it's back

when i first had botox injected into my hands...i thought maybe, just maybe, it was a placebo effect. i really do believe the mind is a powerful thing, but in this case, not powerful enough. because my hands and feet are back to the way they were: sweaty, sticky, a little swollen, freezing/stiff when the A/C is on at work, and just plain uncomfortable. i'm feeling super conscious of myself again, and i'm losing the confidence i had gained when they weren't sweaty.

on top of that...the dermatologists i have contacted that were on IHHS's list of physicians treating hyperhidrosis don't accept HMO. =( switching to PPO doesn't make sense for us, it's too expensive, and we don't need specific treatment by a specific doctor; the doctor i went to before having health insurance is covered under my HMO plan, so why pay more (a lot more)??

i guess i'll have to wait for the next IHHS conference...

It's over

The days of dry palms and feet look like they're over. The sweat is coming back full force. Click on the picture, and you'll see what I'm talking about...but it's gross, I know, so sorry. Gotta find a doctor now!

Sweaty Palms Update: 3 months

Remember my little (read: HUGE) problem with my sweaty palms. During my fittings, I couldn't even touch my dress because my hands were so wet. After receving the botox treatment at the IHHS conference in Frisco, TX, life has been a little bit sweeter. Let me recap a bit:

before:
-excessive sweating in hands and feet by doing nothing
-wetting papers including important documents and books
-stiffness in my fingers (sometimes preventing me from typing)
-cold hands and feet (can you imagine..they're wet too)
-ruined shoes
-unability to wear some shoes (and I LOOOOOove shoes!)
-constant wiping on my clothes
-afraid to meet people for fear of shaking hands
-reduced confidence (how ever did I score Dee?!)
-difficulty in applying makeup (blending with my fingers was impossible)
-my lap top would make me sweat like crazy
-any activity would make me sweat...e.g. shopping
-difficulty in driving, as in holding the steering wheel
-etc., etc., etc.

after:
-increased confidence
-less distracted by my hands in the office, at home, in a social setting, etc.
-i could wear my shoes without fear of ruining them!
-i can use my touch phone with ease
-i can type without sweating all over the keyboard
-i can hold hubby's hand without having to pull away because of the sweat
-i can touch paper and hold money without drenching and ruining it
-etc., etc., etc.

However...with 3 months past, I am starting to feel the sweat seeping its way to the surface of my hands. It scares me! I don't want to go back to constantly worrying about it again. Back to my search for a doctor who can treat me!

I was quoted in a USAToday article that came out yesterday, June 22, 2009. I'm a little sad in the shortness of the article and how mine and others' suffering isn't really emphasized. People still don't get that this isn't something we can control.

And on our wedding day...while standing before of our family and friends, i only pulled my hands away to wipe the tears out of my eyes (instead of pulling away to wipe my sweaty hands).

All photos taken by { j a c }

The Low Down on Botox...for hyperhidrosis

Here I am in my hotel room...just after receiving botox injections in my hands. I'm a happy camper.

So, as you recall, I have palmar and plantar hyperhidrosis. Basically, my hands and feet sweat. No, it's not just stress, and I can't just wipe it away. No amount of relaxing calms the sweating down. I do have a good day once in a long long long looooooooooooong while, but it always comes back. And I have tried everything, from over-the-counter antiperspirants, products you can only order online, prescribed antiperspirants and oral medications, but I have not tried iontophoresis and surgery.

This is my right hand. I'd already had the botox injected in my hands, but the treatment would not take effect for another 3 days to a week. Believe it or not, this was not a bad day for me...Sometimes, I can feel the sweat dripping from fingers or down my arm from my hands.

But before treating it, it took forever and a half for my doctors to realize it was a problem. Like most people, my "condition" was taken for craziness, absurdedness, or a temporary "thing." No one wanted to believe me, and for a while, I thought I was crazy. Even though my father and my sister have the same condition.

Excessive sweating is a problem affecting lots of people. Not sure if you're one of them? I highly encourage you to check out www.sweathelp.org. The site is run by the International Hyperhidrosis Society: a group of medical professionals who want to help people like me. If you have questions, they have answers. And they are the reason I was able to get the botox treatment for free. I'll come back to this later.

Today will be day 6. I have gone 3 days already of sweat-free hands. I started feeling the effects on day 3; Dee and I had our social dance class, and I usually sweat like crazy (I feel sorry that he has to hold my hand, but he does it, and I love him for it). But there was a significant decrease in sweating in my hands that evening.

The other great thing: my feet have also decreased in sweating as a result. The Executive Director had told us that we may experience this fortunate side effect, and I'm very happy to report that I have it.

But besides treating me and others like me, exessive underarm sweating and exessive sweating in the head were also treated with botox. Some patients were repeat patients who reported that the treatment has been successful for them.

I was also able to try iontopohoresis, a treatment which involves running positive and negative currents through your hands and feet via water. I only got a feel for it though. The treatment usually takes about 40 minutes long.


