Some types of hyperhidrosis are more difficult to treat than the others. I am one of those unlucky hyperhidrosis patients. I have underarm sweating, but my main problem is excessive head sweating, which is especially unpleasant on the face.
Having to wash my hair every day is yet another pesky consequence of the condition: because of this, I didn't want to grow my hair long since childhood. Even shoulder length feels too long sometimes!
Then there is make-up. With a sweaty face, I feel the most comfortable when my face is entirely make-up free, and this can be really frustrating if I want to apply some beauty products. Usually, I try looking for high-quality, water-proof products that give matte effect, to hide the regular glistening of my skin.
There are some days when I feel like a fighter, and others when I feel like giving up on everything and just staying in my bed all day. What bothers me the most is the idea of living with hyperhidrosis for the rest of my life. Our society can be very shallow – everything is about appearances these days, and then I feel even more pressured to hide my excessive sweating.
Under this pressure, once, in my teens, I did a very stupid thing.
I was going out on a concert with my friends. It was an open-air concert and the night was pretty hot. All day I was nervous about how much I will sweat in the crowd, and I sort of decided not to drink water. I felt that, the more water I put into my body, the more I'm going to sweat. I barely drank anything the whole day, and as a result, nearly passed out at the concert.
The moral of the story was to look for better ways to fight hyperhidrosis. Botox seemed like a good way to fight off underarm sweating, but my family wouldn't even hear about it. After that, I tried natural remedies with ingredients like apple cider vinegar and honey. This even helped a little, but not much. More useful were the Maxim Sensitive Wipes for my face, and herbal teas that helped ease my general sweating. I also take good care of my diet, avoiding foods that encourage excessive perspiration.
At the end, hyperhidrosis is not the end of the world, and I am comforted by the fact that there are many hyperhidrosis treatments left for me to try. Some of them just might yet work.
5 Comments
Your story made me both upset and sad. 🙁
I think that head sweating is one of the worst and most impractical types of excessive sweating, so you’re a brave girl for staying positive and learning how to cope with hyperhidrosis in everyday life.
Keep fighting the sweat and I hope you will one day find the way to get rid of this pesky condition. Best of luck!
I sweat bad the face is just wet I know it is cause of a medicine I take and I need that med the med was fine for long time than out of no where caused me to sweat wet My Doc put me on meds oral worked good till I got so dehydrated to the point I was sick for weeks and I mean sick came to found out was very dehydrated Any one else get dehydrated from sweat meds
Hi im shawn im 40 now but have been dealing with hyperhidrosis since i was 14 i sweat profusely from the top of my head i wrap a tshirt around my head whenever im doing anithing the tshirt resembles what ppl say is a turbin lol but its not for looks its to keep the sweat off my face and upper body, ive learned to live with it… I always thought i was alone cause i never met anyone that sweats like i do…
Totally agree I had armpit sweating as a kid but started with head/face/ neck sweating around 17-18 (now 36) and it has/continues to have a massive impact on my life. I rarely go out (if ever), can’t speak to or look at people, has cost me a marriage as I can’t go on holiday or enjoy being outside, was a major factor in me becoming an alcoholic (I found being drunk stopped the sweating but it isn’t really feasible being drunk 24/7 and I have been sober for 14 years just living with HH now). I have tried the ion treatment for face and head, and bought the very expensive machine and pads with 100% success rate guaranteed (didn’t work at all just burned my skin) ,tried various wipes various creams and deodorants but there is very little specicific to cranial and facial sweating and A lot of the products specifically state not to use on the face as the skin is different. About the only things I haven’t tried is surgery and botox and I doubt I would ever go those routes. So far the only thing that worked was a drug called glycopyrronium bromide which is used for excessive saliva production but the dose I needed to take to stop the sweating caused me to have blurry vision which meant I couldn’t do my job as I couldn’t read off a computer screen so I am currently trying oxybutynin hydrochloride now but that doesn’t seem to be working.
Things have definatly improved treatment wise since I first spoke to a doctor about it 20 years a go but it is still a little understood condition. I really hope you find whatever works for you as I hate the thought of other people going through this. Keep on fighting your not alone
I have issues sweating from my head. My dermatologist recommended Qbrexa and seems to work and use it the night before.