Okay, so basically I thought I would make this thread as when I was suffering from severe hyperhidrosis, the first thing I did was take to the internet for an answer (I was so anxious in social situations so going to the doctors was out of the question) and all I seemed to come across in my efforts were lots of threads about things that MAY work, but no actual answers as to whether they were useful or not.
This thread is about how I handled my hyperhidrosis and how I'm managing to live with it on a day to day basis. I'll just give you a little insight in to how it started for me. Around the age of 15, I was in the shape of my life, constantly playing my sport and I had a great group of friends around me and I started finally getting lucky with the ladies. Social anxiety and sweating was the last thing on my mind. Then around the age of sixteen I noticed when I got home from school, that my shirt was soaking wet with sweat (we wore jumpers at school so it allowed for me to hide the problem initially). At first I thought nothing of it and started to not wear my jumper, but then I noticed every day, no matter the weather, I would sweat profusely and it would be ridiculously hard to cool down. This even crossed over to my sporting activities, I started playing lazy as I didn't want to sweat and be bright red, but no matter what happened, even in the warm ups I would be dripping. It destroyed my confidence and affected my relationships with girls to, what 16 year old boy could muster up the confidence when this new problem of blushing and sweating uncontrollably occurred and there was nothing you could do to stop it?
Eventually I mustered up the courage to go see a doctor and I got the same reply a lot of you HH sufferers probably received, "Oh it's just ****rty, you will grow out of it, here have some antiperspirant".
After testing out the prescribed antiperspirant for months (Driclor I believe) I just gave up, this was going to be my distinguishing characteristic, the boy who sweats profusely. After quitting my sport, I started getting depressed and gaining weight, as I rarely went out due to the fear of my HH. It completely ruined my social life. I even tried to go to the gym to get back in shape but just lifting a dumbbell would leave me in a post marathon like sweat.
Fast forward four years and I had enough. I went back to the doctor and explained what had happened to me the past four years. I couldn't even sit next to somebody on public transport as I would begin to sweat. If I was in direct sunlight and not in the shade I would sweat. If I exercised at all, it would take me at least 45 minutes to cool down (that's if I made an effort to do so such as cold water, using a book as a fan). Just to clarify, my HH is not localised, it is EVERYWHERE. It's worse on my face though, which as you can imagine is brilliant for social interactions!
h:
The doctor told me I had to try a few treatments before being referred to a dermatologist, so I humoured him and went ahead with the treatments. The first treatment was the driclor again, which as stated, was ineffective like before, only thing I gained from it was dry and itchy skin. The second treatment consisted of taking beta blockers, and whilst this calmed me down and the redness didn't seem as bad as before, the sweating still occurred.
Finally I was referred to a dermatologist, who didn't seem to know much about HH or had much experience treating it, but he did a lot of research and did his best. I began taking Oxybutynin Hydrochloride 5mg Tablets twice before food. I felt the side effects immediately. My mouth was extremely dry and I had a sore throat and couldn't speak for at least a week. My lips were sore and I was experiencing headaches. I also physically couldn't eat after taking the tablets as my mouth was so dry. I could have put up with this, if the sweating subsided...but it did not.
After a return visit to my dermatologist, he recommended that I stop taking the tablets and begin another treatment. The whole time I was trying to push for surgery as I wanted a long term fix, not a short term, but he did not believe that was the treatment I should have. For those that haven't done much research around HH surgery, there are some quite severe risks such as nerve damage, as essentially the surgeons are re-programming your nervous system to stop being so active. There's also the risk of it worsening your symptoms if you have localised HH, as it could actually end up making you sweat everywhere. This was not a problem for me as I already sweat everywhere, so I was pushing hard for surgery and didn't want to hear anything else.
He convinced me to try this one last treatment before surgery was discussed, and he prescribed me with Pro-Banthine 15mg Tablets. I thought I might as well give it one last try. After taking the first tablet an hour before food, I actually started to notice a difference. I went to the gym and I didn't sweat once, no matter how hard I went, not one drop of sweat. I went home and had something to eat after the gym, and I physically couldn't eat without having a bottle of water as my mouth was that dry. After every bite of food, I would have to have a sip of water to provide my mouth with moisture. I didn't care, I thought I had cured my sweating. I followed the instructions and took another tablet 2 hours after food, and then I went out with a group of friends. To my despair, I began sweating profusely again.
I figured it must of been a one off, but I went to the gym the next day after taking my initial tablet and decided to stay a little longer as I had a new found confidence and will power to lift heavy s###. The first hour was great, no sweat, but a few minutes after that I started to sweat again. I went home, ate some food and took the tablets again, two hours after. Same result as before.
