ETS and 5-days post-op clamp removal...my story

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sweatydude86
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:35 pm

ETS and 5-days post-op clamp removal...my story

Post by sweatydude86 »

I posted this on another ETS forum (http://etsandreversals.yuku.com/) and thought that I'd also post on here, so more people can see it and hopefully hopefully decide against this potentially life-screwing surgery. Here ya go!

Hey people...After a few months post-reversal, I wanted to post my story. And thank you to all who have also posted because I get a lot of hope that this reversal is going to be successful in the long-run.
I'm a 25 year old otherwise healthy man. I had bilateral clamping sympathectomy at T3/T4 levels performed in early 2011 by Dr. Reisfeld, for hand sweating. It was my birthday present to myself...OOPS! 5 days post-op, after realizing that I made a really really bad decision given the inability to sleep, total body sweating, major increase in feet sweating, and penile dysfunction, I had the clamps removed. I might have given it more time, but I had major travel plans and had to leave the country, so really I got lucky and had them removed at 5 days, and thank god I did.

Post-removal, all crazy side-effects cleared up immediately, except for fairly severe compensatory sweating, some gustatory sweating with spicy foods, lowered heartbeat at rest and during exercise, and super high "holy-shit-I-ruined-my-life" levels of anxiety. The extreme foot sweating lessened, thankfully, but CS because very apparent as I live in a hot, humid environment, which I used to love, but now cannot stand. My CS is from trunk (back, belly, chest), ass, crotch, legs, feet. It's really terrible. And if I'm nervous, I'm sweating a lot from all of these places, as well. And if I'm hot and nervous, I hate life.

I'm now at 5 months post-reversal, and I notice some improvements, but still have bad CS. Positive things are that I sweat from both armpits now, and from parts of my arms, and even from my hands if I'm hot, but only lightly. These things I consider great, and hopefully they make my trunk sweat less. But unfortunately, trunk sweating comes before these other options. If I'm exercising, I will completely soak through clothes, but have total body sweating, including all arms, upper chest, upper back, entire head, face, etc, which wasn't the case immediately after the reversal. More and more even sweating has come with time. I guess this is the biggest improvement. Also, my heart rate has increased and become stronger.

I now have a major major distrust of western medicine...I'm over it. So, I've taken to healing myself naturally. Here's what I do:

- Yoga a few times a week. I had practiced Bikram (hot) yoga prior to the surgery, and I continue to post-surgery because I feel like it gets blood flowing, increases healing and it's OK for me to sweat like a freak there, because everybody is. Only problem is that it takes much longer for me to cool down after class, and I'm sweating heavily for a while now. This is another thing that the surgery affected. I also do ashtanga yoga, in which I still sweat a LOT but I can cool down easily after because it's not in heat. It's all good. I feel like yoga has definitely encouraged more even body sweating and also got my heart back into action.
- Running, even though I'll soak through my clothes, all exercise is good, gets blood flowing, promotes healing, makes me happy
- Acupuncture - I've been doing this for 3-4 months now, once a week. I found a great acupuncturist, who is focused on lessening my body heat through acupuncture and also strengthening my heart. Sometimes I notice a difference and sometimes I don't. In any case, I'm sure my body appreciates it.
- Eating cooling foods, avoiding spicy foods and especially NO red meat. Eating chicken, fish, veggies, fruits, etc. I can always tell that I sweat more if I'm eating red meat.
- Taking supplements to heal nerves. Vitamin B complex with C, vegetarian Omega-3 pills, and Omega-6 with rosmarin (also known to heal nerve damage).
- As many have said on this forum, smoking weed to calm the BLEEP down, and I definitely don't sweat much when I'm smoking. It feels like old me!!
- Being positive (as best I can), living, doing things I like, sharing feelings with people

ETS completely changed my life. I used to be incredibly active, mountain climbing, cycling, yoga, dancing, etc and while I can and do still practice these activities, I'm much more uncomfortable doing so. This makes me sad and angry all the time. I went through a really severe depression surrounding all of this for a couple of months, and have come out on the other side with some acceptance and hope, but I'm still shocked by the truth of my new reality. Whatever.. My most important point that I'll write is, I SHOULD HAVE JUST ACCEPTED MYSELF. Now I'm wishing praying and hoping for sweaty hands. I'd trade them back in a second. My biggest hope that I take from this forum is that some people report really positive reversal results, after 8 months to 1 year and more, so at 5 months post-ETS reversal, there's still hope. That's it.. Well, there's tons more actually. Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks :)

admin
Site Admin
Posts: 382
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 5:00 pm

Post by admin »

Hey sweatydude, thanks for your detailed post. You are lucky you got the reversal done so fast. I am also planning to start hot yoga next week after months of procrastinating.

Regarding your penile dysfuntion side effect, that is very strange, since its only been reported to be a side effect from lumbar synpathectomy and not from thoracic sympathectomy. You might want to check with someone that your L-3/L-4 were not clamped by mistake, since there have been numerous cases where surgeons do the wrong operation on the wrong patient no matter how experienced the surgeon.

Sorry to make you even more anxious, but I am curious about this because Dr. Reisfeld does lot of lumbar sympathectomies, and I suffer from heavy feet sweating so have been following his results lately (since he claims that the new lumbar sympathectomy operation causes no reverse ejaculation).

sweatydude86
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:35 pm

Post by sweatydude86 »

yeah there is no way that a lumbar symp was performed, because the incisions would have to be much lower, in the area of my lumbar spine. in any case, this is was i experienced. it was a blood flow issue, that immediately resolved once clamps were removed. weird, huh? Reisfeld said that I was just stressed out. Which may have been true. In any case, he also claims that his thoracic procedure causes less CS and no issues of lowering of heart beat, both of which were lies. He's absolutely not to be trusted, nor are any ETS doctors.

steve_nf
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:30 am

Post by steve_nf »

Holy crap that's insane. It shows how the clamps aren't really reversible. In five days post-op I would think that side-effects would be completely reversed. Thanks for making this post! It really emphasizes how much thought people need to put in before getting this surgery. My compensatory sweating sucks but compared to palmar hyperhidrosis and what I've been through it's not THAT bad. I manage it by just putting it in the back of my mind, and bringing some extra clothes whenever I go somewhere.

iiS
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:56 am

Re: ETS and 5-days post-op clamp removal...my story

Post by iiS »

on which T this was done,, T4 or T3..?

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