New here, not new to HH, whats your story?

[Beccaroo]

Hi everyone!

During my research about hyperhidrosis I have stumbled upon this site and I am so glad. I never met anyone else who also suffered with HH. I have had moderate HH since I was a child. I am 22 now and still suffering everyday. When I was about 17 I started treatment for HH. Dry-sol, robinul/glyco, ionto and botox. I did not use robinul/glyco for more than a week since I was turned off by the dry mouth. Ionto worked wonders for me. It was the best feeling ever to shake the deans hand at my high school graduation and not worrying that he would be disgusted. Botox did not work for me. I got it done in my hands, and it was extremely disappointing. I then went to college for 4 years and it was too hard to keep up with treatment.

I just started graduate school this fall and I knew I needed to restart this process. I just started Glyco last Thursday, 4 days ago on 1mg/2x day. So far, I have had no side effects but no instant results either. My doctor told me that it will buildup though so we will see how it goes. She is also writing to my insurance company to get me another Ionto machine. Hopefully that will go through since they do not have one in their office.

I've kept my HH a secret from most people in my life. My immediate family and my boyfriend know. I haven't had the confidence to tell my closest friends even though I know they wouldn't care and would still love me all the same. While HH has affected my life majorly and given me pretty bad anxiety, I still live with it and I am still overall pretty happy.

So what's your story?

 

[Sprawling]

Welcome to our group. We have lots of stories in our most recent and older back posts. Most of us have spent our lives hiding our HH. It's glad to hear that your life is a happy one and that you are managing getting through your education despite having HH.

 

[hyp-hi]

Welcome Beccaroo. Those ionto machines are expensive. I found that insurance didn't cover it for mine. There are some cheaper devices out there other than the big brands. Like Sprawling mentioned, there is a lot of good information on this forum in previous posts.

 

[Beccaroo]

Yes the ionto machines are crazy pricey. I was lucky enough to receive on through my insurance company 5 years ago. I still have it, but the batteries are dead and they stopped selling them for that machine ages ago. I have a new doctor and a new insurance company now, and my doc is going to try her luck to secure me a second one, but no guarantees.

I've been on Glyco now for 5 days and while I am not dry, my hands have been decently drier. Instead of literally being able to see the individual sweat droplets coming out of my pores, my hands are just clammy now, even though I had a moderately stressful point in my day.

I am putting myself in a situation tomorrow where I will most likely have to shake hands with a new person. How do all of you deal with that? This is when my anxiety gets the best of me and the sweat usually starts faucet-like behavior. I try to remain confident but it is tough... Though I refuse to let HH run my life.

Also, hyp-hi, I noticed you were from Chicago. While I am not there currently, I was born and raised in the suburbs!

 

[corranhorn]

Your story is very similar to mine. I have suffered severe HH my entire life. I live in one of the hottest parts of the country. It is 100+ half the year. I lead a successful high school and college life with no treatment. I dated, eventually married and had kids. I've held professional jobs. It did severely limit my social life. I recently got divorced and started dating so I started intense self treatment. I am 100% cured, so long as I stay on top of it. I have no insurance, so I treat through pharmacy.ca. I do 4mg once in the morning of glyco, and I use drysol every night. My hands are 100& cured, though I do have slight side effects. I am photosensitive now, which is tolerable. I have minimal dry mouth. Overall, I am incredibly satisfied. I would rather lose a limb than have HH. The most interesting side effect is that my hands are so dry that they are rough and flaky. I'm not used to it. I refuse to use lotion because I'm afraid it may counteract the treatment. I monitor my sweating very closely, and I notice if I go more than 3 days without treatment, sweating will resume slowly and be full blown after about 7-9 days. I also take magnesium and drink sage tea. I've read of this being a treatment, and for the low price of both I keep doing it but I don't think it has much, if any effect.

 

[Beccaroo]

corranhorn- Wow, its great that you haven't let HH get you down. I'm curious though, if you passed down your HH to your children? While I am not planning on kids right now, in the future is a possibility and I am pretty nervous about giving them hyperhidrosis.
Also, I never heard of drinking sage tea and taking magnesium for HH until I started reading this website... It sounds interesting and I might try it, though I'd like to get more Drysol first.

Has anyone else with HH had children? Do they have it too?

 

[hyp-hi]

Hey Beccaroo, that's nice to know there is someone from the same area with HH. Good luck on your event with the handshakes. Those are the worst. Job interviews, social events... and the anticipation just makes it worse. I usually just try to dry my hands on my clothes before I have to shake their hand just to make it a little better. I hope it goes ok!

 

[Sprawling]

My daughter developed full body HH at around age 19, full blown now at 23. She has it everywhere except her hands. Mine started at birth I'm told.

 

[Beccaroo]

Thanks hyp-hi! Fortunately/unfortunately, the meeting I was supposed to go to got canceled so no hand shaking happened today. Tomorrow I have another one though so here we go again! Hopefully its not too hot out and well air conditioned where I am going. I'll let you guys know.

And Sprawling, that's very interesting that hers is everywhere except her hands. I'm pretty sure mine started from birth as well, at least from as long as I can remember. How does your daughter deal with it? She is around the same age as I am.