ETS Surgery- Personal story of a monumental loss

[abhi89abhi]

Back in 2013, when I decided to go for ETS for my sweaty palms, little did I know it would bring me to the crossroads of life and death. I suffered from excessive sweaty palms from my childhood and struggled to write my homework/ my exams. My hands would be sweating at that time. When I picked up the racket to play badminton, they were sweating again. The childhood didn’t pose any existential threat and the problem stayed with me, me never pondering over finding a cure for it. It didn’t qualify as an ailment then.

Then I went to college. I was writing exams with the handkerchief beneath my wrist, otherwise the sheet would soak. The pressure of life was building up as I was standing at the doorstep of building a life of my own, to enter the quest to make a career and to make money.

Life is going to be hard, it was insinuous but never evidently clear. It was the general commotion it will pass, happily. Well, I was lucky enough to be chosen for a successful multinational company in college placements and got to be in the most privileged of the lot there could be in India.

The countdown to the apocalypse had begun. The grind was about to take its toll. The long hours, the demanding atmosphere of a loaded MNC and working with bizarrely affluent human beings was daunting enough to take me down. I began questioning my existence and my legitimacy in the organization. But the exit door was too horrid an option to imagine. Life had posed a perennial dilemma and I was in a soup.

Amid all this chaos, the age old problem resurfaced into a rather gargantuous form. I became cautious when I would touch the mouse and the droplets would appear on it. Anytime I was exposed to a situation where my sweaty hands would reveal myself, I got trampled. It became a social abomination that I would want to hide from everyone.

And then I stumbled upon the permanent solution to this problem when I was surfing through the web in 2013. That time mostly the content on the internet was pro surgery, citing benefits and promising results of the surgery. Not many pages talked about the side effects like compensatory sweating (maybe I was not looking). It was new at the time and information available was sparse.

I got convinced and decided to go for the surgery.

After a consultation with a local neurologist, who was also only to the new technique available and who didn’t discourage me, I fixed a date with the surgeon who only threw a bleak warning of compensatory sweating. I just ignored it. Sweating anywhere other than the palms was acceptable to me. I went for the surgery.

I had my first surgery in 2013 only for my right hand. This is called unilateral surgery- only the right side of the body was operated. It was highly successful. The gustory sweating and all other effects were limited on the right side. Compensatory sweating was non-existent because the stress on the body was halved. Half of my body was sweating normally.

Then in 2015, I went for the second hand. The worst decision of my life.

I was so dumb that I didn’t notice its side affects immidiately. My piano playing got affected immediately and I must be daftly ignorant for not being able to attribute the cause of it to the surgery. Immediately my piano playing routine got trampled and I started needing the fan for playing. I couldn’t imagine the noise of the fan with the piano because I enjoyed absolute silence while playing. So, while sitting and watching TV I started cursing the fan. Still, I couldn’t attribute it to the surgery and there was something changed in my body.

A moron or an imbecile is the word that only could describe me when I think of the time it took me to figure out what had happened to me. It was 5 years from then in 2020, the world was battling corona virus and it dawned upon me as another catastrophe whose wrath was just reserved for me.
I had never felt anything like this before. A strange horror swept over me and I could feel it shackle the very fabric of life I had known. I would never have thought I would feel like walking dead one day. Some jolts in my career because I always suffered from fear and anxiety and I was down on my knees. I was driving a car from home to the office but I knew I was dead. INSIDE.

--------‐-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fast forward to 2022, now when I am sitting in my office and writing this article, I am past the period of two years of horrid, self deprecating shit I could have endured. I used to loathe people who commited suicide or even thought about it. And here I was having overwheming suicidal thoughts intermittently. Thoughts that dried me and detached me from my body, the very place I dwelled in for 30 years became trepedious to live in.

Let me explain some of the lesser known characteristics of compensatory sweating. Nearly 10 years down the line of doing my first ETS surgery, I now deter anyone thinking about it. Surgery is an extreme measure that should be avoided as much as possible.

