VerySweatyBetty.com

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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.

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,

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.

Want to thank our member and guest for this wonderful blog. You are a pure gem.

If you want to help us RAISE AWARENESS on living with Hyperhidrosis, please join in our cause.  We are one of the highest viewed sites and our Alexa ratings are high.  What could be better than trying to get our little voices out to make one big one.

My story,

I have had palmer hyperhydrosis since I can remember (I’m 25) and it has caused me no end of bullying through school with people not wanting to hold my hand etc.   I have tried all the creams available and, although they work well to an extent, they make my hands so dry and sore that I can’t use them for any length of time.

Since having my son I have also developed it in my armpits (and also a bit in my feet though not quite as bad) and now my problems have really started.

I work in a high school as a learning support assistant, and even though I wash everyday and use various deodorants etc. throughout the day, I have kids refusing to sit with with me because ‘I smell’ and now have my boss on to me trying to get occupational health involved as she has had ‘complaints from other staff’ about my condition.

I have explained many times that I am doing all I can to control my condition and that the last time I spoke to a doctor about it I seemed to know more than they did!  (So basically don’t think HE will tell me anything I don’t already know!)

Also I myself do not always notice any odor so I need the other staff support to tell me, but to no avail.   They are even telling me that if I don’t “SORT OUT THE PROBLEM” then I may not be able to CONTINUE WITH MY JOB!

I am also suffering with work related stress at the moment which is only exacerbating my condition, and now with them ‘on my back’ about it it is only getting even worse in both respects! (The only strategy they have suggested to ‘help’ is that I change my clothes at regular intervals during the day. With the amount I sweat this would be about every 2 hours or so to avoid any trace of sweat patches or smell so I would need 3 changes of clothes everyday at work! Plus I could just imagine the kids asking “Why have you changed your top Miss?”   So it is just not practical in my view!

I also have a problem with my amateur dramatics society when,  at the last minute I was given a very thick,  hot cloak to wear onstage.   I informed them of my condition and that I would be likely to faint with the heat and loss of water if I had to wear it,  (I once came VERY close to fainting onstage in the past and only just made it backstage before I literally collapsed in a chair!)   I was told to “GROW UP AND GET ON WITH IT“!                                                                             “EVERYONE SWEATS”,  and finds the cloaks hot but they just get on with it!”   Evey night of that show I used to just about make it through the scene and then have to rush to sit on a chair and drink loads of sports drink before I was fit for anything. even then if one of the older members wanted the chair I was expected to give it up as I was ‘Just being silly!’

I really think more should be done to, PROMOTE AWARENESS,  for this condition to the general public and medical staff,  as people seem to have no idea about how debilitating this condition is or how hard it is to ‘just deal with it’. They seem to think we can just stop the sweating but we can’t!

How we can all relate to this, what would you advise our kind member?  We all suffer the same.  Please join us in our battle to raise awareness on this awful affliction we all share.  Feel free to leave comment, join us in our forum www.verysweatybetty/forum

The more we help the STRONGER WE BECOME.

Tell us your story, join the forum to make this possible, help for the better cause.

One of our members Al brought this to my attention, and we thank you for this.

However, as she said, “was my ETS in vain after reading this?”  She suffers badly from many complications from this surgery he whole life has changed since that dreadful day!  

It makes me think will this change how the world see’s excessive sweating caused by Hyperhidrosis or is it just another flash in the pan and a fashionable trend?
We are going to open up a debate about this and would love your thoughts on this.  Would you take this pill and want to smell like Roses or flowers?    I guess you can choose a sent, could it be as simple as this?  It is not the miracle we were hoping for on the Sweat Front!  Will that pill ever be available for us to remain dry without using one for a different medical problem but have the nasty side effects that go along with them??? 
We have to keep the dream alive and  here at VSB  we are on a mission to help raise awareness, join our Hyperhidrosis Awareness Campaign. 
Thoughts on this please and lets get this debate going, join us in the forum or on our FB page, Sweaty Betty.

Copied from ABC News, to read more please visit their site.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/pill-future-turn-sweat-perfume/story?id=14819832

Those sweat stains could be the equivalent to a spritz of cologne if Lucy McRae’s research pans out.

McRae, an artist based in the Netherlands, hopes to create Swallowable Parfum, a perfume that can be ingested through a capsule and emitted through perspiration.

The pill is still in the research phase with no scheduled release date as McRae works with synthetic researcher, Sheref Mansy, to develop a prototype.

“My main aim is to provoke and make people think in a completely different way about how make-up can be [used] in the future,” said McRae.

The 31-year-old was inspired to develop the line after watching a documentary on Ray Kurzweil, a computer engineer who won the National Medal of Technology and who has written numerous books about how machines will shape the future.

