dkurtz
Member
Hey all, I've lurked here for a while without creating an account. (Pinker's posts have been very helpful btw). Seeing how there isn't any definitive cure for HH, I thought I would share my experiences...
I have always had palmar and underarm HH. 5th grade is when I started to notice my condition. I just dealt with it for a few years, doing the whole routine of wearing dark baggy clothes, constantly changing shirts, etc. I tried to not let it affect my life and my pursuits, however. Just recently I've decided to grip this thing by the balls and do something about it. I think thats the best approach for our situation.
So now I'm a sophomore in college and so far I've tried:
Drysol.
This worked for me for about a week before sweating persisted. Throughout high school it was off and on with the drysol, each time being less effective than the previous before I threw that out entirely.
Ditropan
Really had no effect besides a constantly dry mouth
And a few other pills that really didn't help my condition.
Botox in the Underarm
This was a fight with the insurance company and the dermatologist. Basically last summer I spent two months playing the middle man between my insurance provider and dermatologist. I wanted to try botox but it is expensive and it would only be an option if covered by my insurance. I had to call my dermatologist every other day to know my status. The dermatologist refused to contact my insurance and the insurance company refused to contact the dermatologist. So basically every day was: To the dermatologist "My insurance says that they never received this form, did you send it to this address/ fax number?" Their response: "No we sent it to the number they gave us which is: 'wrong number'".....Long story short: TOTAL PAIN IN THE ASS. However, after a long wait and once everything was settled, it turned out that I was insured (thank god!). Everything went through. I had an appointment setup for the botox shots.
My results on botox:
So far I've gone in twice to receive botox. For the first couple weeks, the results were amazing! I had Very little sweat from my arm pits, and only when I was working out did I have very small stains from sweating. As time passed, the cure wore off slowly until almost 2 months later I went back for another appointment. I told him how well it worked for me, and he gave me a lesser dosage of the shots. The second time I was treated has been even better: I still sweat, but the effect is not wearing off so quickly. My shirts stay pretty dry and I love it.
Now some people claim that the shots hurt and they don't want to have numerous pricks and injections. I found this to be only slightly irritable. The small time of discomfort is well worth the joy of mostly dry underarms. At least, that's my opinion.
Once I had the entire insurance thing settled, I looked into buying an iontophoresis device. There are a lot of options out there, but I went with the idromed 4 GS. Now that I'm on winterbreak for school, I'm able to use it consistently. Here's how that's gone.
Idromed
So far, it's been only 5 days of consistent use. I used it for two days straight, had to miss one day so I started over, and then used it for five consecutive days. My hands have YET to be dry. I've been using it for 10-15 minutes on each polarity with both hands. (A total of 20-30 minutes a day). I started day1 on an intensity of 10mA, but have moved up to 14mA by day5. I can just barely feel the tingly sensation on this polarity.
Right now, my hands are no dryer than before. I know its still early but I would expect some results after five days. I certainly did not expect my hands to start sweating MORE. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Plans for the future:
I'm going to continue to use the machine at about 12-13mA for the next five days and see how that works. If I don't see some sign of dryness in my hands (I'm sweating much worse in my hands) then I'm going to try something more drastic, either longer or at a higher amperage.
Others claim that the machine gives them tight, dry hands but I have yet to experience this. I'm considering increasing the intensity to 15mA to see some results, but I think I should continue with what has been recommended.
I hope my experiences are of some help to others with this condition. I understand that it can be hard at times, but the best thing is to push forward and try, as hard as it seems, to not let HH affect your decisions and your happiness.
Take care everybody
I have always had palmar and underarm HH. 5th grade is when I started to notice my condition. I just dealt with it for a few years, doing the whole routine of wearing dark baggy clothes, constantly changing shirts, etc. I tried to not let it affect my life and my pursuits, however. Just recently I've decided to grip this thing by the balls and do something about it. I think thats the best approach for our situation.
So now I'm a sophomore in college and so far I've tried:
Drysol.
This worked for me for about a week before sweating persisted. Throughout high school it was off and on with the drysol, each time being less effective than the previous before I threw that out entirely.
Ditropan
Really had no effect besides a constantly dry mouth
And a few other pills that really didn't help my condition.
Botox in the Underarm
This was a fight with the insurance company and the dermatologist. Basically last summer I spent two months playing the middle man between my insurance provider and dermatologist. I wanted to try botox but it is expensive and it would only be an option if covered by my insurance. I had to call my dermatologist every other day to know my status. The dermatologist refused to contact my insurance and the insurance company refused to contact the dermatologist. So basically every day was: To the dermatologist "My insurance says that they never received this form, did you send it to this address/ fax number?" Their response: "No we sent it to the number they gave us which is: 'wrong number'".....Long story short: TOTAL PAIN IN THE ASS. However, after a long wait and once everything was settled, it turned out that I was insured (thank god!). Everything went through. I had an appointment setup for the botox shots.
My results on botox:
So far I've gone in twice to receive botox. For the first couple weeks, the results were amazing! I had Very little sweat from my arm pits, and only when I was working out did I have very small stains from sweating. As time passed, the cure wore off slowly until almost 2 months later I went back for another appointment. I told him how well it worked for me, and he gave me a lesser dosage of the shots. The second time I was treated has been even better: I still sweat, but the effect is not wearing off so quickly. My shirts stay pretty dry and I love it.
Now some people claim that the shots hurt and they don't want to have numerous pricks and injections. I found this to be only slightly irritable. The small time of discomfort is well worth the joy of mostly dry underarms. At least, that's my opinion.
Once I had the entire insurance thing settled, I looked into buying an iontophoresis device. There are a lot of options out there, but I went with the idromed 4 GS. Now that I'm on winterbreak for school, I'm able to use it consistently. Here's how that's gone.
Idromed
So far, it's been only 5 days of consistent use. I used it for two days straight, had to miss one day so I started over, and then used it for five consecutive days. My hands have YET to be dry. I've been using it for 10-15 minutes on each polarity with both hands. (A total of 20-30 minutes a day). I started day1 on an intensity of 10mA, but have moved up to 14mA by day5. I can just barely feel the tingly sensation on this polarity.
Right now, my hands are no dryer than before. I know its still early but I would expect some results after five days. I certainly did not expect my hands to start sweating MORE. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Plans for the future:
I'm going to continue to use the machine at about 12-13mA for the next five days and see how that works. If I don't see some sign of dryness in my hands (I'm sweating much worse in my hands) then I'm going to try something more drastic, either longer or at a higher amperage.
Others claim that the machine gives them tight, dry hands but I have yet to experience this. I'm considering increasing the intensity to 15mA to see some results, but I think I should continue with what has been recommended.
I hope my experiences are of some help to others with this condition. I understand that it can be hard at times, but the best thing is to push forward and try, as hard as it seems, to not let HH affect your decisions and your happiness.
Take care everybody