“Anyone going in for the surgery assumes the compensatory sweating would comprise of the palmar sweat only which is usually anxiety-driven because generally it appears in conditions of stress while working under testing circumstances. People generally would rather accept sweat on any other part of the body than palms, because they are the primary functional tool and aid. But ETS plays with the heat balance of the body so there is another component of sweat that is present in compensatory sweating and that is from the reduced surface area available to body for heat dissipation(all the area above neck is cut off from sweating post surgery- this includes arms, head, face and palms). This is the unexpected outcome that startled me and brought me a great amount of distress. The body’s trigger point for sweating gets lowered and it begins to trigger sweat even in mild hot conditions. So, usual activities that never trigger sweat on the body (only on the forehead maybe), might start to trigger sweat patches or sometimes droplets which drip through the clothing. This sweat is bothersome when it permeates through clothing- legs, chest or torso any part may bear the brunt of it in the long term. Any activity which requires only mild effort like carrying stuff, few items here and there, moving or standing in ATM lines for longer duration- that triggers sweat on forehead only- will now generate intensified sweat on legs, chest or torso. Believe me this sweat is discomforting and hampering because you cannot wipe it off like the sweat on your forehead"

10 Years later I am in a firm position to review the ETS long term effects on the body. Let me state that every body is different and would exhibit different short term and long term effects for the ETS Surgery. My case is only a testament to a slow and gradual realization that the long term effects of the surgery are pernicious and disconcerting.

“Many people have successful ETS surgeries with no consequences. But almost all of the patients develop compensatory sweating. I believe in 10-15% (It could be more) of the cases, this compensatory sweating becomes restraining and problematic. And from what I understand only 1-2% of the cases like me, find it particularly hampering or debilitating. I don't recommend ETS to anyone whose job requires them to work in hot conditions without a fan or AC. Jobs like mechanics, drivers or material handlers, sales executives or field workers, delivery guys, people who need to run here and there frequently (people living in hot and humid conditions especially beware).Any activity which requires persistent, focussed or relentless mental or physical effort in hot conditions can evoke discomforting compensatory sweat. And if this activity is your daily routine, it can lead to major discomfort and distress”

All in all I have made an unprecedented compromise that I never thought I would make. A piece of me is missing and is lost forever. I loved to play piano. My life resided in the keys. I wanted to end my life because it felt like a sin to live further. A treacherous felony without being able to play the pieces I loved so much. I don’t wish this pain to anyone. Make your life choices carefully and meticulously.
P.S I have also made a youtube video about my incident back in July 2020. Some of the content can be found in the comment section there. Link to the video is below-:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43CgIwSXD8\
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELFs5QZjLMw

[admin]

Thanks for the detailed summary and videos. I do not frequent these forums much, but there seem to be more visitors lately.

Did your feet sweat a lot prior to ETS and do they still sweat? Do you know which ganglions you had cut/clamped/cauterized?

I live in an area where the temperature rarely crosses 80 F (27C) and that seems to help with CS.

Some of your issues may improve in the long term FYI. Just try not to read about this subject too frequently as sometimes it can exacerbate the problem.

[abhi89abhi]

Hi, I am sorry for replying so late.
No. The feet don't seem to be affected at all. They used to sweat prior to surgery as well(excessively) and they sweat just the same amount after the surgery as well.

Legs however, have to bear the brunt of CS. I was operated on T2, T3 T4 levels on one side and T1, T2 and T4 levels on other side.

Thankyou for your response.

[abhi89abhi]

I was also frantically searching for options like ETS Reversal for I went completely off the hook and berserk with the depression of permanent loss of my piano playing. Any ideas and suggestions on this?

I am new these forums as well and exploring the subject more. Sometimes I think I should move to a cold country but I have seen CS to appear on my back even in extreme cold conditions while I play the piano.

This surgery is especially bad for the people who enjoy long deep silence while they play piano or any other music instrument. I will write about it separately.

[admin]

Thanks. Are you sure you got T-1 removed on one side? You would have Horner's Syndrome on one eye in that case right? Was your doctor Arun Prasad?

[abhi89abhi]

Again i am sorry for replying late.
I was searching through the reports. Yes, it says Right T1(Lower Part), T2 and T3 sympathetic chain removed in the first surgery for the right hand and
half of 3rd, 4th and half of 2nd ganglion removed for the left hand side.

My doctor was Dr. Khuller(MAX Hospital)