Analysis of my palmar hyperhidrosis

[droid]

Here's a timeline of my hyperhidrosis symptoms:

1984-1992: (Childhood to elementary/primary school)
-As a child, I was said to have cold hands and feet occasionally.

1992-1998: (elementary/primary school to early high school/secondary school)
-This is about the time that I started noticing my hands start to sweat near the time that the Lord's prayer is said during mass (this is the time when people need to hold hands to say the prayer). I was a kid and I didn't worry nor give further thought about it. It did not affect me in any other aspect of my life, except for the above-mentioned scenario.
-This is about the time that I noticed that I could induce my hand to be a bit moist (but not overly sweaty) if I "think" about it. I know when it is about to get moist, because of a sort of "visceral" feeling that I can't explain. It's like a tingling sensation before the moisture appears. People with palmar hyperhidrosis should know what this feeling is. If I get rid of the thought, the moisture disappears.

1998-2001: (high school/secondary school to early college)
-Gradually increasing awareness of abnormal sweating. I started to worry of my palms sweating everytime I attended mass. Having sort of a panic attack everytime it comes to the point when we need to hold hands during the Lord's prayer.
-Had one very specific/special instance when my palms started to sweat uncontrollably during our drafting class when somebody asked me to assist her with her drawing. This happened only once.
-Still no sweating in other scenarios aside from the two mentioned above

2001-2007: (College to early professional career)
-During college, we were not required to attend mass. Since the "triggering factor" was removed, my awareness of excessive sweating lessened and gradually became forgotten.
-Around once or twice during this period, I had bouts of excessive palms sweating while handling some computer equipment.
-I can't recall any other significant incidents of excessive sweating.
-These were my most productive years when I was happy and was a high achiever.

2008: (professional career)
-While applying for my US Visa, I saw that fingerprinting was being done. This somehow "triggered" my awareness of excessive sweating again. As was the case with 1998-2001, I experienced an anxiety attack and excessive sweating of my palms, while a.) anticipating the fingerprinting procedure. and b.)during the procedure itself.
-During arrival to the US, my anxiety attack and excessive sweating of palms were triggered again when fingerprint verification was being done at immigration.
-No other significant incident of excessive sweating of palms other than the two above-mentioned incidents.

March 2009: (The beginning of the nightmare)
-During this period I noticed that my palms were getting excessively sweaty despite no obvious triggering stimuli involved unlike the incidents during 1998-2001 and 2008.
-I started to search online to look for a remedy. This is the first time that I became aware about the condition called hyperhidrosis.
-The awareness of hyperhidrosis and reading of people's experiences on it online caused my sweating to get worse. For instance, I became aware that other people are having problems shaking hands due to hyperhidrosis. Now, when I shake hands or anticipate to shake hands with people, I remember what I read online and this triggers the excessive sweating of my palms.

2009-present: (Hyperhidrosis getting worse)
-Total awareness of hyperhidrosis. I am thinking about it during 80%-90% of my waking hours.
- Hyperhidrosis can now happen in ANY scenario. Most severe during social scenarios.
- Hyperhidrosis of the armpit starting to develop.
-The hyperhidrosis has now gone to the point where it controls my life and dictates what I could and could not do.

I will post my hypotheses and other thoughts about this condition in a succeeding entry. If anybody else had a similar succession of events prior to their hyperhidrosis condition getting worse, feel free to post here.

[admin]

Thanks for that extremely detailed and insightful life summary and I am curious to hear about your hypotheses.

I started sweating in my hands like crazy in my early teens and had ETS surgery right around when I turned 20. Pleased with the surgery results, but my excessive feet sweating became even worse as a side effect. My detailed experiences are on the main site.

I might move your thread to the "tell your story" section of this forum in the future.

[droid]

Hello admin. Yes, I have been recalling all the details because I want to understand what is causing the condition for my specific case.

My first hypothesis is that my palmar hyperhidrosis condition has been there since birth. - As per my family history, neither of my parents has it, but one of my siblings has it. I know nobody else from my family who has it (including grandparents, uncles, aunties, etc.), but of course they could be hiding the condition due to embarrassment of having to inform others about the condition. If it were possible to dig deeper thru my family tree, I'm sure there would be an ancestor above who had the same condition.

My second hypothesis is that palmar hyperhidrosis, despite being inherent (genetic), needs a triggering factor, whether mental or physical, to cause considerable negative effect on the quality of life. - Without the presence of a triggering factor, as per my experience between 2001-2007, hyperhidrosis becomes a minor inconvenience.

My third hypothesis is that the awareness that one has palmar hyperhidrosis is the worst triggering factor. - It is practically impossible to "remove" the awareness from one's mind once it's there. This causes the vicious cycle wherein you worry about sweating so you sweat -> you sweat so you worry about sweating.

My fourth hypothesis is that hyperhidrosis is a progressive disorder. - Progressive in such that it may start out as localized, but then will spread to other parts of the body. I have never had a problem with armpit sweating before, but now it's starting to develop.

Some questions that have been running in my mind:
1. Has there been research that was done where a person/persons suffering from palmar hyperhidrosis were placed in an MRI or such while the hyperhidrosis episode is occurring? - Which region(s) of the brain are becoming hyperactive during this time. Will palmar hyperhidrosis be stopped if the activity in these regions were regulated?

2. Was there an instance of a person suffering palmar hyperhidrosis and subsequently had amnesia and forgotten about the condition? Did the person's palmar hyperhidrosis also disappear when his awareness of the condition also disapeared?

[droid]

Now on to practical things...

I'll have an appointment with a doctor a couple of weeks from now. I'm interested in trying out Robinul first (which hopefully will be available where I am), then BOTOX second.

[droid]

I forgot to mention this, but there are some days where my hands are not sweating (like today). Not sure why, maybe it's because it's a non-stressful day, or, maybe I ingested something that caused my body to properly "regulate" and stop the sympathetic nervous system from going haywire.

Were there any studies linking palmar hyperhidrosis to chemical imbalance in the body?

[droid]

I just got my glycopyrrolate tablets last weekend. I'll post the results here soon.