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How Compensatory Sweating works:

The current train of thought is that our own inbuilt thermometer is faulty. This is called the Hypothalamus and it’s tucked away in the brain. This is what causes us to overheat. When the body’s temperature rises by 4 degrees C, we become disorientated and confused. By the time we reach 7 degrees C, we’d be dead. Because the body is such an amazing feat of natural engineering, we have an inbuilt sprinkler system to prevent us from overheating and to keep us alive. This is where the sweating comes from. When you block off any area of sweating, that’s all you’re doing. You’re not cooling yourself down. As you’re still hot, you’ll still be sweating until you cool down, it’s just that the sweat will appear in other areas and it’ll take longer to cool down as your sweating is limited. Blocking sweat is not the best way of dealing with it, although we all need to block in the odd area or two – ie underarms etc. It’s always a far better idea to soak up and disguise sweat than to block it.

CS as a result of ETS and Generalised Hyperhidrosis:

The main places ETS people suffer is down their back, torso, groin and legs. I would suggest products like laulas undershirts and polo shirts, www.sweat-help.com and Wrapps www.coolwrapps.com. Both of these products will deal with soaking up sweat by clever use of fabrics. I use both products and they certainly make life easier for me. Wrapps are also increasingly used by sportsmen and women, musicians etc as well as HH sufferers.

Please feel free to visit the site and dive into the forum conversations – or even just keep an eye out for competitions (we get to give away lots of free products) and hints and tips on disguising and dealing with your sweating.

Thank you for your blog Lisa! It sounds very familiar to me, with friends like that, who needs enemies? **big hugs**

Me and my annoying friend hyperhidrosis i cant get rid of.

I wake up suddenly with my hair stuck to my face and my pj’s clinging to my body, I throw the duvet off and jump out of my sweaty bed. Glancing at the temperature I see 12 degrees today in my house…..yet it still feels like 30 degrees as i’m burning up. Grab a cold drink, sit down and calm myself down.

Time to get ready for the day….highs of 15 degrees today. White t-shirt, jeans and thin black cardi. I fling the bathroom window wide open, feeling the cold air on my face whilst brushing my teeth. Start applying my make up, I’m tempted to turn my mini fan on but I battle through this morning. Scrape my hair back and clip the loose hair back. I wish I could straighten my hair but this friend of mine doesn’t let me straighten it and if he does within 10 minutes of walking out the door he has made it a curly wet mess.

Grab my bag, and pull my coat on…..attempting to look normal and avoid catching a cold. I’m running late for my doctors appointment, a 10 minute brisk walk and i’m there. Now I could be wrong but I’m sure I have walked into a sauna…..I quickly strip down to my t-shirt and push open a window. Only to get moaned at by an old lady complaining its cold with the window open. I want to scream at her, she’s sitting there in her coat rosy cheeked, I’m sitting there in a t-shirt sweat pouring everywhere. I stumble into the doctors room and get through my appointment in a soggy mess. I can’t bare to put my coat on so walk come without it on.

Strip down for 10 minutes before I need to leave for my follow up dermatologists appointment. Surprise surprise Im sure the doctor made them turn the heating off and open all the windows so its cold in the waiting room. I get called in, instructed to strip and told Im not sweating. Plucking up the courage to tell her to shove her hand in my undies when a male nurse flies in and I back out. My pills didn’t work. Her response? It’s only sweating you are just going to have to live with it. Oh how much I wished something like freaky Friday would have happened right then!!

I head into town finding it unbearable. I find it ironic that the shops turn their heating on to encourage custom. Any hot shops don’t get my custom I walk straight out.

Get the phone call about my car. It’s not worth fixing…..the sweat pours just thinking of the stressful few days to follow. Arrive at the garage to pay the man just in a t-shirt, he comments about how I must be freezing. I brush it off and get out of there as quick as I can.

Finally home, I chuck on some joggers and a vest. Time to start on dinner. Fling the kitchen windows wide open, prepare my kitchen towel to dab my face and crack on. Eventually get though cooking.

