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Very pleased for you Shane, an excellent outcome. 🙂
Wish had been told by the NHS (England) about iontophoresis, would never have had ETS. 🙁
My advice to anyone; avoid ETS no matter what.
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My thoughts and feelings are pretty much exactly the same as Alvin’s – I had ETS 17 years ago, and the last 14 years (after the initial honeymoon period) have been an horrendous nightmare. The side-effects are ten times worse than anything I ever went through with excessive hand and foot sweating, and if I could turn back time I would have stayed as far away as possible from surgery.
These procedures are barbaric when used for hyperhidrosis, and I just wish the supposed dermatologist that I saw had told me about the many non-surgical options such as iontophoresis, that without doubt is the route I would have gone down rather than surgery. But, I was fifteen, and as Alvin says, you are taught to ‘Listen to the doctor’ when you’re young, they’re the ones with all the knowledge right?! -
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Hi.
My story starts with excessive hand and foot sweating from the age of about eight. I went through quite a bit of embarrassment at primary school, but it seemed ten times worse at secondary school. So, in 1998 I was prescribed Driclor (same as Drysol in US I believe) by a GP, followed by a solution (I think also aluminium-based) to bathe my hands and feet in. Neither of these had any effect.
None of the GP’s I saw told me about iontophoresis, but I was referred to the Dermatology Department of a local hospital. Here I was told that there was nothing that they could do. She did not tell me about the many non-surgical treatments available for hyperhidrosis (such as oral medications, topical medications, botox injections, and iontophoresis). She referred me to a surgeon at a local hospital.
The surgeon I recall told me about the possible side-effect of compensatory sweating (across the shoulder blades on the back) and drooping of the eyelids, but I have also suffered many other side-effects.My GP assured me in 2003 that it was just taking time for my “…body to settle” and that things would “…get better with time.” But, thirteen years on and my situation has only got worse. The compensatory sweating has spread (for example in 2003 I did not sweat profusely through my stomach or chest), and I have spent thousands of pounds over the last fourteen years on a vast range of products and treatments (for example acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, vitamins, supplements, medications etc), none of which has helped.
Therefore, my story unfortunately is very much about the damage that surgery can do for hyperhidrosis. Consequently I always advise people to tread very, very carefully when it comes to hyperhidrosis surgery.
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Hi everyone. I’m like Lisa in that I had the surgery (ETS and Lumbar Sympathectomy) around 15-17 years ago, and can say from experience that excessive sweating over large areas is horrendous at times. Without a doubt, compensatory sweating (at it’s worst) is more of a daily challenge than excessive palm and foot sweating ever was I find.
In terms of things that help all-over sweating, in the past I turned to medications such as Ditropan, and Robinul/Avert/Glycopyrrolate. These were somewhat effective, but the main problem was the side-effects. They basically cause general body dryness, but this leads to dry mouth, difficulty urinating, dry eyes etc. Also, they can be expensive, so after a few years I decided that I would not use them anymore.
Over the years I’ve tried the various prescription-strength anti-perspirants for large areas like the back. Out of them all, I prefer Odaban (e.g. because it’s a spray so easier to use than a roll-on I’d say).
Under-t-shirts, tank tops and vests are all a life-saver for me in terms of stopping sweat showing through on the outer top.
Fennel tea was recommended by a member of another forum for compensatory sweating. I’ve been drinking it for maybe two or three weeks. I can’t tell yet if it’s having any effect but it’s quite cheap and supposedly healthy, so I’m going to stick with it.
I’ve tried countless herbs, supplements ets (e.g. sage and astragalus) but found none of them noticeably effective.
In addition, as a person who sweats over large areas I now just try generally to focus on being as healthy as possible. I’d put on two stones (at least) through years of weekend binge-drinking, eating takeaways and not exercising enough, but have managed to lose 1 stone 10 lbs over the last two years through jogging and tai chi, drinking much less and eating better. Tai chi I find particularly enjoyable, and this is reputed to have all kinds of health benefits, including for nerve damage, which as a post-surgery person obviously is very appealing! 🙂
Anyway, I hope everyone has an enjoyable Christmas, and keep battling!
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Hi. It seems that unfortunately there has been no ‘cure’ found yet for excessive sweating. Many times through the decades I think ETS (Endoscopic Thoracic Sympathectomy) has been portrayed as a ‘cure’, but having been through horrendous personal experiences with the side-effects of this awful operation I can categorically state that this is certainly no ‘cure’ (quite simply I wish it had never been invented).
Therefore, I believe that at the moment treatment of excessive sweating is all about safe control (i.e. non-invasive and non-surgical techniques). The following have all been found to be successful for some people:Botox injections (as you’ve mentioned)
Topical medications (such as glycopyrrolate)
Oral medications
Iontophoresis (this seems a fantastic treatment for excessive sweating of the hands and / or feet, and one that I desperately wish I had been made aware of by the UK health service many, many years ago).
Alternative therapies such as Chinese medicine (I have acupuncture for the nerve damage caused by ETS, and it’s something I find therapeutic in many ways).
Talking treatments like CBT, if the excessive sweating is mostly triggered by emotions like anxiety.This is all that I know of really. Glad that we have a place like this to share info and support. 🙂
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I’d say the majority of sympathectomy stories that I’ve read have included some level of compensatory sweating. For me the CS is very severe (although I am probably in the extreme minority of having had a lumbar sympathectomy in addition to ETS!), and undoubtedly much, much worse – such as more embarrassing – than anything I ever went through with excessive hand and foot sweating.
So, although there may be some stories of people not experiencing CS after surgery, I’ve only ever come across those where it does happen. 🙁 -
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Another big thing to remember too is that the internet has ‘only’ been popular fifteen years or so perhaps? I’m 31 now, and had my first operation at 15 years old. Back then it was presented to me (very wrongly) as the only alternative to a lifetime of dripping hands and feet, and so I had the surgery.
If I was 15 years old now in 2015 with all of the internet forums and social media I would do some research into a type of surgery, but back then I didn’t even have a computer or a mobile phone! Therefore there was no way really to research treatments, you just had to trust health professionals.Hyperhidrosis surgery in my opinion (and based on horrific personal experiences living with side-effects for 13 years) is an awful procedure. Shame on whoever invented it, and I sure wish they hadn’t. 🙁
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Hi. Have just signed up to the forum, so thought I would post my experiences of surgery for hyperhidrosis.
I’m 31 years old now, and it’s nearly sixteen years since I first had ETS for palmer hyperhidrosis (followed in 2001 by a lumbar sympathectomy by plantar hyperhidrosis).
The operations were quite successful in terms of giving me dry hands and feet, but the side-effects over the last thirteen years have been awful, and for me personally 10x worse than anything I ever went through as a child / teenager with sweaty hands and feet. Side-effects include severe compensatory sweating, a constant overheating / burning sensation in much of the body (probably from now being unable to sweat through areas like the underarms and face), headaches, and many others.
My reason for surgery was that it was simply presented to me by a terrible dermatologist (terrible because she apparently had no knowledge of iontophoresis, despite it’s existence for thirty or forty years by that point) as the only alternative to a lifetime of sweating (to the point of dripping) hands and feet, the prospect of which I could not bear. If I had known about iontophoresis and the other non-surgical treatments at the time that I now know about, I would have stayed as far away from surgery as possible. In my view it is an awful procedure, and the side-effects and permanent damage just isn’t worth it. But, unfortunately it was many, many years ago that the operations happened, before I even had the internet and the luxury of Googleing the operations beforehand like I would do now!
Anyway, that’s very briefly my experience, and it’s great to be part of another hyperhidrosis community. 🙂
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