Swallowable Parfum

Lucy McRae is developing pill that turns… View Full Size

George Preti, a scientist at the Monell Center which specializes in taste and smell, says pills that claim to change body odor similar to Swallowable Parfum are often not effective due to the body’s digestion process.

“How much of what they do that will make it through the digestive process and [into] the blood remains to be seen,” said Preti. “A lot of things will get taken apart in the acid in the stomach.”

Since taking a daily dose of perfume isn’t yet possible, McRae is staying with her scent of choice, Mona Di Orio, applied with a traditional spritz.

McRae’s Swallowable Parfum is the latest in a trend of cosmetic companies attempting to reduce beauty regimens to pill form. In recent years companies such as Heliocare and Murad have released pills that claim to provide sun protection. However these pills do not provide the same protection as traditional sunblock.

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Hyperhidrosis is a skin disease. It can be generalised or localised to specific parts of the body. Hands, feet, armpits, and the groin area are among the most active regions of perspiration due to the relatively high concentration of sweat glands; however, any part of the body may be affected.

Hyperhidrosis can also be classified depending whether it is a congenital (hereditary) or an acquired trait. Primary hyperhidrosis is found to start during adolescence or even before and seems to be inherited as a genetic trait. Primary hyperhidrosis must be distinguished from secondary hyperhidrosis, which can start at any point in life. The latter form may be due to a disorder of the thyroid or pituitary gland, diabetes mellitus, tumors, gout, menopause, certain drugs or even mercury poisoning. It can be a symptom of temporary illnesses or a virus like colds and ‘flu or hormonal changes such as puberty, menstruation (periods) or menopause. Hyperhidrosis can also be divided into palmar/plantar (symptomatic sweating of primarily the hands or feet), gustatory (sweating whilst eating/digesting a meal) or generalised hyperhidrosis which covers sweating from any other area in your body.

Everybody sweats, it’s a normal function which serves to cool us down so we don’t overheat. Hyperhidrosis is caused by an overactive (ie broken) thermal regulator (the bodies thermostat). In the simplest terms, in a Hyperhidrotic’s body, their thermostatic control is stuck on the hottest setting.

A medical diagnosis should always be sought, but if you sweat to an excessive level, there are now many ways of dealing with it.

About Sweaty Betty
We are a small group of normal people who just happen to sweat a lot. We’re not alone – millions of people worldwide suffer from this acutely embarrassing and socially isolating condition, but, because of the negativity and misconceptions surrounding sweating and being sweaty, they attempt to keep it to themselves and suffer in silence. As with all taboo issues, it only takes a few like-minded people to get together to blow a taboo wide apart and tell it how it really is. Hence http://www.verysweatybetty.com was born. We are committed to raising awareness of Hyperhidrosis and dispel the stigma and ignorance surrounding sweat and sweating.

VSB’s Hyperhidrosis Awareness Campaign
VSB on YouTube – includes our Anne’s tv documentaries
VSB on Twitter
VSB’s Facebook

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As you know, school is back in swing for many children, with some just finishing their Summer break shortly. Many of our younger members are in a silent panic over this and how their HH will continue to control them during school hours. As a parent of 3 (one step daughter) 2 of my children both have HH. I am lucky that I am educated in this field and can show them how to cope and disguise their HH.

We often oversee how they are coping emotionally and physically. This is so important to address with your teen, child and young adult. They may seem OK on the outside but I know from experience and life suffering as a teen in the 80′s when HH was unheard of, it is hard to handle and with all that goes on in our daily life’s they are probably suffering in silence. Children and teens can be so cruel. I faced this a lot and was called Sweaty Betty.

If your child, teen, young adult has been diagnosed with HH or is showing signs of excessive sweating I encourage you to talk about this often and get in touch with their inner beings, how they feel, if they show signs of depression. We all suffer from this from time to time with living with HH, it emotionally drains us and the physical side of it also.

Your child, teen or young adult may feel different or even a freak! I know I did and know many others who feel the same way. Make sure they are not hiding away in their room dwelling on this…We have the tools and great people who can help you and your child.

We know which products work, can help with clothing and have many Hyperhidrosis product manufacturing companies (all of whom all suffer personally) who can give them advice on using their products effectively and many forum members who can help with hints and tricks on living with HH.

We encourage everyone to they find a good Dermatologist that knows about HH and can help them with treatment. If you are not able to do this, there are some fantastic products on the market now that really work and treat HH. We also have discount rates on some products, thanks to some very kind product manufacturers and companies.

