Just wanted to add my story to this forum, and it's extremely positive!
My entire life since I can remember, I have had sweaty palms and feet. When I was little, I just thought I was normal and everyone sweated like I did. It wasn't until I was about 8-9 years old that I started receiving multiple negative comments a day about my cold, clammy hands or stinky sweaty feet. I remember dreading having to hold hands with my classmates during games or while walking with friends.
When I got older, my self esteem only got worse. I never danced with anyone at school dances for fear of them feeling my sweaty hands, and I hated going to church because of the prayer circle where we all had to hold hands. I even remember one particularly traumatic time when I was about 15 standing next to my crush in the prayer circle, and when he reached out to grab my hand, he immediately pulled his hand back and screamed "Ugh! Gross!" in front of the entire youth group. He then proceeded to dramatically touch the outside of my pinky for the remainder of the prayer circle, rather than grab my hand again. It was mortifying!
Above are only some of the emotional ways that hyperhidrosis has effected me. I can't even begin to tell you the ways it effected me mentally and physically. At school, I couldn't concentrate because my hands were always slipping on the pencil and my ink or pencil writing would smear. My desk would have my sweaty hand prints all over it and I constantly wondered if anyone else noticed and what they thought of me. I would only wear cotton based clothes so I could "easily" wipe my hands on my clothes if I needed quick relief. I never wore flip flops or owned any sandals because my feet would slip and I hated the feeling of my feet being sweaty and exposed. The shoes I did wear would end up smelling AWFUL and getting ruined over and over again.
I still had no idea that I had a "condition" until I was about 20 years old and my mother noticed how much it was affecting me. I told my doctor and she prescribed me a aluminum chloride, which worked to a certain extent, but not well enough to be worth the hassle of wrapping my hands and feet every night. And the effectiveness was still not enough for me to wear sandals, shake hands or give high fives with confidence.
I slowly learned about more and more treatments for hyperhidrosis including botox and ets surgery. After doing a bit of research, I came across a volunteer seminar where I could get botox treatment for free. The only problem was it was across the country. Still, the cost of the plane ticket was a 1/4 of what the actual treatment would have been, so I decided it was worth the 6 hour flight across the country and back in one day.
To tell you that the botox worked well would be the biggest understatement of my life. Literally, within a week, I was a new person! I couldn't believe how dry my hands were! For about a month I CONSTANTLY felt my hands. I loved shaking hands with others, and tried giving high fives to almost anyone I came across. I even got my first (yes, first) boyfriend that summer! I could hold hands with him all night and not get sweaty once, even in the summer heat. In fact, HIS palms would get sweaty before mine!
So many things in my life changed that would seem so trivial to the average human. I put lotion on my hands for the first time ever, and I attempted pull ups on any metal bar I passed. (Before my hands would just slip off). I even had to lick my finger to turn pages in books! This was seriously a biggie for me, as I had always wondered why people licked their fingers while reading. I typed on my keyboard without having to wipe it down after. I didn't have the fear of falling and not being able to hang on to anything or be pulled up if necessary. (As funny as that sounds, it was actually a fear of mine!) And the list goes on and on and on.
The best part of this story is that the treatment lasted nearly a year and a half for me. The 80+ shots in each hand was well worth it. I cannot wait to have my feet done! I can only hope they will have even half the success that my hands have had. Thank you botox!!!
My personal Botox story :-)
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- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:40 pm
Hi monkeytime! (haha, do you like monkeys?)
So nice to read your story. Even though I've read very similar stories many times on various HH forums, every time I can connect to it since I've experienced so many of the same things. I'm glad you had such success with Botox. I think that is the best success story I've read. Usually people say it lasts 3-4 months or maybe 6 months, not over a year.
So, you said it lasted 1.5 years. What now? Did that period end recently? Are you going to have more injections in your hands?
I've been considering treatments for my hands, and am very close to trying an iontophoresis machine, since I've read a lot of people having success success with that. It's more work than a single visit for Botox, but I'm skeptical if Botox would only last temporarily for me, so the ionto treatment might be better long term.
