My starting story...

Introduce yourself and share your personal hyperhidrosis related experiences.
graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

[Edit] - I've been editing this post as I learn and try things so my starting story is becoming my ongoing saga... I'll try to arrange the post in a timeline format. Skip to the end for latest status as it's been a long road.

Firstly, I'm really excited to have found this site. I've been looking for cures for over a year now and I've never happened across this forum. Thanks to whoever runs "http://www.no-ets.com". I feel like there is some hope for the first time or at least some people I might be able to share my pain with.

My entry story: For whatever reason, over the last couple of years my feet of been sweating more and more. I sweat normally everywhere else. The foot sweating problem is now to the point that it's seriously impacting my life. I can't wear a pair of shoes more than a minute before I start to feel the "gooey duck" sensation. After 10 minutes, I can start to smell the sweat. I've tried a fair number of things and nothing seems to slow down the sweating. It's outright killing my work and social life. My feet seem to get to 100 degrees the minute I put shoes on. Without shoes, I don't really sweat (or notice it). If I work around the house in socks, sometimes I can sense a little wetness but usually not.

I'm growing desperate and was looking at surgery or one of those electric shock machines when I came across this forum. I just left Amazon where I ordered some cedarsoles hoping they might help even though I should know better. I wanted to share my story before I looked for solutions even though I've spot checked. Once you find a solution and run off with it, there's a chance you won't remember to come back and share. Leaving a post behind will hopefully draw me back and help others.

Here's a list of things I've tried so far:

*edit* - I have not maintained this list beyond this first post so scroll to the bottom and work your way back up for the latest information.

- Wash my shoes every other day. (This solves a large part of the stink from bacteria problem but not the sweat problem.)
- Take my shoes off every chance I get
- Wash my feet
- Antiperspirant products (stick and sprays)
- Odor-Eater powder which does little to nothing but make a mess in my shoe
- Perscription products (Some dobbing product which didn't help at all)
- Multi-Vitamins (to get the D vitamins) which supposedly help and don't appear to be working at all even though I've been taking them every day.
- Tried the sweat blocker product and it makes my foot tingly and uncomfortably but I still sweat just about the same. It might reduce it by 20% for half of a day or something.
- Tried many different shoes. I found that I didn't sweat as much in a work boot (with wool socks) the other day even though I worked all day in the hot sun. Perhaps it had more room for my feet.
- Tried SmartWool socks and these seem to help. They reduce the sweating while also reducing the amount of sweat that gets into the shoe.
- I replaced my insoles with some sweat absorber product and found that I used it up in less than a day, I threw it out and bought a plastic insole. I thought it would be better to have an insole that didn't absorb sweat and it works ok in combination with the SmartWool socks. It only helps a little though. Combining that with "last-night" shoe washing will get me to work without smelling but that's about it. If I keep my shoes off between meetings, I might make it through the day without someone smelling sweat but unlikely.

Things I've considered and wondered about:

- Is it my weight? I'm 40lbs over where I should be.
I've lost weight on numerous occasions with no noticeable changes. I believe self-confidence will increase from weight loss which should reduce social anxiety to some extent.

- Is it because of caffeine?
Reducing this didn't change it for me. Switching to Cold Brewed Coffee didn't change it either.

- Is it because of alcohol?
Reducing this didn't change it for me.

- Is it because my feet are soft? Could I walk barefoot on the street to harden them? Would that impact sweat flow?
- Is it because of my sit down job and somehow I've damaged some sort of nervous system thing by sitting down too much?

I have to run off and catch a bus four blocks away in 100 degree heat and make everyone around me suffer as I make my way home. :(

I'll be back later this evening to review posts and look for solutions.

Things I want to look into:
- Looking into making my own "shock" machine.
*edit* - Did this and it's a major hassle with seemingly random effects. It can be very painful at times as well. See below for more info.

- Putting antiperspirant on every night instead of in morning. Failed to try this with any consistency before.
*edit* - For whatever reason, I had a hard time sticking with this one but I never noticed any benefits from it either.

- Continue to buy various types of shoes hoping for the best and always failing.
*edit* - Some shoes are certainly better than others. I find that the wider and taller the shoe, the better off my feet are. It's the tightness that gets my feet. When I give them some room to breath it really helps. I really loosen my laces as well.

- Ordered some cedar-soles which will likely be a waste of money but are on there way all the same.
*edit* waste of money. Didn't even last the trip to work.

My Diet:
Cheesburgers, fries, bbq, coffee, diet soda, beer, and spirits. Yes, I know... sweat could be deemed the least of my problems with that info. Just hoping others can help discover patterns. I eat other stuff but my primary food intake is really different forms of the aforementioned crap. In my defense, I went on low carb and lost 30lbs on different occasions and I don't recall my sweat problem changing at all so its not food for me. I've tried not drinking alcohol for weeks and that didn't seem to change anything either.

My Physical Life Style:
Computer Engineer who sits on his ass most days and gets very little to no exercise. I'm about 40lbs over.