I had another appointment with the dermatologist and explained my findings, and he stated that because I was so tall, I may need to up my dosage, so he recommended taking 3 tablets each, twice a day. I also explained my food theory to him, but he had no answers for that, just stick to the time schedule as stated.
I went home and took 3 tablets, went to the gym and it worked! No sweat throughout the whole workout! My only complaint is that I am still constantly bright red for hours, but I will take that over sweating any day. Went home followed the same routine, ate, 2 hours after took 3 tablets, then I went out and played some sports and as before, I was still sweating.
I then thought I would try not eating food until I have to (stupid I know, but if you're a severe HH sufferer, you would give anything to be able to control it!) and what do you know....it worked perfectly! Not one bead of sweat the whole day. After I got in around 6, I then had some food, as I was in the comfort of my own home. Obviously this was not ideal and some would say I am being radical in my approach, but for the first time in 5 years, I have control over my HH now!
I am now at university studying something I love and I am no longer that awkward boy who sweats all the time. I used to hate the whole interview thing, I knew I would never get anywhere as I was a sweating mess that couldn't focus on anything else so my confidence just spiralled, If I don't believe in myself, why would someone else? But with my control over my condition, I wasn't as afraid. I went in to my university interview worried about what I was going to say, not how could I control my sweating. It's safe to say it went well as I'm here and I'm currently doing a degree in which I medically and physically help other people, which guess what? INVOLVES SOCIAL INTERACTION, which I no longer fear. Obviously this treatment is not ideal, as I need to eat sometime, but it allows me to deal with it slightly. Such as having the interview, I just skipped breakfast and didn't have any caffeine just lots of water and no sweat. If I have a presentation I know of in advance, I just make sure I have nothing to eat before and then feast out after!
Currently, I am prescribed 4 tablets, twice a day, so a total of 8 tablets. With it being 15mg per tablet, that's a total of 120mg (I hope I added that righth which some may think is dangerous, but after talking with my dermatologist, he ensured me that it is a safe medicine to take in large quantities. Oh another side effect that's pretty annoying but I can live with, when it's in your system, it's incredibly hard to pee, like I mean it comes out so slowly it takes so long to pee, and with the amount of water you will need to drink on this tablet its a bad combination. I would also recommend always having a bottle of water with you, as your mouth does get dry a lot and it's hard to talk, and you need it for if you do eat. There are other side effects such as dizziness, headaches and even worse erectile dysfunction, but luckily I don't experience any of these! erfect:
So yeah, that's everything, sorry for the ridiculously long post, but I was just so sick of the lack of information that is out there for HH. Hopefully this will help at least one person, as I wish someone was there for me to get advice from. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch!
This thread is about how I handled my hyperhidrosis and how I'm managing to live with it on a day to day basis. I'll just give you a little insight in to how it started for me. Around the age of 15, I was in the shape of my life, constantly playing my sport and I had a great group of friends around me and I started finally getting lucky with the ladies. Social anxiety and sweating was the last thing on my mind. Then around the age of sixteen I noticed when I got home from school, that my shirt was soaking wet with sweat (we wore jumpers at school so it allowed for me to hide the problem initially). At first I thought nothing of it and started to not wear my jumper, but then I noticed every day, no matter the weather, I would sweat profusely and it would be ridiculously hard to cool down. This even crossed over to my sporting activities, I started playing lazy as I didn't want to sweat and be bright red, but no matter what happened, even in the warm ups I would be dripping. It destroyed my confidence and affected my relationships with girls to, what 16 year old boy could muster up the confidence when this new problem of blushing and sweating uncontrollably occurred and there was nothing you could do to stop it?
Eventually I mustered up the courage to go see a doctor and I got the same reply a lot of you HH sufferers probably received, "Oh it's just ****rty, you will grow out of it, here have some antiperspirant".
After testing out the prescribed antiperspirant for months (Driclor I believe) I just gave up, this was going to be my distinguishing characteristic, the boy who sweats profusely. After quitting my sport, I started getting depressed and gaining weight, as I rarely went out due to the fear of my HH. It completely ruined my social life. I even tried to go to the gym to get back in shape but just lifting a dumbbell would leave me in a post marathon like sweat.
Fast forward four years and I had enough. I went back to the doctor and explained what had happened to me the past four years. I couldn't even sit next to somebody on public transport as I would begin to sweat. If I was in direct sunlight and not in the shade I would sweat. If I exercised at all, it would take me at least 45 minutes to cool down (that's if I made an effort to do so such as cold water, using a book as a fan). Just to clarify, my HH is not localised, it is EVERYWHERE. It's worse on my face though, which as you can imagine is brilliant for social interactions!
h:The doctor told me I had to try a few treatments before being referred to a dermatologist, so I humoured him and went ahead with the treatments. The first treatment was the driclor again, which as stated, was ineffective like before, only thing I gained from it was dry and itchy skin. The second treatment consisted of taking beta blockers, and whilst this calmed me down and the redness didn't seem as bad as before, the sweating still occurred.