Bath time, my favourite part of the day. I let the cold water run into the bath 5 minutes before i get out. Sit down in my towel drying off and get into my pyjamas.

Bed time with half my body outside of the duvet and half my body under the duvet I finally get to sleep. Another day over in what seems like a hell hole.

My name is Lisa and I’m a generalized sweater, my friend hyperhidrosis insists on introducing himself first every day.

Hello all,

I thought I would approach this subject as most of us seem to be complaining about what to wear, what if I sweat.  We all have the, “What If’s?”
I know I am, and as time is getting closer to Thanksgiving, Christmas office parties, dinners, dances, Ball’s, schools plays, shopping we all tend to suffer from pre-festivity panic.

We tend to panic and make ourselves worse than what we began.  If we just looked at this simply we could erase a lot of our, “What If’s”
If you are like me and my life has been so busy this year has flown and were here again!  I am currently getting ready to move and I have a big ball approaching.  I have tried to get out of it but looks like I am going to have to attend.  I have been listening to the other wife’s and their excitement on dresses and hair do’s and such and I wish or I pray I could also get as excited as them and wear the lovely clothing.  But in reality I can’t!

I have thought about going back on my oral medication for a few weeks but I am still battling a sinus infection and will probably not help matters right now.

Can you join me in making a list on what we should do and what we should not do?  Here are some of my sugestions.
If daytime office lunch, dress in layers and battle your way like a rugby player, American Football player, to get that seat next to the window, and as the lunch begins and you feel your sweating arrive, take off your layers, ask to open up the window and if your a woman blame it on a hot flash…yes we do have an advantage on that one, sorry Gentlemen.

If an office party, again dress in layers and make believe your an onion and peal them off, also if windows available use them or take in a power hand fan or use a folder to cool you down lol..I’m beginning to smile here now as have been there done all the above and will carry on.

Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner..one of the worst as so much preping and cooking can make for a hot hell hole before it even begins, If you can make sure someone else cooks or go out..laughing hard now! 

OK, if you are cooking then do what I always do, buy a already cooked turkey and prepare most of your sides and deserts the day and evening before, takes off so much stress and you can sweat all over everything and they will never know, with 5 fans blowing on you from every angle, kidding about the dripping in food sweat…tee-hee!

Dressing for the occasion can be the hardest of them all and the daunting task we all fear….What am I going to wear that wont show my sweating, wishing you could just crawl into a dark hole and remain there.  I would advise a very light material or dinner jacket, nothing that is going to cling to the body or create more heat. 

I swear by dark clothing, hides a multitude of sins, including sweating..ha!  I love black and silver as they look so good together, a bit of bling and you can’t go wrong.  What I have found helps also is wear some glimmer lotion as if the sweat does arrive you can’t really see it, or as my girls like to call it, Fairy dust

For our hand sweaters, I encourage a cold or half frozen water bottle always remain in your hands and you can use the frozen water melting as your excuse.  Also have a face cloth hidden in a pocket or purse.  For head sweaters also, go to the bathroom and mop down! 

For the ones whom like to have a few drinks, like me, I always have two beers before as this will trigger my sweating and once my body has had the initial shock of alcohol it will not be bad as first arriving and having a drink!!!  I tend to go bright red in the chest, neck and face…I wear a shawl and large jewelry to try to hide this.

So my dear friends, members, fellow sweaters, brother and sisters, I encourage you to add your little secrets on what you do to keep the sweat at bay.

Will you be on the naughty or nice list this year?  Hee hee…you can use your imagination and help others achieve less sweat this SEASON.
Hugs,

Anne x

 AWARENESS on our disease.

When you see a Doctor or specialist most do not know the impact this has on us on the daily basics. They fob us off with yet another aluminum chloride treatment which burns your skin, sometimes leaving it so sore and takes weeks to heal.

Some of us have to educate the Doctor about Hyperhidrosis as they look at you blankly!!! I honestly don’t think much has changed in the last 5-10 years!   I am in a constant argument with my  Doctors for Botox as this is the only treatment that does give me relief.   I dry out to much on oral medications and feel worse being on them.