The Saga Begins - Again, skip to the most recent post for latest updates. Much of this is just one failed attempt after another.
08/26/2012
Day 1 - Getting a home made Ion setup was super easy after watching the videos. I read through hundreds of posts on everyone who has tried the home made shock therapy and this is a summary of their comments: It takes folks anywhere from a few days to 1.5 months (on the extreme and likely due to faults in the process) to see 95% dry results. Commonly, people see dryness between one and two weeks. Commonly, people experience an increase in sweat for a couple of days before 95% dryness. There are a handful (two people out of hundreds (maybe thousands) of reports from people who feel the procedures effectiveness degrades after a few years. There is some debate over the effectiveness of low vs higher voltage. People are trying anywhere from 6-24 volts. Some folks declared less water as more effective. There is a number of reports where people tried to hack together smaller voltage batteries with poor results. Seems like the best and safest (short term) choice to start with the 6 volt batteries. In order to maintain, most people seem to perform the procedure 1-2 times a month but its variable. I suspect it depends largely on the effectiveness of the persons setup with serious considerations for water quality, current quality, fat, physical makeup, body placement, and etc. We need to ask successful people to video record exactly how they perform the procedure and to call out everything. People had reports of slimness feeling after performing the procedure and I'm wondering if its something in their water like fluoride. My setup used tap water, couple dashes of baking soda in each pan, 12 volts two 6 volt batteries, pans filled up and feet submerged to ankle, two 10 minutes sessions at differing polarities.

I bought everything I needed between autoparts store and grocery store. Bought 2 sets of leads with clips and three, six volt batteries and baking soda and aluminum baking trays for what appears to be meatloaf (feet). Brought it home and hooked it up in five minutes and "cooked" my feet for 20 minutes. No shocks though. I received no shocks when entering/leaving water. No shocks when touching bottom or sides. I only used 2 of the 3 batteries per recommendation to start. I did experience some unusual pain in my left big toe as-if I had a paper cut where the electricity set the nerv endings on fire. The pain was like someone pushing their finger on the raw part of a fresh cut. I had to keep my big toe out of the water. Someone recommended Vaseline as a way to help with cuts. I felt a "flush" of heat in my face after completing, cleaning up, and sitting down to type. It could be totally unrelated but my cheeks felt oddly flush.

8/27/2012
- Day 2 - Ion. treatment. My work day felt a little more wet than normal. Had a terrible meeting where I could just die the smell from my hot shoes was so bad (late afternoon). As for the treatment, it went better today. I experienced no pain at all. I used Vaseline as someone recommended to cover up two little cuts I had on each foot. While sitting there with nothing else to do, I considered the 20 minutes and my concern for diminishing returns that people have reported over longer periods of time and wondered if it's because they are effectively "frying" (strong unjustified word) the nervous system which is being used to transfer the current. Perhaps the body is building up an immunity through micro scar tissue or something. Anyway, why 20 minutes? Electricity is instant so why isn't this process instant? What is it doing that takes 10 minutes of differing currents. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I wondered if soaking the foot is the key. By soaking the foot, don't you provide the electricity with less resistance into the foot. It's possible that the electricity part of the process may only need a few seconds to perform the needed task while soaking your feet is where the 10 minutes comes into play. Perhaps the reverse polarity is felt more because peoples feet are starting to get soggy by then. This treatment may very well work with 20 minutes of soaking in warm water and 1 minute of electrical shock treatment. Do I have the guts to try this theory out... not just yet. Perhaps when I get a few months under my belt but then its at the risk of regressing. :| I'm also curious if the state of your sweaty feet is key. Does the state of the glands (whatever they are) matter when you place them in? Are there off/on states that could impact overall success or speed up the process? Seems like treatments while your feet are nice and hot might speed up the process.

I've got the Zederna Ceder Insoles in and they didn't change a thing in terms of slowing down sweat or smell. They may help keep bacteria out but that doesn't help me at all.

Here's my setup under my desk. In a few days, I imagine I'll be able to toil on my PC without worrying so much about feet placement. Moving once everything is setup is a hassle so I have to figure out the initial placement with some electrical tape or something. I use the lid for water spills. I use the plastic file box to prevent any accidental touching or moving of the trays and that's working well. One of my kids rotated my office chair on me and if it wasn't for that, the trays would have slid. :D
ShockSetup.PNG
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I was thinking about going to radioshack and buying myself some kind of switch to reverse the polarities without having to get out of my chair after 10 minutes and crawl around on my hands and knees to swap the wires before getting back into the chair. I'm mildly concerned about receiving a mild jolt during the switch but it couldn't be so bad to not try it. Might even add an on/off switch while I'm at it. :D

Oh, no flush feeling tonight either.


