How do you stay positive? I feel like my mind is playing games with me..

I just wanted to see how you guys approach having HH because I have never met anyone else with our condition, outside of this forum existing I have always felt like I am the only one by myself having excessive sweating to the point where it has been a huge factor in my life.

I am 22, in college, and consider myself very fortunate aside from my HH. But there are times when I just get pretty down on myself for having HH and realize that it will be an extended amount of time before I could possibly see a cure or stronger suppressant than Robinul (4mg is what I am taking now), and not a minute goes by in my life where I don't have to make decisions based on whether my hands will sweat or not. Basically most if not every day I have to factor in my HH with anything I do like what clothes will I wear, what environment will I be in, will there be air conditioning, who will I interact with today, will I find myself nervous or anxious today, etc. I havfe severe HH in the hands, feet, and underarms. It just seems to be a burden on my shoulders, and at these moments I find myself thinking about the Mayo Clinics SympaTHOTOMY and going forward with surgery. I have tried every other treatment option, and their procedure is different from ETS. I have personally visited them and spoke with the surgeon, the doc, and the nurse themselves with my father and their procedure has produced good results (150 people over 10 years in a follow up study showed 98.9% satisfaction with bone dry hands and minimal compensatory sweating only triggered by very hot environments by only clipping the connection of the T2 nerve opposed to taking other nerves out). Feel free to contact them and they can mail you the study for free to learn for yourselves, trust me I completely understand why ETS is a terrible choice for most people but Dr. Atkinson there seems to be on to something regarding HH. I know people have their reservations about tampering with our nervous system but sometimes I feel like I am not fully living life with HH.

On other days I find myself more upbeat and very thankful for what I have and that I do not have a more serious health condition nor anyone in my family, but those days are definitely outnumbered by days where I have such a burden from when I wake up to when I go to bed.

Plus I am not sure how safe it is to be taking 4mg daily long-term of Robinul, I could not find any long-term studies or any studies at all regarding use of the drug. But I think it is common sense to discern that it is not healthy to take a drug for an extended period of time. But the benefits outweigh the risks right now for making me dry at some moments in my day.

So I think I am just trying to hear how you guys deal with/approach your HH. Cheers

Hi, Same here - I am 27 and consider myself very fortunate aside from my HH!! It's very fascinating to see how HH sufferers address the problem. I've come across a few fellow HH sufferers from whom I've learnt a lot. They don't seem to worry about the condition and that's exactly what makes the life a lot easier. Positive thoughts and courage keeps the sympathetic nerves down which are responsible for the triggering of sweat. Try not to give too much attention to HH. Never let the issue of sweating influence the important decisions you make in life.
Regarding the safety of Robinul, I have not come across any information on long term side effects. So it could be assumed that there are no 'cumulative drug' effect. But one has to be very careful about over dose. Say for example 8mg dose can bring all the well known side effects rapidly. Even if there are long term side effects still, as u correctly said, the benefits outweigh the risks.

Cheers

More people have it than you might think. Maybe not to the severity of us, but they do have it. If your hands are dry, and you shake other peoples hands, often they are sweaty.

I know how you feel when you mention how it effects everything you do. I feel like that too. We just have to deal with it as best we can. Also like you mentioned, be thankful you don't have a more serious condition or situation.

Many people with HH live happy lives and have good relationships despite having the condition. You can decide what is best for you in regards to the procedure you are thinking about.