Do you think we will ever get the awareness on this???   We see the clinical strength out on the market and I have read them all, only one says you may have Hyperhidrosis!!!! One out of lots!!!  Adverts never tell you about it or commercials, the woman whom show there pits dry and arms up have never suffered from a days sweat or constantly worrying about it.

Who is ready to write a day in a life of a sufferer? I am and I will post them on the front page of our website for all to see. It is about time. Does not have to be long, just how it really is.

If you are interested then PM me, or drop Beverly a line betty@verysweatybetty.com please put in topic line, GUEST BLOG A DAY IN A LIFE OF A SUFFERER.  Or what you would like to be changed for the better of us, any ideas or suggestions will not be ignored.

We are the ones who can only help make the change, tell your Doctors and Medical staff how it really is, ask them to try the awful treatments they give us….

LOTS OF LITTLE VOICES CAN MAKE ONE BIG ONE XXXXX

I want to personally thank a new member for allowing us to post her story.  She knows how important this is for us all in raising awareness on this awful skin disease, that brings us all misery every day of our lives. 

This is a very moving story of inspiration, bravery and courage. 
We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts….

Anne and Beverly xxx

If you want to join in our cause on, “Raising Awareness” Join the cause, we have a section in the forum for this HAC, Hyperhidrosis Awareness Campaign, good things are happening. 

I always say lots of little voices can make one big one.  If you want to join our cause then please send your story to our very own Beverly at betty@verysweatybetty.com   She will be glad to post it on our front page and if requested all will be confidential.  Thanks for helping us here at Very Sweaty Betty, your friendly sweaty support group.

Vicki’s story,

Something a little bit different from me today. This is something that really riles me. The amounts given are in pounds. I can’t imagine this type of structure is only applicable to the UK. I’d bet my last £1 that the US, Australia etc etc have their own versions of these benefits.

We’re “broke” and can’t help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc.

Are you aware of the following?

The British Government provides the following financial assistance:

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Weekly allowance £104
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN Weekly allowance £250
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Weekly Spouse allowance £25
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN Weekly Spouse allowance £225
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER Additional weekly hardship allowance £0.00
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN Additional weekly hardship allowance £100
BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT < £6,000
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £29,900

Please copy this to all your contacts so that we can lobby for a decent old age pension.

Please bear in mind that the average pensioner has paid taxes and contributed to the growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years.

By our very own Denise, Following her, Help Wanted….
For the Record,

If any of you have read my last post, and thought I might be implying that Hyperhidrosis does not compare to scleroderma and we have no right to complain, that was not what I was trying to say, not at all.

My point is that Michele Mayer was a highly educated woman, her husband is in fact a physician, Moreover Michele was highly respected in the medical community, could speak the lingo, knew what she had and it still took 6 years to get a proper diagnosis. In that 6 years she was aware of what medications, procedures and protocols were available to treat the early stages of her disease.

Yet, because of her inability to get a proper diagnosis, all of these avenues were closed to her. We will never know if she could still be alive today, had she been diagnosed in a timely matter. Moreover, Michele had done her research and frequently went head to head with the doctors, who repeatedly tried to prescribe outdated medications, that had been shown to be wholly ineffective, while fighting her requests for another. Albeit, the truth is there is very little to help people suffering with Scleroderma. As her skin turned into a shell like structure, her vital and unseen organs were doing the same. This disease is a killer, very little is known how to treat it, and it is a death sentence. It may be 3 years it may be 5 years, but with the passing of each year, reduced mobility is a given as ones internal organs turn to stone.

Yet, Michele worked on her own memorial, did what she could with her children, and wrote about her life, her doctors, her friends, family, as the disease slowly turned every breath into a struggle. She had to fight the medical community every step of the way, as the disease continued to turn her internal organs into stone.

