10 What Deodorant Stops Sweating The Best

What Deodorant Stops Sweating The Best in 2023

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Living With Hyperhidrosis

Excessive sweating can be a socially crippling condition, and the medical methods for dealing with the problem can be hazardous. This is how I learned to live with it.

A bead of sweat trickled from my forehead and ran down my nose before dripping into my meal.

Embarrassed, I glanced quickly around the table to see if anyone had noticed, but they were all happily chatting or concentrating on enjoying their food.

There were 23 of my colleagues attending the works dinner at the restaurant. The place was packed with customers. And it was hot. Too hot. There was no air-conditioning, but I seemed to be the only one who was really bothered by the high temperature and lack of air, and I was pouring with perspiration.

Since my mid-teenage years, whenever I became overheated, I would suffer from excessive sweating that was out of all proportion to the temperature or the amount of physical effort I was making.

The way it began was always the same. As I realized I was becoming warm, I would feel a prickling sensation all over my body. My heart would start to race. My mouth would go dry as my breathing became heavy.

Beads of sweat would break out over much of my body, but especially my scalp and forehead, as I became dizzy and nauseous. I would feel a rising sense of panic and an overwhelming need to get out into the fresh air where I could breathe and cool down. But even when the sweaty state eased off, it would take a good 20 or 30 minutes to cool down completely.

As I grew older, the physical problem developed into a mental one as I became hung up about it. I began to anticipate and plan for circumstances in which I thought I might have difficulties. Summer, especially periods of humidity, became a nightmare. I found myself making excuses to avoid social situations in places which could get warm. Parties and nightclubs were out of the question.

The condition was unpleasant enough when I was alone. The times it would occur when I was with company were far worse because of the embarrassment factor. I would think that people were looking at me and wondering why I was sweating so much when the temperature probably didn't feel too hot for them.

My discomfort with the situation became so acute that I would actually try to hide the problem from my family and friends. When the sweating began, I would slip quietly away, making up some excuse later to explain my sudden disappearance.

By the time I reached my mid-20s, I had to admit to myself that something was definitely wrong with me. The situation was becoming absurd as well as embarrassing. I couldn't go on this way. My social life had dwindled and I felt sure that people were starting to regard me as odd.

Now at the work outing, drenched in perspiration and feeling like a fool as so often before, I was bitterly regretting agreeing to attend but my colleagues had insisted. They had done their best to make me feel guilty about the way I always avoided seeing them socially, so I decided to risk it just this once.

In mid-meal I stood up and walked out of the restaurant, desperate for some fresh air. I didn't go back. I simply could not bring myself to do so. If my colleagues thought I was being unforgivably rude, well, it couldn't be helped.

Afterward, I was asked why I had left. I couldn't bring myself to explain. That made me realize that a big part of the problem was not being able to talk to anyone about it.

This was one humiliation too far, but at least it made me desperate enough to actually overcome my embarrassment and seek out some professional help.

I went to see my doctor and explained the problem to him. I thought he would find it strange, that he might even dismiss my concerns as being all in my mind. But to my great surprise and relief, he treated it very seriously.

After ruling out various possible causes such as thyroid or pituitary gland problems and diabetes mellitus, he told me that my condition was a relatively common one, affecting at least 1 percent of the population, and it had a name: hyperhydrosis.

No-one really knows what causes hyperhydrosis. It usually begins, as it did with me, in adolescence, and has been linked to over activity in the sympathetic nervous system.

Some people with the condition have sweaty hands or feet or armpits or groin. Mine is cranial hyperhydrosis -- excessive sweating around the upper head.

I learned from my doctor that I was luckier than most sufferers in that my sweating didn't occur constantly. High temperatures or hard physical work set me off, but otherwise I would be fine. Some people sweat heavily all the time. I realized that I was relatively fortunate in having only a mild form of the complaint.

My doctor explained to me that the condition is treatable and told me what could be done.

Some methods of treatment, such as ultra-strong antiperspirants, or surgically removing the sweat glands would be impractical for cranial hyperhydrosis.

An operation called endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy ( E.T.S.) involves cutting certain nerves in the chest, but this can be a risky procedure with possible side effects and no guarantee of success. After an E.T.S. is performed, compensatory sweating can occur elsewhere on the body.

I was not comfortable with this and opted instead for a holistic, non-invasive approach. My doctor was doubtful, even though he had mentioned this as a possibility, but I simply knew that it would be right for me, and he respected my decision.

I began attending yoga classes at my local college and learned meditation and relaxation methods. Over a period of time I came to understand how anxiety over a problem can make that problem worse, but that it's possible to train the mind to gain a measure of control over the body's natural responses.

I came to be calmer and more relaxed in my approach to life. Now whenever I feel that my hyperhydrosis might cause me difficulties, I take control by using breathing techniques and visualization of calming and soothing images such as a frosty morning in the country, a snow-covered mountaintop, or a cool blue glacial lake. This fools my sympathetic nervous system into thinking that I'm in a chilly, tranquil setting and it reacts accordingly, cooling me down. I've regained my confidence and for many years now have been relatively stress-free.

My condition -- the hyperhydrosis -- is still there. It will never go away. But the important thing is it's under control now. Pushed into the background, not hanging over my life like a cloud. The problem will still flare up from time to time, but now I view these occurrences as an inconvenience rather than a reason for retreating from the world. I'm almost grateful to my old nemesis, because in my search for a solution I happened upon a way of living a richer, more fulfilling life. The problem no longer seems so overwhelming.

The relief is immense.