My '87 Open Sympathectomy

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jrich828
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 16, 2013 4:28 pm

My '87 Open Sympathectomy

Post by jrich828 »

I had what I believe was called an "Open" sympathectomy in 1987 for hyperhidrosis in San Diego (can anyone confirm that is the correct term?). The incision across my upper back is between my shoulder blades (about 12" long). I was 30 years old. By the mid 90s, I had horrible compensatory sweating on my whole upper torso, just below my surgery scar, along with gustatory sweating when I would eat. Now I am 55 and have so many more side effects, I'm sure I'm not even aware of all of them. I have cardio bradycardia (slow heart rate), breathing difficulty (out of breath when attempting small things), can't exercise because my heart rate and breathing won't increase to compensate, inability to get goose bumps on my legs, lessened emotional response to just about every situation. And now I'm having pain in the back of my head, and I don't know if it's related to the surgery or not. I think I would rather have had my hands sweating than what I'm going through now. I'm just glad people are more informed about the side effects then when I had the surgery.

Marcianna
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 9:35 pm

Re: My '87 Open Sympathectomy

Post by Marcianna »

Oh my - I just looked that procedure up. Were you not given any other possible alternative or had you already tried various medications. What a terrible result you had from this procedure. I am sorry for what you went through and so young.

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