sweat_free
Member
I've been suffering from hyperhidrosis since I was 16 years old and finally, now aged 25 and after trying out almost every thing, I've finally found an almost perfect solution that has changed my life.
For me it got to the point were I didn't want to leave the house to visit friends or I'd have to call in sick to work because I'd be sweating too much on the London Underground (which reached 40+ degrees in the Summer).
I started off with strong antiperspirant. Waste of money... Then bought "special" undershirts with "sweat proof padding" that I wore under t-shirts. These made me hotter but at least I wasn't sweaty all over, but kind of embarrassing to wear during a heatwave... In the end I gave up on them. No one should have to wear two t-shirts all the time. It's uncomfortable and deep down I knew it wasn't the answer.
Next thing I did was buy some sweat pads from china. I Bought them in bulk and still use them today under my t-shirts. Best money I've spent, only cost me £25 for hundreds of them! You can buy similar sweat pads from amazon, just search for "sweat pads". However I'd recommend buying them in bulk and cheaper from aliexpress (Chinese wholesaler), they take about 3 weeks to arrive but I have enough to last me several months. Only problem is they sometimes struggle to stick to a lot of my t-shirts. So I went to a wig shop and bought some wig tape. It's basically very sticky double sided sticky tape. I'd cut off a bit each morning and use it to keep the sweat pads in place. Works a treat! I'd give the underarm sweat pads 7/10. They don't stop sweating, but do stop sweat going through your t-shirt 100%.
However nothing so far I'd tried actually stopped the sweating which was my ultimate goal. I work in an office and have to meet a lot of clients, which means I have to shake a lot of hands. Anyone who suffers from palmar hyperhidrosis knows how embarrassing and awkward it is to shake hands with someone when your hand is literally dripping in sweat. This drove me absolutely crazy, so I decided to buy an iontophorsis machine for £500 (yep, pretty desperate at this point). It works by putting yours hands in a tray of water with a pulsed current. It did a great job and I'd recommend it to everyone. After using it for 20 minutes each day I started to notice a difference within 3 days. My hands were bone dry! It was a miracle! I carried on using the machine each day for 3 - 4 weeks then I started to get complacent. It didn't matter as my hands stayed dry without the machine for about a month (after using it every day for 3 weeks). Now I use it once or twice every 2 weeks. I didn't try it on my feet but I'm confident it would be just as effective as the hands. I did try the iontophoresis machine on my back and face (after purchasing all the expensive extras) but it didn't work, it was just painful. But for hands I'd give it 8/10 (I'd give it higher if it worked effectively on other areas)
I'd still sweat a lot on my back, legs, groin and head though which was my next objective. I'd get angry seeing some out of shape bloke in the middle of summer walking down the street in a hoody and not even breaking a sweat. So in the end I booked an appointment at my doctors. I should mention that I'd actually been to the doctors before but unfortunetly they seem to know very little about excessive sweating... They'd tell me it runs in the family and to try strong antiperspirants (arghhh!). I made sure this time though to get referred to a dermatologist (I can't stress enough how important it is for everyone with hyperhidrosis to do this).
First meeting with the dermatologist and he went through the options with me. I told him I'd already tried the ionthoresis machine and the strong antiperspirants so he recommended I try Pro-Banthine (propantheline). I had nothing to lose so I went straight to the pharmacy and got my month long prescription. I was told to take 2/3 a day, an hour or so before I eat (works best on an empty stomach).
Absolute miracle drug. I'm fixed. Cured. Gained back my confidence. I've never been this happy since I was 16. I cannot recommend them enough. If you suffer from hyperhidrosis you need to get this drug. It will make you as dry as a dry thing on a dry day. If anything they make you too dry (who cares right?).
I have one literally first thing in the morning before I start my commute into work. I don't have breakfast first thing as they work best on an empty stomach. I usually wait an hour until I arrive into work and have breakfast then. They usually take about 45 mins to an hour to kick in. I now only wear one t-shirt and I'm dry everywhere! My hands, feet, back, groin and head are completely dry. Sometimes I only need 1 a day. If I'm going out after work I'd take another tablet about an hour before home time.
The downsides (which I was warned about by the dermatologist) are a dry mouth. The first time I had a tablet I had the driest mouth in world so make sure you have a bottle of water handy all the time. You get used to carrying a bottle of water with you in the day though. Plus it's good for your health and skin to drink plenty of water!
The tablets also make it difficult to pee. Not impossible, just a bit more difficult. Nothing to worry about, probs down to the amount of water I'm drinking. I'd also recommend eating wetter foods, such as pasta with sauces, or soup. Simply because eating a dry sandwich with a dry mouth isn't much fun.
The fact I no longer sweat at all whilst I'm using Pro-banthine totally outweighs the negatives though, trust me. Another point I should mention is they're not expensive either. I don't think it cost me any more than £20-£30 for three months worth of tablets. My rating for the Pro-Banthine tablets is a solid 10/10.
My sweating has reduced about 90% and on a good day I'm nearer 100%. I still use the sweat pads with the sticky tape, simply because no one can tell I'm wearing them and I'm still a little worried I could get a bit sweaty under the armpits if it gets really hot.
Excessive sweating ruins lives. It ruined mine as I'd stay in on weekends, not go out with friends or work mates and make me look shy and awkward in work. I became depressed, who wouldn't? Excessive sweating is horrible and no one should have to go through what I and other HH sufferers went through.
I even went vegan for 6 weeks in the hope that no meet and more veggies would reduce the sweating. It didn't but I did lost a stone! That's another story though.
To summarise:
Save yourself time and a lot of money - get prescribed Pro-Banthine (propantheline) and buy yourself some sweatpads from China (aliexpress). Turn your life around immediately, it'll be the best decision of your life.
