My Name is Kayden, I’m 22 and I live in Darwin, Australia.
Darwin is one of the most humid and hot places to live in Australia. And I have had wet palms and feet, and damp thighs for as long as I can remember. I thought it was common and that this was just what happens to people who live here.
Growing up, my mother would say to me more and more often that I had ‘frog hands’. Using a smart phone with a touch screen was out of the question (though, I still used one).
As I got older, I became more and more self conscious of my wet hands.
And as I got older, my parents would start to complain of smelly shoes.I would routinely slip out of my shoes if they weren’t enclosed. Sandals or strappy shoes where a nightmare to walk in. If I wore running shoes, my feet would still feel wet, and my toes would come out wrinkly.
Walking was and still is difficult. I am not the skinniest of people, but I’m not hugely overweight. I fit into an Australian size 12/14. Standard. But my thighs touch, and have always touched because of the way I walk (I have duck feet). I get ‘cowboy rash’ or ‘chub rub’ almost every-other day. Most days the rash gets so bad it’s as if I have been burnt and the skin is raw and sticky like a healing burn. I’ve gotten scabs and blistered. And it’s because I sweat and it rubs and catches.
I was and still am, hyper aware when I sit down anywhere in public, because I always leave a sweat mark – even in aircon.
All this, but I still didn’t realized that there was a problem.
Not until my phone had started to malfunction when I was 19 and I couldn’t interact with the touch screen because of my wet fingers. I finally caved and googled ‘my hands and feet are always wet’. And my world was widened. Everything started to make sense now.
I booked the next appointment with my GP and told him. He blinked at me, turned to his computer and pretty much googled the same thing I had. He read one of the same articles I did when I was reading up about it.
On this article, it mentioned the use of beta blockers as a preventative measure. This would also help with my anxiety issues (non related to this issue). I was prescribed Deralin – Propranolol in 10 mg. I took it for a few months.
This didn’t work much. It reduced the feet hand feel a little bit, but not enough for me to like it.
I am starting to try Vaseline/anti rash cream for my thighs, and baby power for my hands and see how that goes. Here’s hoping.
I will be checking this site a lot more now that I know it exists. This was exactly the type of resource that I have been searching for. Thank you.
