, unless there was a significant improvement in the field...cheers for sharing, youre a star! xx

 

[beckiboo]

Lol that's ok. Bicarbonate of soda/sodium bicarbonate/salt water is said to aid the electrolytes which carry the current into the skin - make of it what you will.

I've got one question.. do they use warm water in the trays at the hospital?

well im pretty much willing to try anything so ill definately give it a go-ive got nothing to loose! just gotta get the funds together to get a machine...

they mostly use cold water but on the 3rd or 4th session they did use warm/tepid water...I think this was a mistake on their part tho...I think cold water would work better because it calms the sweating a bit, I read that the dryer you can get before the treatment the better the result, hence why some people ive read about ice their hands first to stop the sweating as much as possible...seems to make some kind of sense :lol: theres a mention of this on this forum thread: http://www.socialphobiaworld.com/postt17912.html

 

[beckiboo]

Yeah I agree that calming the sweating beforehand may help, but I think warm water would open up the pores? Wheras cold would close them more? So the electrolytes might not 'get in' as much lol. I've been using cold water the last few times and keeping a close eye on things and it seems to be none the better. Next treatment i'll use warm water then I can compare.

I see your logic, id be interested to know which works better! let me know how it goes!