How do we proceed?   Does any of us hold a Doctorate in Public Health? How do we proceed to get the attention of the medical community? How do we proceed? I continue to write letters, and be ignored.   I sent a letter to a doctor here in town, he is mentioned in one of Suzanne Somers books as a surgeon who turned away from surgeries for excessive sweating to a more natural remedy. NOTHING, no response.

What should we do to be heard?

Help us fight to be heard, fight with us to be treated for our medical disease/disorder.  We deserve this.  Write you story on living with Hyperhidrosis, we are still in the, Dark Ages and will continue to be if we don’t stand our ground and help raise awareness.  You can send your story to Anne, Beverly, Denise, kimberly in our friendly forum, we can keep it all confidential but our little voices, can make one BIG ONE.  So please help.

Denise

If you have problems with groin sweating, please visit Denise’s website www.coolwrapps.com

I really hope this inspires you all, it did for me.  Thank you again my dearest friend, Denise, what a talent in writing you have and for sharing this great info and inspiration with us.

Help Wanted…

Last night I was watching the news and saw a story about a book: Our Bodies Ourselves, it was the 40th anniversary of the original publishing of the book. 40 years, wow, I have a copy of it and I had forgotten how much flap there was about the book back then. But there was a real bruhaha over this book and it was just a small group of women who started it. The horror of it all, a group of women, the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective had the unmitigated gall to gather information from women, about their own bodies, sharing information even Doctors were not giving their patients, and publish a book so millions of women would have access to information about their own bodies. There was a series of interviews (on the news) by many from so long ago, and some recent. Dr. Susan Love was talking about how this book was what in fact drove her when she was in medical school. As a student Susan Love was learning what was being taught to up and coming Ob/gyns, and it was sorely lacking.

This may be surprising to some, but to others, not so much. I believe the medical profession would prefer to go back to the good old days when any “female” complaint was simply treated with leaches. Fortunately, women are no longer banned from higher education allowed and vote, so it is highly unlikely that will happen. But at least it gives us a point of reference for what we are dealing with: The Medical Community.

Sometime ago I read a blog entitled: A Diary of a Dying Mom, by Michele Mayer. Michele Mayer started as a nurse, then went on to pursue a Masters and a Doctorate in Public Health, which earned her the title of Doctor. She was not a physician, but had achieved a rather lofty status, not that it helped her much. It took her over 6 years to be correctly diagnosed as having Scleroderma.

Repeatedly doctors told her she did not have this disease, and she honestly did not want it. There is no cure for Scleroderma, what it does is turn the skin into an exoskeleton, as well as vital organs, it is an autoimmune disease that starts up for no apparent reason. There is a medical term that indicates unknown origin, that escapes me at this moment…Idiopathic, is the term. At any rate, if you have the time to read it, you should read this blog. Yes, Michele Mayer died about 2 years ago, but what the lesson is: she lived, and battled the medical profession every step of the way, along with a disease that eventually took her life. Michele Mayer presented a paper detailing what is is to be a “difficult patient,” and how proud she was of it. Going against “the doctor” is not pleasant ; getting a doctor to listen to the patient is almost impossible.

SHOULD WE ALL WRITE A CHAPTER WHAT LIVING WITH HYPERHIDROSIS REALLY IS AND SELF PUBLISH IT? 

Would it help?  I CAN GET NO RESPONSE!   I have written Dr. Love about Hyperhidrosis, I have written Dr. Oz. No response. That is all I get: nothing. But I am going to keep writing letters, in an attempt to be heard. Occasionally I go back and reread Michele Mayer’s paper on being “a difficult patient” and keep on, because I can. Hyperhidrosis is still a better card to draw than Scleroderma any day of the week.

Denise

I admire Denise as she stays so strong and refuses to give up.  I also am battling with raising awareness on this, I feel like I hit brick walls daily.  No one ever gets back to you or even members wont help.  Were not asking a lot, a short story, blog on how it is to live with this skin disease daily.  We are suffer daily and why not help ourselves along the path to get better treatment, a Doctor or medical staff who are trained to help us.

