Hyperhidrosis Forum

Hi all, new member here

I am a 20 year old male and have been experiencing excessively sweaty hands for the past year. I found out that it was an actual "disorder" just a few months ago. I have been noticing everyday tasks are becoming more challenging than ever before, especially driving. Especially when it is hot, my hands just sweat so much that I have almost no grip on the wheel. This is very dangerous, so I researched and found some leather "driving gloves". Although they give me good control of the wheel, because of my excessive sweat, the gloves leave a black residue/stains on my hands that is very difficult to wash off. And it's not just a particular one, several of them have done that. I have tried cotton gloves, but they are very slippery, and offer very little grip on the wheel. What kinds of steering wheels do you guys use (mine is plastic)? How does everyone else drive with this horrible condition? I need some help with this.

At the moment, mine is currently untreated. I have tried drysol and it worked ok for me (still sweat, just not as much), but my hands started to hurt/feel weird so my physician asked me to stop. I also can't take robinul at the moment because I am taking something else (unrelated) that would have potential interactions for that. Also, my dermatology appointment is not until 2.5 months, so I need some advice on how to drive while leaving HH untreated. I might try ionotophorisis later. I am so fed up of this condition, and I've only had it for a year.

unrelated but I've noticed many of the threads have a ton of views (1000+) but there very few or 0 responses.... is everyone here like afraid to talk or insanely shy ....?

Have u considered surgery or does more than just your hands sweat? Cause I had/have several that sweat. I am wondering how this just started for you. As far as driving goes I always carried a bath towel on my lap to catch sweat dripping off bottom of wheel and to wipe off as well. In winter I wore gloves as I live in cold climate so my hand would not freeze to wheel. Let me know if this helps?

I recommend trying iontophoresis. I've written about my own experience with it. Search for my posts.

Hey
I'l be 18 next month and i am already eager to learn driving keeping in mind about my HH. i have decided to wear gloves mostly cotton ones which would help me or i could get the steering wheel covered with a cloth or something so that the sweat gets absorbed. i probably suffer from the worst form of HH and i have been its victim for the past 11 years. Surgery i wouldnt recommend coz thats what my doc says. Few patients who have undergone the surgery havent been lucky enough to get rid of HH. and in some cases people have ended up sweating even more. Maybe u just need to continue with your gloves if not leather ones u could wear cotton gloves too? they could soak in all the sweat and give u a comfortable driving experience oh and if u find a satisfactory solution to HH do tell me about it !!

I don't think it's necessarily people are shy to talk about. I would like to have more input but I notice most threads end up on the lines of iontophoresis/botox etc which I am not versed enough to have valid input.

Personally I had an ETS and have horrible compensatory sweating, which is why I come to this forum. I am mainly here to see what oral drugs people have had success with!

It can be annoying but it usually doesn't cause me any problems. I just continuously wipe my hands off on my pants. i wouldn't wear gloves just because i don't want to look like too big of a dork lol

I am shocked no one has suggested a steering wheel cover. Seriously. Fuzzy/Furry/and or Grippy leather? any type would probably help.

bearbear wrote:I am shocked no one has suggested a steering wheel cover. Seriously. Fuzzy/Furry/and or Grippy leather? any type would probably help.

All of the above made my hands sweat more, especially leather! The only fabric that I could touch that didn't make my hands sweat was 100% cotton. I ended up keeping two washcloths in the car just to dry my hands off so they wouldn't slip off the wheel.

a steering wheel covered with metal spikes. That's it. What are you? Race car driver's? I'm sure they have better steering wheels. *throws up hands in disgust* Give me a break. You actually slipped on a furry covered wheel? or you never tried it because you gave up before you started.

Helpful post.

Wheel covers sound good. I also keep the air condition in the car insanely cool and this helps me. And then there are cotton (or similar natural material) covers on the seat.

Keep your body cool and your hands should sweat less, too... Or at least that's how it works for me.

Sorry i noticed this two years late. If anyone's wondering, for me I direct both sides of the air condition towards the 3 and 9 oclock positions. So basically i would be holding the steering wheel at the 9 and 3 oclock positions and the aircondition would be blasting air towards my hands. It helps to keep the hands from starting to drip. so basically my hands would be wet, but not to the point of dripping, and my palms would be very very cold.

another thing i do is to turn off the AC and just drive with my windows down if im not on the expressway. read that if you're driving in start-stop traffic, driving without AC would be more fuel efficient. think that's probably the reason why i hate turning on the AC in my car, i tend to get clammy but not wet hands without the AC.

no idea why but for me the main trigger would be AC. whenever i step into somewhere with AC, boy oh boy it's like a switch, my hands would start sweating. but there's also times when i would sweat for no reason in someplace well ventilated without AC.

weird condition we're suffering from.

yeah I almost always just use windows down rather than AC when it's hot outside. I noticed that if I do use AC, as soon as I get outside in the hot it's a huge change in temperature and i begin sweating a lot more as opposed to having the windows down and getting acclimated to the hot weather. I also have a sunroof so if I'm driving on the expressway I just use that and it's sufficient to get decent airflow in the car without being bothered by windows down and 65 mph winds coming at me lol