......HyperhidrosisAndMe.com is a website for those who have Primary Hyperhidrosis. Find and purchase clothing and products that can help you feel and look good, explore treatment options that can help you, and read about growing up and living with Hyperhidrosis from my personal perspective.
Blessings, Charmaine
Posted by:
Charmaine
· on January 11, 2011 | Comments
(5)
I was puttering around in my kitchen over Christmas break while my two girls were watching Disney Channel’s newest show, “Shake It Up”. Contrived, badly acted (sorry), predictable, with only about 5 episodes in constant rotation, this latest offering from Disney Channel seems to be reinforcing my opinion that the execs at that network seem to think kids are stupid. If you have school-aged children, surely you know what I mean (Suite Life On Deck submarine episode hello!).
The episode below snagged my attention, however, when I heard this dialogue exchange: “I didn’t want anyone to know… Because people can be mean. Especially when they find out you have some weird disorder.” They were talking about dyslexia, actually, but so many of the feelings echo what most of us feel about having hyperhidrosis… and how hard it is to get those close to us to understand how difficult it is to be “different”.
I recommend you fast forward to the scene where the girls are sitting on the front stoop:
Everyone has something. If you have hyperhidrosis, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You did not choose this, you can control it to some degree, and most importantly, you are not alone. Life is short and don’t let a disorder control your happiness!
Posted by:
Charmaine
· on November 18, 2010 | Comments
(0)
I have just finished viewing one of the best segments on hyperhidrosis that I have ever seen. The International Hyperhidrosis Society (www.SweatHelp.org) posted on their Facebook page a link to their website, where they had posted the video. Featured in the segment is one of the founders of the International Hyperhidrosis Society, Dr. David Pariser, who has a thriving dermatology practice in Norfolk, Virginia. I went to the CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) website, and they have provided a code enabling placement of the video on outside sites, so… here it is!
The folks featured in this piece deserve our thanks and admiration. Imagine how difficult it must have been to talk about their hyperhidrosis on camera!
It seems from watching this that Botox really is becoming the “treatment of choice” for both axillary and palmar hyperhidrosis. This is the second video I have seen recently showing Botox injections in the hands (see other video here), and one of my Facebook friends, Amanda, has recently had this done with good results. For more information on Botox for excessive sweating, please see my page under Treatment Options called Botox .
The word is getting out! Not only that, but there are treatments out there that work. You have options as well as acceptance!
Posted by:
Charmaine
· on September 21, 2010 | Comments
(1)
I will begin by stating the obvious: We have hyperhidrosis and we are ashamed. Yeah, me included.
The ways in which our bodies betray us every single day is our own business; our own private hell. Why should we speak up and expose ourselves to outright sneers or, worse, polite distaste? It has always been this way, and most of us prefer to guard our secret at all costs.
What’s the harm in it?
Here is a simple fact: because there are far too few voices telling the public that abnormal sweating is caused by a physical disorder, our society makes unfair assumptions about people who visibly sweat. We are seen as shifty, nervous, self-conscious, and unclean. The result of a wet handshake? We are often pitied and dismissed. In short, the public and the media are, for the most part, indifferent to our plight.
The consequences of this indifference?
There is no awareness about hyperhidrosis in the public eye, and very little serious consideration about hyperhidrosis in the medical community.
It is commonplace that we go undiagnosed for years. In fact, the average is said to be 9 years. For me, it was 33. This results in years of suffering in isolation and all the emotional baggage that comes with that.
Psychologists are often unaware of what hyperhidrosis is and how deeply it can affect the psyche.
There has been little research into the cause and cure for hyperhidrosis.
The tendency to under-diagnose hyperhidrosis has resulted in the health insurance industry’s general reluctance to cover treatments that go beyond Drysol. Therefore, we are commonly left with two choices: pay for expensive treatments, or go without.
And the biggest consequence of all, in my opinion?
Internet Scams.
Think about it. We are the perfect type of victims for the Internet scammer.
Too embarrassed to seek advice or treatment, we look on the Internet. Too ashamed to ask anyone else’s opinion, we believe what is promised. Desperate for relief, we will spend our money on anything that promises a cure. Too embarrassed to admit that we were scammed– much less what we were hoping to cure– we do not expose the scam after the fact.
Easy money.
If you have found this website, the odds are pretty high that you have done an Internet search to try and alleviate your sweating. Have you been tempted to buy a very short but extremely expensive little e-book that tells you to stop sweating and start living? Have you seen promises that you can stop sweating in three days, guaranteed? How about all-natural, herbal remedies that will put an end to your sweating? Did you know you can wipe out facial sweating? Do I need to continue?
The people behind these miraculous hyperhidrosis cures know a great deal about Internet marketing, and I would guess, precious little about your suffering. Did you know that some of these e-book “publishers” pay a 65% commission to websites that link back to their very convincing shopping-cart sites?
Stop and think: If ANY of these “miraculous” cures, books, or systems worked, it would be no secret. The International Hyperhidrosis Society would know about it; any doctor with any knowledge of hyperhidrosis would know about it. These are all SCAMS. These people are getting rich off of me, you, and our secrecy.
Our collective shame has made us a target and the victims of our own silence.
The only way to end the scamming, the indifference, and the medical mismanagement of our disorder is to talk about it. I know it is hard. Ask my friends on Facebook!
Posted by:
Charmaine
· on September 17, 2010 | Comments
(2)
Well, I did it. What, you ask? Facebook. Just now, I “outed” my hyperhidrosis to all my Facebook friends.
Yes.
Imagine all of the people who have friended me from High School (High School!!!), college, old jobs, current acquaintances from my children’s school… all of the people I hid my HH from all my life… they all know now. And I am shaking and… sweating (ah, bien sur!).
I have a Facebook fan page for this website (I hope you have seen it and “like”-ed it). The way Facebook works, if you have a personal profile and you then would like to start a fan page for, say, a website, then that fan page resides “inside” your personal account. Therefore, the two are tied together. So if you would prefer that your fan page be utterly separate from your personal page, tough luck.
I did not fully realize this at first, being a “newbie” to Facebook, and rather old. By the time I had established Hyperhidrosis And Me’s Facebook presence, it was rather too late. With each hyperhidrosis-themed status update that showed up on my Wall, and with each new person who showed up from my past with a friend request, that ashamed little girl inside of me cringed. OK, the grown up part of me cringed too. I could not even look the moms at school (who had friended me) in the eye.
Are you surprised by this admission of current shame? Perhaps you think me a hypocrite. After all, what do I say all over this website about Speaking Out about hyperhidrosis? I say quite vehemently “Hyperhidrosis is what you have, not who you are.” I preach about all of that all over this site, on my Facebook page, on Twitter, and on many website “comments” sections and in several blog network sites.
Therein lies the catch. All of that soapbox preaching has occurred online. The safe anonymity of the Internet was my safety net, my mask. Offline, I have only chosen to practice what I preach to a select few acquaintances and friends. Well, to give myself some credit, I have been candid about it to many more people recently. It has gotten easier with practice. I have chosen who exactly knows my little secret, and I have controlled when, where, and how I have shared it.
But with Facebook? There was no controlling who of my FB “friends” saw my hyperhidrosis postings. I was left to block out what they may have been thinking. To them, part of me knows that it was really not a big deal, that whatever they learned about me and my “secret” perhaps gave them pause but did not really mean much at the end of the day. To me, though, as I am certain some of you know, it became the elephant in the room. I had to address it.
Do I feel better? Not yet. I will have to get back to you on that– that little girl inside of me wants a lemon drop martini.
Posted by:
Charmaine
· on August 3, 2010 | Comments
(0)
Just before we left last week to go on our annual family vacation to Door County, Wisconsin, my mother casually mentioned that she saw “a girl talking about sweating” on the “Today Show”. Given that it has been a week since it aired (sorry!), you may have seen or heard about it, but nevertheless, I have it embedded below. It covers the bases succinctly and pretty well, and it is always, always good to see hyperhidrosis get attention.
Why is it that when nationally aired or syndicated shows do a segment on hyperhidrosis, their expert of choice seems to always be a doctor? Dr. Peterson (above) does an excellent job of laying out the scientific facts; wouldn’t it be a relief if for once someone who actually suffers from this disorder were given the chance to describe the emotional impact of hyperhidrosis?
The general lack of public awareness that abnormal sweating is a disorder, coupled with the perception of sweating as something distasteful, make for a whole lot of misconceptions on the public’s part and buckets full of shame on our parts. We need to be more vocal and less ashamed.
Hyperhidrosis isn’t going away, at least not anytime soon– we need to learn to manage it if we can’t cure it. Part of managing it must include being emotionally healthy about it, and the first step to emotional health has got to be openness. Openness leads to understanding. Wouldn’t that be nice??
Posted by:
Charmaine
· on April 23, 2010 | Comments
(1)
We all roll our eyes from time to time when the phrase “politically correct” comes up. Remember the good old days, we whisper, when you could tell a good joke without Offending People? I am just as guilty at times as everyone, although I would like to believe I am sensitive to the feelings of others. My sensitivity comes from knowing what it feels like to pretend to laugh at some offensive joke or comment about sweating, while feeling inside like the butt of that joke.
Somehow over the years, we as a species have come to see sweating as shameful and disgusting. In our society, there are only very specific circumstances in which this natural bodily function can be deemed acceptable: when exercising, in extremely hot and/or humid conditions, or when ill. Even if you are nervous, we learn at a young age, you are expected to hide it.
As a result of this unspoken rule that is taught and reinforced countless times in childhood, public perception of those who sweat visibly is negative in every way:
People whose hands are sweaty must be nervous. People who are nervous are shifty and not to be trusted. People who are nervous are weak and not self-assured; they have no self-respect.
Somehow, the mental image of a “sweaty guy” is of someone who is overweight. People with Hyperhidrosis come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors, as we know.
Sweating is unclean, so it only follows that people who sweat do not observe proper hygeine.
Yup, we’re greedy, too. I recently saw this sentence: “…he couldn’t wait to get his sweaty hands on all that money…”
So here’s the kicker, folks! When we get up the nerve to tell a friend or peer about our Hyperhidrosis, what do we hear, almost without fail?? “Oh, so what. That’s okay. It’s no big deal.”
These perceptions are ingrained in all of us. Subconsciously, we judge our own sweating as society does. So, IT IS A BIG DEAL!
The only one way to change this unfair perception is to make it Politically Incorrect. We must come out of the shadows and raise awareness that Hyperhidrosis is real and that we, to quote my friend Anne, are “normal people who happen to sweat”.
Decide for yourself after reading my FREE report. Nowhere else on the Internet will you find everything you must know about ETS!
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