averagejoe
Active member
Hey everyone! A lot of you may not know me, but I used to post frequently on this forum a while back. It's been almost 2 years since I last posted on this forum, so I thought I'd give you guys the run down about what's been going on these past 2 years.
I'm currently a senior in high school and a soon to be college undergrad. I live in Florida, so it gets pretty hot and humid down here, which only exacerbates my situation. Anyways, I came to the conclusion that I've been diagnosed with hyperhidrosis around my freshman year in high school. I would just constantly sweat from my forehead, scalp, and neck. As a kid, I noticed that I used to sweat a lot more than the other kids, but it never really created an issue. As I aged, it only got worse. As I started to socialize with more people, I started to become self conscious about my hyperhidrosis.
My obsession with this condition first started when I had a sweat attack in my classroom. The A/C was broken that day, and I started to become aware of the heat that was building in the room. This made me nervous, which of course, made me break out sweating. I felt so embarrassed because it was so noticeable. People would ask what was wrong with me and give me blank stares. I just sat there waiting for the sweat to subside, but it never did. Sweat would constantly drip down on to my paper and on to my eyes. I just wanted to die at that very moment. My obsession only got worse, and spiraled me into a deep form of depression.
Over the summer, I would lock myself in my room, refusing to go outside. I spent countless of hours browsing these forums, hoping to find a cure for this condition. I found out that glycopyrrolate had a positive effect on many people, so I got a prescription for the drug and wanted to test it out. Sure enough, it worked like a charm. I would run around my backyard to see how much sweat would accumulate. After about 10 minutes of running, only the top portion of my forehead was a little moist, but everywhere else was as dry as the desert. That was the happiest I felt in a long time. The medication had some repercussions, such as dry mouth and drowsiness, but I thought it was a good trade off judging from the severity of my hyperhidrosis. And from that day, I've been taking the medication nearly every day. For a whole year, I was dry for the most part, and it felt great. I felt like I could start living again.
As I started my senior year of high school, I got fed up with the side effects. The dry mouth was unbearable, and I ate at the pace of a snail because food would always get stuck halfway down to my stomach. I also found myself constantly tired, which wasn't a positive thing either. I reflected back to my last year and could only come up with a handful of times I actually needed to take glyco. I came to the realization that I can't take the medication every single day of my life. It was a temporary band aid that only hid the problem until the next day.
Hyperhidrosis will be a part of me for as long as I live, and I needed to accept that fact. It's that constant pressure that we put on ourselves that is destroying us. That pressure develops a negative mindset which breeds a strong hatred for others, and especially for ourselves. We can blame genetics or god for giving us such an accursed disease, but the fact remains that we still have hyperhidrosis.
So it all boils down to what can we do to fix it. The answer? Nothing. It's not within our grasp to tell what our bodies can and can't do. It might seem hopeless to even try to go on, but amidst all that hopelessness is a spark of hope. We have to muster up the strength and willpower to push aside those social pressures and cherish those few things that makes life worth living. Over the years, I've formed new friends that accept me for who I am. I've actually been in some instances where I broke out sweating when I'm around them, but they either paid little or no attention to it. That made me think, "Hey, if they don't care, then why should I care?". The trick is to stop caring so much about the problem, even if you don't mean it. You have to convince yourself that hyperhidrosis isn't a big deal, and move on. Once you make peace with that, the thought of sweating will rarely cross your mind.
Life throws us a lot of curve balls, and this is one of them, but don't let this one be the bane of your existence. It may seem hard to overcome such a huge barrier, but we can do it. We all have the mental strength and toughness to get through this. There is no if, and, or but, we're all going to make it, that's the bottom line.
This may be the last time I post on this website, but I want to thank everyone here for helping me get through this, and for having the patience to read through all of this. Even if you don't believe in yourself, know that I believe in every one of you out there. Life is just too short to be spent dwelling over something as minor as this.
Good luck guys!
I'm currently a senior in high school and a soon to be college undergrad. I live in Florida, so it gets pretty hot and humid down here, which only exacerbates my situation. Anyways, I came to the conclusion that I've been diagnosed with hyperhidrosis around my freshman year in high school. I would just constantly sweat from my forehead, scalp, and neck. As a kid, I noticed that I used to sweat a lot more than the other kids, but it never really created an issue. As I aged, it only got worse. As I started to socialize with more people, I started to become self conscious about my hyperhidrosis.
My obsession with this condition first started when I had a sweat attack in my classroom. The A/C was broken that day, and I started to become aware of the heat that was building in the room. This made me nervous, which of course, made me break out sweating. I felt so embarrassed because it was so noticeable. People would ask what was wrong with me and give me blank stares. I just sat there waiting for the sweat to subside, but it never did. Sweat would constantly drip down on to my paper and on to my eyes. I just wanted to die at that very moment. My obsession only got worse, and spiraled me into a deep form of depression.
Over the summer, I would lock myself in my room, refusing to go outside. I spent countless of hours browsing these forums, hoping to find a cure for this condition. I found out that glycopyrrolate had a positive effect on many people, so I got a prescription for the drug and wanted to test it out. Sure enough, it worked like a charm. I would run around my backyard to see how much sweat would accumulate. After about 10 minutes of running, only the top portion of my forehead was a little moist, but everywhere else was as dry as the desert. That was the happiest I felt in a long time. The medication had some repercussions, such as dry mouth and drowsiness, but I thought it was a good trade off judging from the severity of my hyperhidrosis. And from that day, I've been taking the medication nearly every day. For a whole year, I was dry for the most part, and it felt great. I felt like I could start living again.
As I started my senior year of high school, I got fed up with the side effects. The dry mouth was unbearable, and I ate at the pace of a snail because food would always get stuck halfway down to my stomach. I also found myself constantly tired, which wasn't a positive thing either. I reflected back to my last year and could only come up with a handful of times I actually needed to take glyco. I came to the realization that I can't take the medication every single day of my life. It was a temporary band aid that only hid the problem until the next day.
Hyperhidrosis will be a part of me for as long as I live, and I needed to accept that fact. It's that constant pressure that we put on ourselves that is destroying us. That pressure develops a negative mindset which breeds a strong hatred for others, and especially for ourselves. We can blame genetics or god for giving us such an accursed disease, but the fact remains that we still have hyperhidrosis.
So it all boils down to what can we do to fix it. The answer? Nothing. It's not within our grasp to tell what our bodies can and can't do. It might seem hopeless to even try to go on, but amidst all that hopelessness is a spark of hope. We have to muster up the strength and willpower to push aside those social pressures and cherish those few things that makes life worth living. Over the years, I've formed new friends that accept me for who I am. I've actually been in some instances where I broke out sweating when I'm around them, but they either paid little or no attention to it. That made me think, "Hey, if they don't care, then why should I care?". The trick is to stop caring so much about the problem, even if you don't mean it. You have to convince yourself that hyperhidrosis isn't a big deal, and move on. Once you make peace with that, the thought of sweating will rarely cross your mind.
Life throws us a lot of curve balls, and this is one of them, but don't let this one be the bane of your existence. It may seem hard to overcome such a huge barrier, but we can do it. We all have the mental strength and toughness to get through this. There is no if, and, or but, we're all going to make it, that's the bottom line.
This may be the last time I post on this website, but I want to thank everyone here for helping me get through this, and for having the patience to read through all of this. Even if you don't believe in yourself, know that I believe in every one of you out there. Life is just too short to be spent dwelling over something as minor as this.
Good luck guys!
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