There was a gentleman at the conference who reported that this treatment was working out just fine for him. He was getting botox injected into his underarms.

So here's my left hand a couple of hours later. The sites that were injected soon turned into a faint purply-blue color, but it wasn't unbearable.

I would like to compare it to getting waxed...it hurts the moment you're doing it, but the benefits are great!

How I suffered before:
-excessive sweating in hands and feet by doing nothing
-wetting papers including important documents and books
-stiffness in my fingers (sometimes preventing me from typing)
-cold hands and feet (can imagine..they're wet too)
-ruined shoes
-unability to wear some shoes (and I LOOOOOove shoes!)
-constant wiping on my clothes
-afraid to meet people for fear of shaking hands
-reduced confidence (how ever did I score Dee?!)
-difficulty in applying makeup (blending with my fingers was impossible)
-my lap top would make me sweat like crazy
-any small activity would make me sweat...like shopping
-difficulty in driving, as in holding the steering wheel
-etc., etc., etc.

Met with someone yesterday and had to shake her hand...no sweating. Went spinning today, minimal sweating in both hands and feet. Also shopped for Dee's suit today...no sweating. My shoes are dry. Typing on my lap top...no sweat. It's amazing! I feel so giddy when I realize I'm not sweating.

Seriously...so happy. Almost happy enough to forget about the grandpa thing.

Day 4 - hyperhidrosis botox treatment

I am blogging from my htc touch pro phone, and my hands are not sweating. I would usually have a hard time using my touch screen phone, but it is great not having to wipe the sweat away from my hands to use my phone.

I will give more details on my Dallas trip soon!

don't sweat it, part II

I keep a box of tissue by my desk so that I can wipe the sweat off my hands. My hands and feet get cold after becoming clammy. I can go through a box of tissue in a week (aka 5 work days). I sit at my desk and my fingers tense up so bad from being wet and cold (mind you, I'm only in my office). When I have to write on documents, I have to use some scratch paper to act as a shield between the document and my hands. When I touch paper, it looks old and used, as if water's been spilled on it and then dried.

I hate meeting new people because that means we have to shake hands. I often avoid it by saying straight up that I'd rather not because my hands are sweaty. And people joke back that I just don't want to shake their hand...I do though. Sometimes, they're confused at why I don't want to shake hands.

I have been trying to get help from my doctor. I tried to mention it in high school when I realized that it wasn't normal, but nothing happened. I mentioned it again to my doctor when I got my own health insurance with my job. Nothing happened. I switched doctors, finally got a referral, waited 6 months, and got nothing.

I decided to do my own research. At first, I could only find things that would help execessive underarm sweating aka auxillary hyperhidrosis. While underarm sweating was another problem to deal with, it wasn't nearly as bad as my sweaty hands and feet. It was nothing that Secret Antiperspirant couldn't help. But then I found Maxim.


I thought Secret was helping...Maxim is awesome. You apply before going to bed, and you're good for like 3 days! No need to apply antiperspirant in the morning. You can only purchase this online though. Some other products that work for exessive underarm sweating: Certain Dri and B+Drier. Both of these can be bought at your local CVS pharmacy.

Source: here

Yes, I did try to apply these products to my hands and feet with no success of stopping or even minimizing the sweating on my hands and feet. *sigh*

I continue my search. Am currently waiting for another referral..which I had to get from another referral.

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don't sweat it...

Too bad I can't help it. I'm about to reveal something about me that has haunted me ever since I can remember. It's caused some difficulty in having a social life, and it's caused me to take major caution with some of the things that I love to do. I've been made fun of for it or made the butt of jokes cuz of it. My sorority nickname mentions the condition (as to be humorous; not to mention it's mean as hell), but I pretty much want to cry when I hear it (it's usually followed by the laughter of everyone else around); I will not be mentioning it. I try to laugh with my friends about it, but it bothers me still.

I have palmar and plantar hyperhidrosis.

Source: here

My hands and feet sweat...like crazy...uncontrollably.

I think the first time Dee held my hand (while it was sweating) and did not flinch, I knew he was "the one." It was a profound moment for me, and I can't thank Dee enough for loving me the way I am. In a relationship a long, long time ago, the boy I was dating at the time was pretty much repulsed by my sweaty palms. I'm pretty sure that's why he dumped me. Anyways...still today, Dee will hold my sweaty hands without complaint, and when we release, he never wipes his hand (or at least I don't see it).

The other bad thing about it is that I can't enjoy my shoes. =( I'm a shoe person. I love love shoes. But the sweating makes it hard to walk in my heels. I've slipped out of them and almost fallen countless times because of the sweating. And the sweating freakin ruins my shoes! I have tons of shoes in my closet that still have not been worn yet because I'm afraid to fall and break my face, and because I'm afraid of ruining them!

I'm looking for relief! I will have to use several posts to show you what I've been through, and what procedure I'm trying to get in order to alleviate this annoying and life inhibiting condition.

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