Axillary Surgery *the new one

[serendipity]

So I came here looking for info a few years back, came again when I was scheduled for the new surgery a couple weeks ago. Came back to help anyone I can.

I don't know what its called still...but had the surgery on May 2. Not the one they cut the nerve but the one that they go in and basically "shave" the sweat glands off the inside of your skin.

I am here (wearing a dry tank top)umm 11 days later and already know this has changed my life for the better.

I have 5 stitches in each arm (and a few extras). As the surgeon explained it...the one time he was really careful and didnt accidently make some extra holes by shaving too close- he ended up having to go in again. On one side, i have about 6 minor holes and one not so minor (stitches popped). So will have some scarring from that but well worth it and the guy could turned me into a seive if he needed to i am so happy with the results. I would say I am sweating 95% less and havent used antipersperant once.

As for pain, he said it would be quite painful...even gave me a script for T3's and to be honest, I spent the 24hours waiting for the pain to hit. Never did really. Its tender especially the first 4 days and I really didnt want to do too much the first week -arms feel like they need supporting. But other than the regular tylenol the first day and two ibuprophen that i took (mainly for antiinflammatory reasons) I didnt need anything.
Not going to be the same for everyone...I have a high pain tolerance-but it really wasnt any big deal, I've had worse sunburns. The bruising was extensive but looked worse than it felt

Anyway, this is the new procedure they do (and covered under the Canadian medical system at least)...takes about an hour under general anestesia (spelling sorry) another hour in recovery room...and umm i'd say a week of taking it easy with your arms (no big reaching lifting etc)

Anyone has any questions...I'll check back

 

[miggs]

hi,
i dont have this social fear phobia thing or whatever but since march i sweat all the time out the pits...its getting ridiculous...i sweat right through 20% sticks that BURN to put on so ive decided im forsure getting the botox thing but this sounds way better. Its not the ETS one? that one has some bad side effects and there are a lot of people who actually get it REVERSED once they have it so im not dealing with that...
i also live in canada... what province/city are you in? its fully covered? i hope in ontario!!! the botox will be like $1000 every 6 months sucks but im prepared to deal with it at this point... cant really keep wearing basketball jerseys all day and walking around with a sweat towel

would you mind getting me the medical name for this, i need to check it out.

thanks a lot!!

 

[teandtoast]

nice one on the post this is the kind of surgery Im wanting to get (but with liposuction aswell)
glad to hear is going well for u

 

[Jezza]

I think they call it suction of the sweatglands.

I've heard about it from some being done in Germany. I live in the Netherlands myself, but Z Zjermans are next door to us so I know of one or two who went to Germany for it with satisfactory results.

Unfortunately it's only available for armpits so it doesn't do me much good, but obviously I'm happy for the ones that do get some relieve from sweating.

As for miggs, I think most on the hyperhidrosis forum actually haven't got social phobia (obviously it can develop over time by the sweating) but the medical world has traditionally put HH in that box, eventhough the ones in the know have now acknowledged that it's probably down to an essentially physical disorder. Then again for all we know maybe social phobia itself is too, but anyway, most people with HH that have found ways to aleviate the problem have shown that when the HH goes away, they're basically fine.

I know sometimes it's a little annoying because lesser informed medics often use the social phobia argument (even if they don't blatantly say so) to not take the condition seriously and not give the medical care they should give and that HH sufferers are entitled to, basically treating you like a hypochondriac that should see a shrink instead of go to a hospital.
And obviously the more of those there are, the less likely it is individual patients and HH sufferers in general will get the best treatment possible.

But I guess that's the way it is and will be for the forseeable future.

 

[serendipity]

Miggs...since March? Have you been checked out medically and had other medical problems ruled out? Not wanting to sweat is much different than hyperhydrosis and while I'm not saying thats you- I see people bitching about sweating and yet there they are wearing perky little form fitting tshirts and tank tops which I would never be able to wear without a large amount of humiliation. I don't just have pits problems...but the rest will be mostly manageable for all the months of the year but summer. I still have to be careful what I wear but the freedom of choice this operation has given me already is amazing and I'm finding my head a little higher and a serious plan to lose some weight. My self esteem is rising.

For me this has been going on since puberty (or before if i remember correctly). My child has it likely worse than i do but thankfully he is a male but if wants what i had done or any of the other stuff i'll hold his hand thru it, finance it or whatever because this does create social problems even decides what jobs i can have based on the clothing I have to wear.

Jezza what about a combination of treatments- ie the surgery and that "electric bath" one i read about? not saying it would be perfect, but honestly...even just this much less to worry about is amazing add in a bit of botox if you could and life could be so much easier?

 

[Jezza]

Jezza what about a combination of treatments- ie the surgery and that "electric bath" one i read about? not saying it would be perfect, but honestly...even just this much less to worry about is amazing add in a bit of botox if you could and life could be so much easier?

Well...I like your optimism, but I wish it were actually that simple.

Actually for a long time I had a rock solid belief it would be like that, but after my experience after botox and ionto I'm sad to tell you it isn't. Not for me at least.

Then again my HH is quite complicated, although some others on this forum have similar cases affecting a lot of areas of the body, and in my case it developed a lot over recent years (22 now).

I've been busy for a good 2,5 years trying to get a sufficient amount of botox injections in my hands. Unfortunately, right here in the Netherlands the medical system is good for the regular stuff, but not so much if you have something more rare, and the government tries to keep private care in check as much as they can. So basically I'm stuck all the time waiting weeks till months between appointments and I'm getting nowhere fast.

Finally I found a private clinic that did the treatment I was looking for (surprising how many of them post false info on the internet) so I tried it out anyway. Results were ok for my hands but nowhere near perfect. Also I had hoped against hope that when my palmar HH would go away I'd feel less embarrased by the sweating therefore reducing the total sweating of my body.
Unfortunately, not the case --> in fact I feel like I have some compensatory sweating right now. I found the emotional apects of HH rather questionable before but now I'm even convinced it's physical. The experience was worth it to get the info, but I don't know if I'll do it again.

So after my holy grail (botox) had lost its shine, I finally decided I'll try and have tests done if they can find secondary cause, and started with the standard blood work today. I'm still kicking myself for not doing so at first, but given the system I thought it would only cause me even more time, and went to the hospital purely for palmoplantar HH initially, therefore (looking back now) giving no cause for finding a secondary cause...man that was so incerdibly stupid of me, I almost can't believe it...Just wait and see where it goes from here now I guess.

 

[serendipity]

Sorry to hear that Jezza Hope you get some answers/help