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NagantG17133 karma

Have you explored the option of surgery? Your form seems to be more broad than mine so I'm not sure if there's the same option but my story is below for anyone interested.

Tl/dr – I suffered from pedal hyperhidrosis, had ETS surgery with great success and highly recommend it.

I had this same condition except mine was more specifically Pedal Hyperhidrosis, meaning it was localized to me hands and feet. It was really socially crippling growing up with this condition and was always and is always hard to explain to other people. Imagine hands so sweaty that you literally can’t turn a doorknob, can’t write on paper without it curling up, having your hands swell to twice their normal size during activity, always having to use the Madcatz controllers at friend’s houses so you don’t ruin the good ones, etc… etc….  Any event where I knew a handshake was necessary I would dread for days, in general avoiding any activity where contact would be necessary.

At some point during my freshman year at college I thought enough was enough, there has to be some sort of solution. After some research I discovered Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy, “a surgical procedure in which a portion of the sympathetic nerve trunk in the thoracic region is destroyed”. I contacted my parents health insurance to see if it was something that was covered, it was 2008 at the time, I was told it would be covered under insurance until the end of that year at which point it would be considered cosmetic and no longer covered. Contacted a surgeon in Indianapolis, Indiana who was one of the few doctors I could find at the time performing this type of surgery and immediately set up an appointment. It took all of one minute with the doctor for him to diagnose that I indeed had the condition and scheduled the surgery for later that month. It was honestly just nice to finally talk with someone who fully understood the condition and the impact it can have on everyday life. Wow, instant and complete relief from sweaty hands and a reduction in my feet. There is most definitely what they call compensatory sweating and I can definitely go into more detail if there’s a desire. Most importantly none of the compensatory sweating comes anywhere close to the discomfort that the sweaty hands brought me. This turned into much more of a wall of text then I intended, I would love to answer any questions or expand on anything further if there’s any desire.

NagantG1715 karma

Absolute garbage, I figured that would help people understand the struggle lol

NagantG178 karma

Basically how it was described to me by the doctor is “The sweat will most likely go somewhere, it’s just hard to know where.” For me personally, before the surgery my excess sweating was really limited to my hands and feet. Post-surgery;

Hands – Right hand is completely dry 100% of the time and my left hand can get minimally clammy at times but for the most part is dry

Feet – Less sweating than before but still uncomfortable, I still always wear socks and tend to avoid sandals

The compensatory sweating really is sort of a whole body thing. It’s not so bad that I sweat just sitting around but if I’m out in the heat or exerting myself I tend to get really sweaty really fast, head, back, ass, legs, etc… By far the weirdest thing is that my face is split almost exactly down the center 50/50, the left side of my face sweats normally (as in heat or activity), here’s the kicker… the right side of my face sweats only when I eat. Almost all foods trigger this reaction, even ice cream. This can tend to be annoying but I’ve learned which foods trigger it the most and I avoid those when I’m eating with other people. I think it mostly bothers me though, my wife says under normal conditions she can never even tell.

All in all I have absolutely no regrets what so ever, having dry hands is completely worth all the compensatory sweating.

NagantG175 karma

I was unaware of the sub until today. I will definitely stop by and share my story!

NagantG174 karma

I agree, life changing!