So nice to read your story. Even though I've read very similar stories many times on various HH forums, every time I can connect to it since I've experienced so many of the same things. I'm glad you had such success with Botox. I think that is the best success story I've read. Usually people say it lasts 3-4 months or maybe 6 months, not over a year.
So, you said it lasted 1.5 years. What now? Did that period end recently? Are you going to have more injections in your hands?
I've been considering treatments for my hands, and am very close to trying an iontophoresis machine, since I've read a lot of people having success success with that. It's more work than a single visit for Botox, but I'm skeptical if Botox would only last temporarily for me, so the ionto treatment might be better long term.
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- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:40 pm
A little more story about me...
I really feel like I need to do something now. I can't stand having to hold myself back in social situations anymore. Even tonight, I arrived at an event sweat-free, so I took the opportunity to shake about 5 people's hands who I'd just met. As you said, if I woke up tomorrow with no HH, I'd high-five every person I passed on the street! But it was very hot in the room tonight, and we had to go up and get dinner for ourselves (they had big trays of food, like a buffet). So that just made my hands instantly warmer since the food was steaming hot, so of course I started sweating after that. Then a bit later this beautiful girl sat down next to me, but all I could do was tell her my name. It's kinda awkward just telling someone your name and not offering to shake hands, but I think it's better than extending a very clammy / borderline dripping hand to them. There were other people I wanted to talk to later, but I avoided it since I was still sweating and didn't want to shake hands like that.
I also go to church and it is absolutely maddening that I can't focus on praying and relaxing since I almost always just worry about whether I'll be sweating when I have to shake hands with people later in the service. I usually try to sit away from people so I can avoid it. But of course it's not always possible.
I've not had many real girlfriends, I think largely due to HH. But I recently met one at a bar after a long day of drinking. The drinking often makes my hands stop sweating. So I had no trouble approaching this girl, shaking her hand, and we instantly hit it off. I actually ended up sitting next to her holding hands for at least an hour, and then dancing for a while too. Quite romantic, right? Haha. It's amazing what you can do with your hands when they're not sweating. I went out with this girl another night, again held hands for a while, and danced. But after dancing a while I started to feel the sweat coming on, and we were thinking about leaving anyway, so I quickly made that happen so I could get outside where it was cooler. But the good thing is, I've had a few pretty good dates with this girl, so now I'm hardly nervous about sweating around her. Of course, I wouldn't be offering my hand if it was sweating a lot, but I feel like I'll be able to be more relaxed around her and hopefully not have too many crazy sweat attacks. The story will continue this weekend![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I really feel like I need to do something now. I can't stand having to hold myself back in social situations anymore. Even tonight, I arrived at an event sweat-free, so I took the opportunity to shake about 5 people's hands who I'd just met. As you said, if I woke up tomorrow with no HH, I'd high-five every person I passed on the street! But it was very hot in the room tonight, and we had to go up and get dinner for ourselves (they had big trays of food, like a buffet). So that just made my hands instantly warmer since the food was steaming hot, so of course I started sweating after that. Then a bit later this beautiful girl sat down next to me, but all I could do was tell her my name. It's kinda awkward just telling someone your name and not offering to shake hands, but I think it's better than extending a very clammy / borderline dripping hand to them. There were other people I wanted to talk to later, but I avoided it since I was still sweating and didn't want to shake hands like that.
I also go to church and it is absolutely maddening that I can't focus on praying and relaxing since I almost always just worry about whether I'll be sweating when I have to shake hands with people later in the service. I usually try to sit away from people so I can avoid it. But of course it's not always possible.
