O
Overtech
Guest
A little background. I've had HH as far back as I can remember. It's mostly been the palmar/plantar variety, but the anxiety derived from it sometimes causes my underarms to sweat, and oddly enough, just the tip of my nose.
Most of the focus on treatment has been on my hands as that's the area that bothers me the most. I started treatment in my late teens starting with Drysol. That didn't do much and ended up causing them to rash. After that, my parents thought it might be anxiety related, so I saw a psychiatrist who prescribed me various anti-depressents and Xanax. Neither of those worked, and I didn't really want to be on them because they sedated me too much.
Then, I switched to iontophoresis, and found limited success with that. It usually required about 2 weeks of daily treatment for me to start seeing results, and I had to continue it frequently because the reduced sweating only lasted for a couple days. I have to take extended breaks from it because the skin on my fingertips will begin to break. After two years of that, I decided that I want to try another option since it was cutting into my time and is pretty painful.
So, after talking to two dermatologists who seemed to know little about the condition, I decided to find an internal medicine doctor to try Robinul. He was actually pretty versed on HH, but still wants me to have blood work done to rule out thyroid problems. Well, after I told him about Robinul, he had to leave the office to look up whether or not it is used for HH. He said it was considered an "off-label" treatment, but started me on 1mg pills three times daily.
I took the first one an hour before lunch time, because I've read on here that eating interfers with the drug. It took awhile for me to know if the pills had kicked in yet. Probably about the full hour or so. I noticed a reduction in overall body sweat, including palms and feet. Neither were dry, but it was a noticeable reduction. The second one I took at about 5pm, also an hour before dinner. It seemed to dry me up more than the first pill, but it could also be that I was at home by then and not at work. As for side effects, it's just been the common dry mouth.
I'm thinking I will probably need to try 2mg three times a day to see real results, but I'm going to do the 1mg for a few more days. It also doesn't help that I live in hot and humid Florida. Will post back after further observation, but I ain't throwing away my ionto yet!
Most of the focus on treatment has been on my hands as that's the area that bothers me the most. I started treatment in my late teens starting with Drysol. That didn't do much and ended up causing them to rash. After that, my parents thought it might be anxiety related, so I saw a psychiatrist who prescribed me various anti-depressents and Xanax. Neither of those worked, and I didn't really want to be on them because they sedated me too much.
Then, I switched to iontophoresis, and found limited success with that. It usually required about 2 weeks of daily treatment for me to start seeing results, and I had to continue it frequently because the reduced sweating only lasted for a couple days. I have to take extended breaks from it because the skin on my fingertips will begin to break. After two years of that, I decided that I want to try another option since it was cutting into my time and is pretty painful.
So, after talking to two dermatologists who seemed to know little about the condition, I decided to find an internal medicine doctor to try Robinul. He was actually pretty versed on HH, but still wants me to have blood work done to rule out thyroid problems. Well, after I told him about Robinul, he had to leave the office to look up whether or not it is used for HH. He said it was considered an "off-label" treatment, but started me on 1mg pills three times daily.
I took the first one an hour before lunch time, because I've read on here that eating interfers with the drug. It took awhile for me to know if the pills had kicked in yet. Probably about the full hour or so. I noticed a reduction in overall body sweat, including palms and feet. Neither were dry, but it was a noticeable reduction. The second one I took at about 5pm, also an hour before dinner. It seemed to dry me up more than the first pill, but it could also be that I was at home by then and not at work. As for side effects, it's just been the common dry mouth.
I'm thinking I will probably need to try 2mg three times a day to see real results, but I'm going to do the 1mg for a few more days. It also doesn't help that I live in hot and humid Florida. Will post back after further observation, but I ain't throwing away my ionto yet!