I’m tired of being fobbed off with another oral med that is not even related to my Hyperhidrosis, living in a fog from the side effects or another harsh topical treatment that burns our skin.  PLEASE HELP.

Hello all,

I have been asking for members help to try and get the awareness out for all to see and to encourage a guest blog on a day in their lives or a certain story you can share with us that shows what it is like.

I came up with the perfect title and many have agreed with me that it is perfect…how much has treatment really changed in the last 10 years?!  Not much.  ETS is less and being banned in certain countries around the world. 

I would love to feature your story and let people see how we suffer from this awful affliction.

Think about it and get writing

Our first guest blog is our very own Denise, she is such a talented lady and an amazing friend.  Denise also invented the Wrapps,  www.coolwrapps.com which have saved many of us from embarrassing situations.   Denise is a very talented writer also, enjoy.

The Dark Ages, Living with Hyperhidrosis

For many of us, we have discovered that most health care providers are wholly unable to understand what it is to be the patient. Largely because, they are the Doctor and have spent years of their lives learning about body parts. Sadly, that is reflected in treatment of the current ailment, sprained ankle, migrain headache, or broken bone that necessitated your visit. You are simply a body part, to be attended to. The whole person insignificant. This is the American way; to treat pregnancy as a disease; while we have managed to turn our birth rate into one that rivals any third world nation in the world. How did things come to be this way? Moreover, is there anything we do to change it? It will be an uphill battle, but having lived for as long as you have with Hyperhidrosis, can you think of any better training?

A while back, Dr. Oz did another segment on hh. The advise to those of us suffering from HH was simple: “wear a little extra deoderant and don’t worry about it.”   Though I had sent Dr. Oz an email on a previous occasion, this was too much. I wrote  Dr. Oz a letter asking him to please refrain from doing any more segments on HH.   I asked Dr. Oz how many times in a day did he advise the application of deoderant on the scalp, back, back of the knees, etc.   Explained to Dr. Oz that I understood he did not believe in HH.

I had a doctor (here where I live,) who did not believe in depression, and refused to write me a prescription for antidepressants.   I understand Dr. Oz does not believe in HH, this other doctor did not believe in depression. But it is still hurtful to those of us who suffered from either, or both.   So please stop doing segments on HH, it is only hurting us as you do not have a clue.

I sent the letter to his TV show, in New York, and it was returned to me, unopened, with a big black question mark by my name on the return address.   I immediately looked up his work adress, and enclosed an other note on top of the unopened, returned letter about how he really knew how to make his viewers feel important, and put it back in the mail. No, I have not heard from him. I do not expect to. He is an important man, a Doctor, for crying out loud.   He does not have time to listen to his viewers, he has to do a surgery, a show. He is a busy man, much to busy to learn that he does not know what he is talking about.   Why should he listen to his viewers or patients? We did not go to medical school, he did. And that appears to be the prevailing attitude of most doctors, the M.D. stands for Major Diety. It does not, and I am so tired of this attitude. The medical community can not even decide if drinking coffee is good or bad for us, for crying out loud. Why do doctors have the right to decide which disease they believe in, or treat? Why? This I do not know.   I do know, that it is difficult to find a decent doctor, one that will listen. And if it takes raising our voices to be heard, or voting with our feet, each of us must decide which course of action to take.

Denise

Denise, we feel your pain and know how frustrating this is, how about you get in touch with my good friend Dr Danial Carrasco.  He was the only one who fully knew about living with HH, his brother suffers from this disease and he was patient and understanding.  He also trains other Doctors about Hyperhidrosis.  I doubt I will ever find another Dr so understanding again.

Dr Carrasco is our Doctor on board, if you have private questions to ask him in regards to your Hyperhidrosis PM myself, Anne, Beverly, Denise or Kimberly and we will make sure he gets your questions.
The Dark Ages is open for all comments and if you want to feature your guest blog, please let me know on the forum or our Sweaty Betty FaceBook page and we can make this happen.

Lots of little voices can make one huge voice, lets get heard and lets make a difference.