I've not had many real girlfriends, I think largely due to HH. But I recently met one at a bar after a long day of drinking. The drinking often makes my hands stop sweating. So I had no trouble approaching this girl, shaking her hand, and we instantly hit it off. I actually ended up sitting next to her holding hands for at least an hour, and then dancing for a while too. Quite romantic, right? Haha. It's amazing what you can do with your hands when they're not sweating. I went out with this girl another night, again held hands for a while, and danced. But after dancing a while I started to feel the sweat coming on, and we were thinking about leaving anyway, so I quickly made that happen so I could get outside where it was cooler. But the good thing is, I've had a few pretty good dates with this girl, so now I'm hardly nervous about sweating around her. Of course, I wouldn't be offering my hand if it was sweating a lot, but I feel like I'll be able to be more relaxed around her and hopefully not have too many crazy sweat attacks. The story will continue this weekend
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:45 pm
Hey
Yes I just got my second dose of botox in my hands a couple of weeks ago. It started working mostly that evening, and my hands were completely dry by 2 days later. They are so dry now that my skin is a bit scaly! haha. I LOVE it though! It sounds weird that I want my hands to be excessively dry, but I can always put lotion on whenever I want. I could NEVER stop the sweating though,( especially when I wanted to most!), so I think it's a fair trade![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I think the key here is just getting the botox done correctly. I keep hearing people mention that they had 25 or less injections in each hand, and even with the 82 injections that I got, there's still a few spots that were noticeably missed. (I am going to get those spots treated next month...) And I'm a woman with medium sized hands. An adult male would probably need close to 100 injections per hand to fully cover the sweat area.
I am planning on getting botox as long as it's available to me and I can afford it!
Yes I just got my second dose of botox in my hands a couple of weeks ago. It started working mostly that evening, and my hands were completely dry by 2 days later. They are so dry now that my skin is a bit scaly! haha. I LOVE it though! It sounds weird that I want my hands to be excessively dry, but I can always put lotion on whenever I want. I could NEVER stop the sweating though,( especially when I wanted to most!), so I think it's a fair trade
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I think the key here is just getting the botox done correctly. I keep hearing people mention that they had 25 or less injections in each hand, and even with the 82 injections that I got, there's still a few spots that were noticeably missed. (I am going to get those spots treated next month...) And I'm a woman with medium sized hands. An adult male would probably need close to 100 injections per hand to fully cover the sweat area.
I am planning on getting botox as long as it's available to me and I can afford it!
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- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:40 pm
Well, glad to hear the 2nd Botox treatment is already working so well! Yes, I'd love to have the "problem" of super-dry hands where I actually needed lotion. haha.
I'm going to a doctor in a few days and am going to inquire about iontophoresis vs. Botox / other options. Will definitely respond when I figure out more.
I'm going to a doctor in a few days and am going to inquire about iontophoresis vs. Botox / other options. Will definitely respond when I figure out more.
You can read about the administrator's experiences with Drionic, Hidrex and Idromed on this website; http://www.no-ets.com/
Take a look under "My experiences" or something like that. It was after reading these reviews I decided to give ionto a try. I didn't expect it to work at all, but I'm very happy it did.
I believe I was in the same situation as you starting to look at getting Botox done, just before making the call to get an appointment I found some useful ionto information and went for that instead.
Take a look under "My experiences" or something like that. It was after reading these reviews I decided to give ionto a try. I didn't expect it to work at all, but I'm very happy it did.
I believe I was in the same situation as you starting to look at getting Botox done, just before making the call to get an appointment I found some useful ionto information and went for that instead.
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- Posts: 1
- Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:28 pm
Re: My personal Botox story :-)
I literally almost criec reading this story, everything u described about ur fears about when your hands were sweaty was like reading exactly what i experience and fear everyday too i have experienced every single thing u just described. people who dont have palmer hyperhydrosis dont really understand how much it sucks and hurts u from having a normal life. I am 18 and i feel like ive been waiting to live my life unti i find a way to get rid of my sweaty hand feet and armpits. I could have had gfs in highschool im not a bad looking gut i have plenty of friends and im not wicked shy or anything but all throughout highschool i never once tried asking out a girl because i was thinking i could never have a normal relationship with sweaty hands i mean my hands feet and armpits literally drip sweat. When ever i tell my friends to just wait until i can find a cure to my sweaty hands and i wil, have a gf within a month they just laugh and say its not because of my sweaty hands and that im just a *** or im scared to talk to girls it makes me mad because i can honestly tell that they just have no idea what its like to live with sweaty hands in our society today. Hand shakes r literally my worst fear. I cant wait i have an appointment in boston on the 28 of july to talk about botox for my sweating.