Here at VSB we offer a safe place and friendly forum for your child, teen or young adult to get together and chat among themselves with great monitors who are teen sufferers themselves, (AmyLouise, Hannah, Milly), The adult administration are Beverly, Sally, Lisa, Kimberley and myself. We monitor who joins and what is posted. We also have a counselor, hyperhidrosis nurse, dermatologist who specialises in hyperhidrosis all on hand to help answer your questions.

We pride ourselves on this free facility and have reached our dreams as the world’s largest online (and probably offline!) privately owned Hyperhidrosis Support website. We are – and always will be – unpaid volunteers. Some things are far more important than money. Raising awareness while helping people come to terms with – and take control of their sweating – is exactly what we are all about. Thankfully, we have some fabulous sponsors who enable us to keep this website up and running and funding all sorts of projects to bring awareness of this miserable disease.

I went though many years of not being understood and hiding away under layers of clothing and battling this alone, I feel into depression and sunk inside. Please don’t let this happen to your child, we are just a click away, our Facebook page, either search for /betty.sweaty or click HERE) is active daily. We encourage parents to talk to each other for mutual support and discuss how your child is coping. We are also on Twitter @verysweatybetty and YouTube (/verysweatybetty) where we have our two tv documentaries (one in the UK for Channel 4, the other in the US for TLC channel) and even a couple of videos from one of our lovely members (Alan) who uses iontophoresis to successfully treat his hands. Alan is a multi-talented street magician and uses his hands all the time.

You have all the tools you need right here at VSB, WE are here for advice, support and most importantly friendship with others who all suffer from Hyperhidrosis.

Hugs,

Anne x

Very Sweaty Betty needs your support!

If you have been helped by anything that Very Sweaty Betty has been tirelessly doing for the Hyperhidrosis community over this past few years, PLEASE take 2 minutes to nominate us for a new TV programme.

If we were to be lucky enough to be selected, this programme would help us to raise a massive amount of awareness of Hyperhidrosis. Just think of what we could do with the advertising, how many more people we will be able to help through our Hyperhidrosis Awareness Campaign and what this would mean for the whole Hyperhidrosis community.

More awareness of Hyperhidrosis means so much for all of us. There would be more products, more research, more help, the medical profession taking this disease seriously and eventually all these things could even help progress in finding a cure one day. It also means less ignorance and more understanding – which is something that we could all do with. Knowledge is power.

There really aren’t many opportunities like this that come our way – so please click through to this page and email the makers of the tv programme to tell them about all the good work that VSB is doing and how much we would all benefit from this help and raising of awareness. We want everyone to know about Hyperhidrosis and YOU can help us to achieve our dream!

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.

Excessive sweating – Hyperhidrosis

Excessive sweating is a skin disease called Hyperhidrosis.  One of the most common mistakes a non-sweater makes is to pigeon-hole the sweater as dirty, smelly, unhygienic, lazy, hilarious, and thinks sweating can be miraculously cured by having a shower and applying antiperspirants.

What causes the sweating?

Excess sweating is just one symptom of Hyperhidrosis.  Everybody has an internal thermometer.  Our bodies function at a set temperature.  When our temperature rises just 4 degrees C, our body panics and becomes confused. If our temperature rises by only 7 degrees C, we die.  If you have Hyperhidrosis, your core temperature can’t be controlled in the normal way, your internal thermometer is broken. You become hotter and hotter until your body starts to panic which causes you to sweat profusely to cool down again.  Once your temperature has risen, it takes such a long time to subside that you can be soaked through from head to foot within minutes and there’s nothing you can do about it except hope that nobody notices. Not easy when you’re at the shops, work or school – or anywhere out of the safe confines of your own four walls. This causes many sufferers to become virtual hermits, especially in the hotter weather.

This is why we created our website. We have both suffered for many years from this disease and realised that there are millions of people worldwide who don’t know it’s a disease, they think it’s ‘just them’.  3% of the population suffer, although this figure could be higher as not everyone has access to, or consults, a doctor. Unfortunately, many doctors are unaware this condition has a name, let alone is a disease. We want to help people like us who have been through the personal hell that makes you wonder why you bother, and realise that there are things (not cures, unfortunately) you can do to help minimise the effects of sweating – hopefully meaning nobody else will notice.

We share everything on VSB, tips, new medical trials, procedures, stories etc, and we are lucky enough to personally trial a lot of products from many different trustworthy companies. If a product doesn’t work then we say so. Very useful when you’re wading through the rather overwhelming array of different products and their promises.

Although we have sponsors, we don’t personally make any money from our website – we give our time and expertise for free. What money we do make goes back into projects such as raising awareness of Hyperhidrosis, we are passionate about this.

Our site is guaranteed virus free – every link is to a tried-and-tested company with products that work for people like us.