For me it got to the point were I didn't want to leave the house to visit friends or I'd have to call in sick to work because I'd be sweating too much on the London Underground (which reached 40+ degrees in the Summer).
I started off with strong antiperspirant. Waste of money... Then bought "special" undershirts with "sweat proof padding" that I wore under t-shirts. These made me hotter but at least I wasn't sweaty all over, but kind of embarrassing to wear during a heatwave... In the end I gave up on them. No one should have to wear two t-shirts all the time. It's uncomfortable and deep down I knew it wasn't the answer.
Next thing I did was buy some sweat pads from china. I Bought them in bulk and still use them today under my t-shirts. Best money I've spent, only cost me £25 for hundreds of them! You can buy similar sweat pads from amazon, just search for "sweat pads". However I'd recommend buying them in bulk and cheaper from aliexpress (Chinese wholesaler), they take about 3 weeks to arrive but I have enough to last me several months. Only problem is they sometimes struggle to stick to a lot of my t-shirts. So I went to a wig shop and bought some wig tape. It's basically very sticky double sided sticky tape. I'd cut off a bit each morning and use it to keep the sweat pads in place. Works a treat! I'd give the underarm sweat pads 7/10. They don't stop sweating, but do stop sweat going through your t-shirt 100%.
However nothing so far I'd tried actually stopped the sweating which was my ultimate goal. I work in an office and have to meet a lot of clients, which means I have to shake a lot of hands. Anyone who suffers from palmar hyperhidrosis knows how embarrassing and awkward it is to shake hands with someone when your hand is literally dripping in sweat. This drove me absolutely crazy, so I decided to buy an iontophorsis machine for £500 (yep, pretty desperate at this point). It works by putting yours hands in a tray of water with a pulsed current. It did a great job and I'd recommend it to everyone. After using it for 20 minutes each day I started to notice a difference within 3 days. My hands were bone dry! It was a miracle! I carried on using the machine each day for 3 - 4 weeks then I started to get complacent. It didn't matter as my hands stayed dry without the machine for about a month (after using it every day for 3 weeks). Now I use it once or twice every 2 weeks. I didn't try it on my feet but I'm confident it would be just as effective as the hands. I did try the iontophoresis machine on my back and face (after purchasing all the expensive extras) but it didn't work, it was just painful. But for hands I'd give it 8/10 (I'd give it higher if it worked effectively on other areas)
I'd still sweat a lot on my back, legs, groin and head though which was my next objective. I'd get angry seeing some out of shape bloke in the middle of summer walking down the street in a hoody and not even breaking a sweat. So in the end I booked an appointment at my doctors. I should mention that I'd actually been to the doctors before but unfortunetly they seem to know very little about excessive sweating... They'd tell me it runs in the family and to try strong antiperspirants (arghhh!). I made sure this time though to get referred to a dermatologist (I can't stress enough how important it is for everyone with hyperhidrosis to do this).
First meeting with the dermatologist and he went through the options with me. I told him I'd already tried the ionthoresis machine and the strong antiperspirants so he recommended I try Pro-Banthine (propantheline). I had nothing to lose so I went straight to the pharmacy and got my month long prescription. I was told to take 2/3 a day, an hour or so before I eat (works best on an empty stomach).
Absolute miracle drug. I'm fixed. Cured. Gained back my confidence. I've never been this happy since I was 16. I cannot recommend them enough. If you suffer from hyperhidrosis you need to get this drug. It will make you as dry as a dry thing on a dry day. If anything they make you too dry (who cares right?).
I have one literally first thing in the morning before I start my commute into work. I don't have breakfast first thing as they work best on an empty stomach. I usually wait an hour until I arrive into work and have breakfast then. They usually take about 45 mins to an hour to kick in. I now only wear one t-shirt and I'm dry everywhere! My hands, feet, back, groin and head are completely dry. Sometimes I only need 1 a day. If I'm going out after work I'd take another tablet about an hour before home time.
The downsides (which I was warned about by the dermatologist) are a dry mouth. The first time I had a tablet I had the driest mouth in world so make sure you have a bottle of water handy all the time. You get used to carrying a bottle of water with you in the day though. Plus it's good for your health and skin to drink plenty of water!
The tablets also make it difficult to pee. Not impossible, just a bit more difficult. Nothing to worry about, probs down to the amount of water I'm drinking. I'd also recommend eating wetter foods, such as pasta with sauces, or soup. Simply because eating a dry sandwich with a dry mouth isn't much fun.
The fact I no longer sweat at all whilst I'm using Pro-banthine totally outweighs the negatives though, trust me. Another point I should mention is they're not expensive either. I don't think it cost me any more than £20-£30 for three months worth of tablets. My rating for the Pro-Banthine tablets is a solid 10/10.
My sweating has reduced about 90% and on a good day I'm nearer 100%. I still use the sweat pads with the sticky tape, simply because no one can tell I'm wearing them and I'm still a little worried I could get a bit sweaty under the armpits if it gets really hot.
Excessive sweating ruins lives. It ruined mine as I'd stay in on weekends, not go out with friends or work mates and make me look shy and awkward in work. I became depressed, who wouldn't? Excessive sweating is horrible and no one should have to go through what I and other HH sufferers went through.
I even went vegan for 6 weeks in the hope that no meet and more veggies would reduce the sweating. It didn't but I did lost a stone! That's another story though.
To summarise:
Save yourself time and a lot of money - get prescribed Pro-Banthine (propantheline) and buy yourself some sweatpads from China (aliexpress). Turn your life around immediately, it'll be the best decision of your life.
erfect: