Archive for Kids
Hyperhidrosis and Heredity: Does My Child Have It?
Posted by: · on November 22, 2010 | Comments
You may be aware that hyperhidrosis is hereditary. Or you may be like I was and be blissfully ignorant of this sobering fact. By the time I learned of the possibility that my children could inherit my hyperhidrosis, my family was complete. Believe me, more than complete– we have five kids!
I have received messages from a number of people (mostly women) who are really struggling with their fear of passing hyperhidrosis on to their children– existing, future, and in utero. A few people questioned whether they should have kids at all because they would not want their kids to suffer as they did. One expectant mother told me she lay sleepless in bed many nights after learning her child was a girl and being convinced that a girl would have a harder time living with hyperhidrosis, should she be afflicted with it.
What could I say to these worried parents and would-be parents?
I felt for them, of course I did. Strangely, I did not share their fears. My oldest children clearly did not have it; two of them are teens and still showing no signs of HH. I did not give it much thought; perhaps this is because no one else in my family had it when I was growing up and suffering in isolation and shame. It isn’t as if hyperhidrosis runs rampant in my family.
So, my response to these anxious folks was sincere and sympathetic, running along the lines of… “Your child, if she has hyperhidrosis, will have something going for her that you did not have: a mother who understands and will advocate for her…” and “…Educate yourself on every possible treatment and find a good doctor who understands how to treat hyperhidrosis…” You know, the best advice I could think to give. From my ivory tower.
Until Movie Night.
Cuddled on the couch, watching Alice In Wonderland with my girls… My husband was away with our three sons. I don’t know about your sweat patterns, but to me, a hallmark of hyperhidrosis is sweating during an exciting movie. It must be the whole adrenaline, fight-or-flight response mechanism. I touched a bare foot during a chase scene. It was slick. Checked hands: wet. Hyperhidrosis.
Suddenly, all my well-meaning advice-from-on-high meant nothing. I cried my eyes out and felt like a hypocrite. The irrational and overwhelming guilt made the tears fall faster. She will have to live with this because of ME. I GAVE THIS TO HER. The fact that it was simply genetics and thus out of my control and not actually my fault meant absolutely nothing to me.
After awhile, I began to think back on all the little signs I had willfully ignored: the clammy hands a few random times, the moist socks… I had told myself, “Kids tend to be sweaty…” And this is true. I do think sweaty hands and feet in young children can be normal and not a sure sign of hyperhidrosis. I may well be mistaken about my daughter. I would love to be wrong, of course.
Since that night a few months have passed and I have watched for more episodes. There have been a few. Happily, a few times I expected to feel sweat, there was none. I even have admitted to myself that another one of my children can have clammy hands once in awhile, and I am trying to accept the possibility that he may have it too.
Since the initial shock, I have gained a sense of perspective. I have reminded myself of the advice I offered to others, and have tried to be OK with it. I have attempted to quiet the guilt. My head knows it is not my fault. My heart wants to blame someone, and it may as well be me.
Someday, if my children are diagnosed with hyperhidrosis, they may be angry with being dealt a sweaty hand. They may want to blame someone: me. I must anticipate this and understand. Before I find myself in this position, I must forgive myself, accept it, and get ready to be their best weapon.
An Open Letter About Hyperhidrosis in Children
Posted by: · on August 25, 2010 | CommentsEarlier this month, I came across an article published in a medical journal that addressed the issue of anxiety in children, advising what pediatricians should be looking for. While the article was written for the medical community and not “lay” persons such as myself, I naturally felt the need to add my two cents.
Having been a child who suffered in isolation, I felt I had a different perspective to offer. You can read the article here and you will see that the author (who is, from what I understand, a top professional in her specialty) goes into great detail about using screening tests and other tools to determine whether a child suffers from anxiety disorder, panic attacks, or even OCD. I firmly believe an “anxious” child should be screened for hyperhidrosis, as well. Here is an excerpt of what I wrote:
“….I am writing to you because I wanted to share another perspective on anxiety in children and adolescents.
I am a stay at home mother of five children who range in ages 5-15. I also have started a website recently about primary hyperhidrosis. I hope it is not presumptuous of me, but I wanted to let you know that I suspect that at least some children– particularly adolescents– who present as anxious may actually be anxious due to hyperhidrosis. As I’m sure you already know, hyperhidrosis often appears during puberty, which is most certainly a bewildering, upsetting, and embarrassing experience.
I write about hyperhidrosis because I have had it since early childhood. I grew up with the slow realization that I was different from everyone else I knew. As I grew older, the subliminal message that sweating is shameful and disgusting (thank you, advertising campaigns of the 1970′s) became ingrained in me and I regarded myself in that light. By the time I was 13, I was anxious and desperate to make it stop. I was also too utterly ashamed to tell a soul about it. It never occurred to me that I had a disorder; I was simply convinced that I was a freak and as such, utterly worthless. This, despite the fact that I was the adored youngest child of a large, close-knit family.
One night, after sweating uncontrollably throughout Urban Cowboy (who does that during a movie??), I had had enough and was caught by my older sister rifling through medicine cabinets, determined to commit suicide. I tried to explain why I was so distraught; I finally spoke of my shame and the source of it. They (my parents and adult older siblings) brushed it aside. They determined, despite my protests, that I was suicidal due to some other family dynamics which had indeed created a tense atmosphere in our home. Of course that was a factor in my anxiety, I do know and acknowledge that. But I also know that I was an adolescent with nowhere to turn, dealing with an issue that was bigger than me. I never spoke of my sweating again until I was in my early 30′s and heard the word “hyperhidrosis” quite by accident.
I am telling you this because I know that my experience is not unique. I also know that for reasons I cannot understand, the fields of psychiatry/psychology seem to be rather oblivious to the severe damage hyperhidrosis wreaks on the self-esteem of people who are like me. Perhaps the reason is that “we” are so ashamed that we suffer in isolation and fail to explain the source and depth of our pain. It is not “just sweating”. It is the pain of being different, of not being in control, the fear of discovery through the senses of touch, sight, and smell. It is every day.
People who don’t suffer from this really, truly, don’t “get it”. Sadly, many therapists could ease this pain and are utterly uninformed and thereby make it worse. I had a wonderful therapist (an LCSW) whom I admire in every other respect, but who told me that it was all in my head; that I could completely control it with meditation and therapy. I now know how wrong he was, and I wasted a lot of time and energy on something that was not helpful.
How many pediatricians are missing this diagnosis? Hyperhidrosis has no definitive cure, but a referral to a dermatologist for medical treatment and a referral to an informed psychologist could make a world of difference to a child who is drowning in shame.
I have carved out a wonderful life, but I wonder what my life would have been like if I had not been convinced I was a freak for 33 years of it….”
I should have added that my family did try to help me through that rough period by sending me to a psychologist. If that psychologist knew that what I had was a medical disorder and had diagnosed me with hyperhidrosis, it would have saved me from a great deal of pain and self-loathing. Sad to say, I believe very little has changed since the early ’80′s in that regard. The same oversights are likely still occurring all over the world.
Could Your Adolescent Be Suffering From Hyperhidrosis?
Posted by: · on June 2, 2010 | CommentsHere is an article I have written to give parents a “heads up” about hyperhidrosis in adolescence:
Adolescence can be an exciting, emotional, and confusing time in your child’s life as well as yours. As a parent, it can creep up on you… One day, your talkative, adoring, happy child seemingly morphs into a stranger. This stranger behaves as though you are the dullest knife in the drawer, is convinced you can’t dress to save your life, and is capable of eating every potato chip in the house in one sitting. Suddenly, everything about you is an endless source of embarrassment. You must drive in the car with all the windows up just in case your horrifying taste in music or a younger sibling’s voice causes your teenager to keel over in mortification.
All that aside, it is surreal and fascinating to see the physical changes taking place before your eyes! Everything is growing, changing, developing… there is a new game in the house: who is taller than who? Of course, along with these incredible changes usually comes an increasing self-consciousness. Self-consciousness breeds secretiveness. This is normal. You must become, by necessity, two parts detective and one part Nosy Parker. We need to stay on top of all the new dynamics in a teenager’s life, and that takes a lot of ingenuity and persistence.
One of the possible changes your adolescent may face is something that very few parents are aware of: hyperhidrosis. Hyperhidrosis, by definition, is a disorder that causes the body to sweat excessively or inappropriately. Some people develop this in early childhood (I did), but it seems that most cases of hyperhidrosis appear along with the changes brought on by puberty. There are several variations of hyperhidrosis: Axillary Hyperhidrosis (excessive underarm sweat), Palmar Hyperhidrosis (sweaty hands), Plantar Hyperhidrosis (sweaty feet), and CranioFacial Hyperhidrosis and Blushing (sweating and/or blushing of the face and scalp). The most common form of hyperhidrosis is Primary Focal Hyperhidrosis, which is a combination of sweating in the underarms, hands, and feet.
Can you imagine how difficult it would be to have this happen to your body at such a time? A teenager is already dealing with the physical changes of puberty, a new-found awareness of the opposite sex, and the emotional upheavals of hormones-gone-wild. Add to this mix the self-consciousness and secretiveness that accompany adolescence.
The upshot here is that your child could be dealing with the bewildering effects of a disorder they do not know even exists, and could be too ashamed to tell you. In fact, most people who suffer from hyperhidrosis live with it for many years without even knowing it is a medical disorder. I grew up with it and until I was in my 30′s, I thought it was “just me”.
The good news is that there are many others in the world who have this disorder– estimates are that it affects approximately 3% of the global population. Therefore, there are many treatments available, as well as chat forums and websites to be found where those who suffer from hyperhidrosis can go to find helpful information and to share their feelings and frustrations.
If your child starts to exhibit anti-social behavior, won’t allow you to hold his or her hand, sweats through their clothing, or acts depressed for no known reason, try to ask them why. Ask their permission to take them to see a specialist who can help them. For the most part, dermatologists can provide the best medical treatment for this disorder. However, not all dermatologists take hyperhidrosis seriously enough or are not experienced in its treatment. Ask before you bring your child to an appointment, because a doctor who belittles the problem can make things worse.
If you think your adolescent may be dealing with hyperhidrosis, please seek help and find out as much as you possibly can about the disorder. Above all, take it seriously. Living in a body that can “betray” you at any moment is embarrassing, scary and frustrating. Too many children suffer from this alone, in silence, believing he or she is a “freak”. It does not have to be that way.