Finally I was referred to a dermatologist, who didn't seem to know much about HH or had much experience treating it, but he did a lot of research and did his best. I began taking Oxybutynin Hydrochloride 5mg Tablets twice before food. I felt the side effects immediately. My mouth was extremely dry and I had a sore throat and couldn't speak for at least a week. My lips were sore and I was experiencing headaches. I also physically couldn't eat after taking the tablets as my mouth was so dry. I could have put up with this, if the sweating subsided...but it did not.
After a return visit to my dermatologist, he recommended that I stop taking the tablets and begin another treatment. The whole time I was trying to push for surgery as I wanted a long term fix, not a short term, but he did not believe that was the treatment I should have. For those that haven't done much research around HH surgery, there are some quite severe risks such as nerve damage, as essentially the surgeons are re-programming your nervous system to stop being so active. There's also the risk of it worsening your symptoms if you have localised HH, as it could actually end up making you sweat everywhere. This was not a problem for me as I already sweat everywhere, so I was pushing hard for surgery and didn't want to hear anything else.
He convinced me to try this one last treatment before surgery was discussed, and he prescribed me with Pro-Banthine 15mg Tablets. I thought I might as well give it one last try. After taking the first tablet an hour before food, I actually started to notice a difference. I went to the gym and I didn't sweat once, no matter how hard I went, not one drop of sweat. I went home and had something to eat after the gym, and I physically couldn't eat without having a bottle of water as my mouth was that dry. After every bite of food, I would have to have a sip of water to provide my mouth with moisture. I didn't care, I thought I had cured my sweating. I followed the instructions and took another tablet 2 hours after food, and then I went out with a group of friends. To my despair, I began sweating profusely again.
I figured it must of been a one off, but I went to the gym the next day after taking my initial tablet and decided to stay a little longer as I had a new found confidence and will power to lift heavy s###. The first hour was great, no sweat, but a few minutes after that I started to sweat again. I went home, ate some food and took the tablets again, two hours after. Same result as before.
I had another appointment with the dermatologist and explained my findings, and he stated that because I was so tall, I may need to up my dosage, so he recommended taking 3 tablets each, twice a day. I also explained my food theory to him, but he had no answers for that, just stick to the time schedule as stated.
I went home and took 3 tablets, went to the gym and it worked! No sweat throughout the whole workout! My only complaint is that I am still constantly bright red for hours, but I will take that over sweating any day. Went home followed the same routine, ate, 2 hours after took 3 tablets, then I went out and played some sports and as before, I was still sweating.
I then thought I would try not eating food until I have to (stupid I know, but if you're a severe HH sufferer, you would give anything to be able to control it!) and what do you know....it worked perfectly! Not one bead of sweat the whole day. After I got in around 6, I then had some food, as I was in the comfort of my own home. Obviously this was not ideal and some would say I am being radical in my approach, but for the first time in 5 years, I have control over my HH now!
I am now at university studying something I love and I am no longer that awkward boy who sweats all the time. I used to hate the whole interview thing, I knew I would never get anywhere as I was a sweating mess that couldn't focus on anything else so my confidence just spiralled, If I don't believe in myself, why would someone else? But with my control over my condition, I wasn't as afraid. I went in to my university interview worried about what I was going to say, not how could I control my sweating. It's safe to say it went well as I'm here and I'm currently doing a degree in which I medically and physically help other people, which guess what? INVOLVES SOCIAL INTERACTION, which I no longer fear. Obviously this treatment is not ideal, as I need to eat sometime, but it allows me to deal with it slightly. Such as having the interview, I just skipped breakfast and didn't have any caffeine just lots of water and no sweat. If I have a presentation I know of in advance, I just make sure I have nothing to eat before and then feast out after!
Currently, I am prescribed 4 tablets, twice a day, so a total of 8 tablets. With it being 15mg per tablet, that's a total of 120mg (I hope I added that right
h which some may think is dangerous, but after talking with my dermatologist, he ensured me that it is a safe medicine to take in large quantities. Oh another side effect that's pretty annoying but I can live with, when it's in your system, it's incredibly hard to pee, like I mean it comes out so slowly it takes so long to pee, and with the amount of water you will need to drink on this tablet its a bad combination. I would also recommend always having a bottle of water with you, as your mouth does get dry a lot and it's hard to talk, and you need it for if you do eat. There are other side effects such as dizziness, headaches and even worse erectile dysfunction, but luckily I don't experience any of these! erfect:So yeah, that's everything, sorry for the ridiculously long post, but I was just so sick of the lack of information that is out there for HH. Hopefully this will help at least one person, as I wish someone was there for me to get advice from. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch!