VerySweatyBetty.com

Clothing for Excessive Sweating

Sweating is something that the body does naturally all the time. Even when it is cold, the human body perspires to keep its temperature regulated. However, there are people who have excessive sweating or to give it its official name – hyperhidrosis.

Sometimes excessive sweating is a medical condition that a doctor can treat. This usually means the condition will improve. During this time, a person may feel embarrassed, or feel self-conscious about their appearance. They do not want people to see perspiration marks on their clothing. Being anxious about sweating and others seeing the perspiration, can lead to more incidences of heavy sweating. People often become depressed and isolate themselves from others, to hide the excessive sweating. 

If people with this issue do go out, they will often try to hide the sweating by wearing loose fitting clothing regardless of fashion trends and looks. Shopping for clothes becomes a mission to find clothes that will not make it obvious that they are sweating rather than if a person actually likes the clothing.

There are clothing fabrics and colors that will prevent others from noticing the excess sweating. A person will feel more confident if they have knowledge of the type of fabrics that will work best for them. In addition, sweating can create body odour, so choosing the proper fabric can reduce the smell of perspiring. Using anti-perspirants and frequent bathing is imperative for people with excessive sweating. The first items of clothing we put on each morning are undergarments. While generally, no one else will see them, the fabric of undergarments can help prevent, or conceal excessive perspiration. Choose cotton fabrics as these will allow perspiration to evaporate more rapidly. 

Women and men can also purchase speciality products that are made for hyperhidrosis. Dress shields, or underarm shields, can be worn in the armpit area to absorb perspiration. They are available in disposable and washable formats for men and women. Camisoles or undershirts in breathable cotton, bamboo or other natural fabrics can also absorb sweat. People must experiment with layering, and find what works the best for them. Socks are now manufactured by many companies in fabric that has wicking action. Wicking action means it carries the sweat away from the skin, allowing the perspiration to evaporate. 

There are also clothing items in athletic wear, which provide wicking. These can often be worn as undergarments, or for everyday wear. Colour choice in clothing is also important to hide perspiration. Darker colours do not show sweat marks as much as lighter colours. Patterned fabric prevents perspiration marks from being as apparent. Wearing a jacket, bolero, sweater of other layering garment can prevent others from seeing armpit stains. While shopping for clothing, bring along a water bottle. Sprinkle a tiny amount of water on the clothing item to see how the moisture reacts on the fabric. 

There is help out there so don’t let hyperhidrosis get in the way of loving and living your life.

Author Bio:
Catherine is a freelance copywriter working for websites on cosmetic dentistry and health. She has a cat called Pete and enjoys baking, reading and cinema trips.

Forum link

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.

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

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,

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

Sometimes it’s easier to gauge whether a product is worth trying when you read testimonials – so we’ve been sent the below for you to get a feel of what Klima Antiperspirant has done for other people.

Sweat Guard’s website

Forum link

We thought it was about time we added an FAQ section with just some of the questions we are asked on a regular basis.

Q: Who is Very Sweaty Betty?

A: All of us. We all are. If you sweat excessively, that entitles you to become one of the elite who can call themselves Sweaty Betty. It’s true!

Q: What do you do?

A: We help. Or we try to. The two founders have over 70 years personal experience of Hyperhidrosis between them. They know what adversities people have to face every day of their lives. We provide a friendly ear – or shoulder – and do our best to advise you on building your own personal strategy for dealing with your sweat.

Q: Is that all?

A: No! That’s just the tip of the iceberg! We have a private forum for people of all ages to get together and share tips and help prop each other up during the hard times. We even have a ranting section that we use when we want to let rip about something. The great thing is, you can talk about anything and everything on our forum, nobody will judge you for being who you are.

Q: What advantages are there for me?

A: For a start, it’s free. You get all the help and support we can possibly give you. We have enough love to go around all our lovely members. We are really lucky to have specialists aboard too – we have a highly qualified Dermatologist (skin specialist) whose specific interest is in Hyperhidrosis. He regularly uses Botox for people who sweat excessively. We have a qualified Nurse who suffers from Hyperhidrosis herself and we also have an almost-qualified Counselor – who also suffers personally. Coming soon is a What Not to Wear section – where our specialist shopper (with Hyperhidrosis) scours the High Street to help you find sweat-friendly clothing wherever you are!

Q: Anything else?

A: Since you ask, yes. We are really lucky to have sponsors who help pay our website’s running costs. They are all really good reputable companies who we have got to know personally over the years. They are all dedicated in helping the often miserable world of Hyperhidrosis to become a happier place by developing and selling a multitude of products specifically for this disease. We try a lot of products on VSB, and we blog about them. If they work, we tell you. If they don’t work, we tell you that, too. Having Hyperhidrosis can be an expensive business, our blogs help you to decide for yourself the products that will best suit you personally. We regularly have special offers on all kinds of products so you can even save yourself some money, too!

Q: What do you want from me?

A: Besides your friendship?  Just the one thing, please. It’s not much but it will help make an awful lot of difference to our ongoing Awareness Campaign – please link to www.verysweatybetty.com from your home pages, blogs, wherever you can. If you like, you could use www.hyperhidrosisawarenesscampaign.com or www.hyperhidrosissupport.instead. It’s all the same to us. Each time you add a link to us, you’re helping us to achieve our aims of bringing the knowledge of this miserable disease to everyone.  It means that one day, you will be able to step outside your front door without the stigma attached to sweating.  Comments like ‘buy some deodorant’ or ‘get a shower’ is what we aim to eradicate.  We also want to remind the medical world that Hyperhidrosis IS a big deal and that we all need their help.

Hello all,
I have been feeling so frustrated since last week thinking I was going to receive my Facial, Cranial Botox as a Hyperhidrosis treatment.

We drove 50 miles round trip and waited almost 45 minutes to be seen by my lovely Dermatologist, when she took me back  I placed my bag on the window sill next to the procedure bed thinking this is where I would have my treatment done.  I could see her looking and she told me to sit in the chair near her.  (I thought she prob wants to go over the side effects and make sure all meds were the same?!)

I sat and waited and she smiled weakly and said, “The are not allowing you to have the Botox treatment as they see if as a cosmetic procedure rather than a medical treatment!”

She apologized and I know in my heart if she could have made it happen she would.

I was gob smacked and told her I thought I was having it done? I said the her nurse had called telling me so?!  She said she was sorry for this and that it was a miss communication.  She thought it best to have her deliver the news in person rather than over the phone.  I told her thank you and asked why!  All I wanted to do was burst into tears and scream.

She said they saw it as a cosmetic thing rather than a medical treatment and I challenged her and said big organizations claim that most insurance companies are now seeing Botox as the big treatment for this and why wont mine?  She said they don’t understand, they don’t get it!  Even though it stated all the other tried treatments failed.

I then proceeded on and said, “do they think I want a wrinkle free scalp and hair line?” I’m not asking to have this done any where else!  I could see if I was having it done around my eyes and other areas.  She replied they just dont get it.  I them told her how this affects me on a daily basics.  She gets it, she really does but her hands were tied.

How are they EVER GOING TO GET HOW IT EFFECTS US ON A DAILY BASICS???  Can anyone answer this?  Until they walk in our sweaty bodies, they never will or if they have a close family or friend who suffers to really see the draining impact of life and hyperhidrosis.  They will never know how we turn down social events and fear ones we have to attend because they don’t understand or get it!

They will never know how we hide behind closed doors or wear dark clothing to disguise the sweating.  How we feel dirty and what it feels like to have to live in wet clothing.  To suffer yeast infections on our skin and chaff from the sweating.   How afraid we are of having to shake a hand or hold something.  How we have to change clothing often and ruin our clothing because of the smell and sweat stains that wont come out.  How we slip and slide in shoes or make them so wet and funky we have to replace them often.   How normal activities for everyone else turn into a sweaty night mare for us.  The fear of hot weather and humidity.

How would they feel, if they walked in our bodies for a week?

Do you think Hyperhidrosis would be more accepted and treated better?

I have a member in the forum the same way as I was a week ago!!   Crushed and in tears as she was told she could not have the oral medication they prescribe for this (even though it is not for Hyperhidoris) but used as one of the side effects is less sweating!  We take them because of this, regardless of their horrid side effects and dangers of being in prolonged daylight.  We take them because they give us some relief and peace of mind from the endless sweating.  Just like we do with hundreds of needles if WE  ARE GRANTED, Botox or Dysport as a treatment for this.  The only treatment currently to give us a few months break and less of the horrible side effects but it is like liquid gold, hard to get!   Do we blame the manufacturer or maybe Doctors or even the public for making it this way?  It is seen as a cosmetic procedure for vanity but what can give SUFFERERS OF HYPERHIDROSIS relief we are denied!

What can I tell her?!

I can give her the support and comfort she deserves as she is a beautiful human being who suffers and has become a dear friend.  She suffers daily not only physically but emotionally as they go hand in hand.  The emotional round about we are on daily would swing your head!  The thought and preparation of a day in a sufferers life if there is an social event would have you a basket case too!

How do I tell her that everything is going to be OK?  How do I tell myself?  With not having professionals understanding this skin disease, WHO IS?

I have a big event coming up in two weeks and had to pay for my own treatment, most are not cheap.

I have to give a big shout out to my wonderful Dermatologist in Austin, Dr Daniel Carrasco who does understand and did help at a discounted price.

We need more understanding on this and compassion from professionals.  More awareness need to be raised and if your with me let me know and we can fight against this together.  There needs to be more cheaper treatments available for us that don’t burn our skin, dry us out or can even cause heat stroke.

I hope you understand and I pray to God that one day we will all get the treatment we deserve while living with this social killer, self confidence drainer and self esteem robber sore,  they call HYPERHIDROSIS.

Hello all,

Well finally another long weekend ahead.  Are you ready if you have outside plans?

Living with Hyperhidrosis we have to plan ahead to try and beat the take over of the sweating.
We are having friends over but I am already prepared, have my floppy hat, favorite seat completely in the  shade, sunblock, plug in fans and most importantly lots of water.

If  it gets too hot I will come inside and chill in the AC house

If drinking alcohol, drink plenty of water that day and also use an electrolyte supplement in your water, helps with losing too much sweat.

You can stay cool and still enjoy the outdoors with some planning ahead.

Most important things I follow are:

Water, lots of it and electrolyte I can add into it to help replace the sweat and salt we lose

If plastic furniture take a towel or seat mat with you, really helps from leaving a sweat snail trail and having to peal yourself off and leaving you wet and uncomfortable.

I take portable fans with me or a good hand held fan, plug them them where ever, as long as there is a constant breeze on me I’m not too bad.

Rush and choose a good seat fast or ask to change if already gone, explain you suffer from Hyperhidrosis, most people understand.

Sun block, bug spray.

Ice packs if you start getting too hot or neck coolies they reduce your body heat fast and stops sweating.

Most importantly, enjoy the outdoors, if a pool or river…JUMP IN, good enough excuse to get wet and cool off all over

Hope you all have a safe and Happy Memorial Weekend.

Love and hugs from your  VSB staff.

www.verysweatybetty.com

As summer approaches and the heat is increasing, you cringe when you see the Weather Man announce the upcoming forecast.
You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home or work, VSB has taken all the best products avail on the market and brought them to the VSB SHOP just for you.  You will find the Chillow, Pillow, keeps you cool and is fantastic for head sweaters, hot flashes and woman in menopause.  There are clothing designed to keep the sweat away.  Take a look and see what is avail for you.

Shop till you drop, VSB and Amazon can be your one stop shop.

http://astore.amazon.com/verswebet-20