VerySweatyBetty.com

Here is a guest blog from our very own member Stephanie, she was kind enough to let us post this for all to read.  Even your special day can be a night mare when you live with Hyperhidrosis.

Thanks again Stephanie, you are a star xxx

I’ve been looking through your stories and some made me laugh or wanna cry because I’ve been going through the same stuff for years.

It can be so humiliating at times… the face shiny with sweat, clothes darkened with sweat patches, wet spots when you stand up, etc… I can honestly say one moment of total horror turned into something funny (though it’s hard to admit to anyone that though I’m laughing I’m super ashamed).

It happened during my wedding last summer. I was dreading being in front of people with Hyperhidrosis making me look awful, but I just sucked it up and did my best. I can’t wear much make up because I’d just sweat it off so I just washed my face put on some eye-liner and lip balm and a little aloe Vera gel that was supposed to keep my skin cool. No coffee or food before the ceremony because that can trigger a flood for me. It wasn’t super hot that morning and for that I was thankful.

On the way to city hall I made sure the air-con was turned up high in the car and I took deep breaths and cleared my mind to calm down.

Everything was going great until I sat down in the wedding room next to my fiancé, within 5 minutes I could feel it starting. Slowly my nose and forehead started getting wetter and wetter.   I had no handkerchief or anything!   The only thing I had was my bouquet and fiancé (neither of which wipe up sweat so good).

Since I was a distance from the guests I just tried to inconspicuously use my finger tips in what I was praying looked like me fixing my hair or scratching or something of the sort, but it didn’t stop in spite of the room being air conditioned.

I whispered to my fiance asking if he had a handkerchief?  But no, he didn’t!!!… Then obviously they noticed me wiping, my brother in law stood up and offered me his handkerchief.   I could have died of shame!

I took it gratefully and dabbed at my nose first and then my forehead though I really just wanted to wipe my whole face back and forth (I wonder how that would have looked in the video!?).

Then here is where it got weird for me, the lady officiating our wedding got me a whole box of tissues and said it was OK for me to cry and I quote, “It’s OK, you can cry a river because it’s your big day”.

It took a moment to hit me then I realised that the way I was wiping the sweat off my nose looked like I was wiping tears from my eyes so everyone thought I was crying.

I guess that’s better than them thinking what an icky sweaty bride I was.   Not to mention that even if they said it I wouldn’t have understood because I got married in the Netherlands to a Dutchman and most of his family speak only Dutch.

The ceremony was bilingual because my Dutch isn’t so good yet.   So I worried that if they commented about the sweat it would go right over my head! Ha!

In the wedding video it really does look like I’m wiping off tears.   Only my husband knew what was up.   At some point during the ceremony my face didn’t sweat so much but my hands just got worse and very cold and I started worrying about standing up and having my silk ivory dress a shade darker around my behind.   My husband must have seen my worry because he took my hand, sweat and all and said it would be ok.

It was OK,  (no wet butt!!)   After the ceremony when I shook hands with lots of people starting with the official she commented that my hands were freezing and maybe they should have turned the air-con down (I was thinking hell no, I’ll melt!).

Hyperhidrosis has embarrassed me for most of my life and it almost ruined my wedding day!  (I was seriously contemplating taking a break in the middle of my vows to get cool and dry… how would that have looked?).

Thank God for people thinking I was crying instead because now that it’s in the past I can laugh at it and not feel super bad.

I’d like to say that after that day I got over the fear of being in front of people even with my Hyperhidrosis.

Honestly, Hyperhidrosis still controls a lot of stuff in my life, from where I sit in a room, to if I go out to parties or talk to people or shake hands.

When I was younger I used to be so confident, talking to a room full of people or being the centre of attention wasn’t a big deal.   Since the Hyperhidrosis started and has progressively gotten worse,  I’m too ashamed to do things that involve other people looking at me.

I feel like it’s robbing me of control over my life!   Do you guys feel the same sometimes?

Sorry for the super long post but I was just dying to vent for the first time in my life to people who know just how much this sucks.

Stephanie posted this on our FaceBook Private Group, again, “Thanks” .