8/28/2012
- Day 3 - Typical sweaty day. Did the treatment this evening without hitch. Managed to play a game and the time flew by. If this works, and I expect it might, I have to live with it for years until something better comes along. Given that, I'm going to design a good system. I plan on building a switch board that will have a voltage meter so I can tell when my batteries are getting low. I might also look into an osculating current changer (not sure of terminology) but figure out a way to make the current go back and forth. When and if I get this under control and go into maintenance mode, I'm thinking of doing the foot soak for 20 minutes and osculating currents for 2 minutes each week as an experiment. Early level thinking.

8/29/2012
- Day 4 - Typical day. Did the treatment.

8/30/2012
- Day 5 - Typical day. Did the treatment. Top of feet have minor burning sensations here and there which is reported to be a normal part of this process. Still only using 12 Volts instead of the recommended 18 Volts which made me realize that I should post my weight. I am 207lbs and 5'9'. I have a typical American BBQ/Beer belly if you need a visual. Thought that might help others make decisions. Going to have the challenge of going out of town this weekend. The setup is pretty portable so it shouldn't be too bad.

8/31/2012
- Day 6 - Seemed like I was a little dryer today. Felt around 50% dryer than normal and it was a typical day at the office. It was even warmer than normal in the office due to sun but my boss is on vacation. :) I did the treatment as usual. I was/am starting to feel the worry that most people experience at this stage. A lot of people get a few days or even weeks in and start to worry that its not working because it doesn't work or they are doing something wrong. I started to second guess my use of two 6 volt batteries instead of three which was recommended if you could handle it. Oh, I've also tried putting my feet into the treatment right after taking off my shoes. The thought here is that my glands would be ripe for the zapping if you will. I've noticed nothing different when doing this so I don't know if that would help or not. Doesn't feel like it. One last thought. I think that your body builds up a resistance to water the more time you spend in it. If the theory of "water logging your feet" is a factor in the treatment and if its true that your body can build up a resistance to water, then its possible that people doing the treatment for years will need to soak there feet longer. Anyone who spends time in a pool, bath, or shower may also require longer soak times. Just a theory though.

9/3/2012
- Day 7,8, and 9 - I went out of town for a couple of days. Brought my kit along and didn't miss a night. I haven't had a moment where I was worried about my sweaty feet all weekend. Sort of just dawned on me that it hasn't been an issue. Tomorrow is the real test though since I seem to sweat the most at work. My feet are getting dry though. I'm starting to experience dry feet like I have athletes foot or something. It's felt around my pinky toes a bit. I may have to get some lotions or something. Also, the last few sessions have stung the crud out of the tops of my feet for some reason. It's a nasty bit of constant pain. It's like your getting burned with a hot curly iron only its tolerable as if on a low setting but still hot. Apparently its hard to describe. Best to have a distraction I think like a video game. After doing some stuff around the house, I flipped off my shoes and looked at my socks. There was only sweat on the sides (inside) of my feet. OH! I've been meaning to mention this. I've yet to have a single "jolt" of electricity zap me via the pans, batteries, wires, and etc. Even with wet fingers, feet, and etc. Not even a little spark or anything.

[EDIT] - So... I was in the middle of treating myself when I wrote that last part and posted before doing my reverse polarity session. Well, I nearly got jolted and ended up pulling my foot out. Not sure what happened. There was some bits floating around in the water from the carpet which may have caused it. I had the sensation that my heel was touching something so I moved it around and felt a growing surge of energy which caused me to get my foot out. Again, not sure what happened. One other thing, I looked at the top of my feet and there is red splotches on the tops of both. Looks like someone itched a bunch of old bug bites. A couple other things I've been doing which I didn't call out. A little less water (not that much less) and I've been getting warmer and warmer with the water (nearly hot now). This is likely causing greater amounts of current to reach my foot.

9/4/2012
- Day 10 - So, that's two weeks right... hrmm.. not sure if two weeks is 14 days or 10. :) I'll stretch it to 14 just to be safe. I actually didn't take my shoes off for the entire day which is amazing. Normally, they are off and on every chance I get at work just to maintain but today, I didn't even take them off... not once. I was getting a little hot around 3:30pm (building gets hotter too) but I made it home with smelling the sweat/heat so huge win for me and this process. In my session tonight, I put Vaseline all over the tops of my feet tonight to protect the little rash like blotches and distracted myself with online poker and hardly felt anything. I also used luke warm water because I needed a little less hardship tonight. :)

9/5/2012
- Day 11 - Had another full day of leaving my shoes on the entire day. I tried a different pair of shoes today to. Feet are getting hot by end of day but not squishy. I need to remember and enjoy all group moments where I'm not trying to avoid people or hide my feet behind my chair as if that helped. I always felt so isolated and constantly distracted by this problem and I'm half way expecting my life to take off socially (at least a little bit) but I guess I have to break some of my avoidance habits first. Zapping feet now. Forgot to Vaseline the tops of my feet dang-it. Stings. I noticed that I might be sweating in my upper body a little bit more. Maybe. My upper lip was a little wet tonight which I noticed as possibly unusual.

9/6/2012
- Day 12 - Third day of "dry enough" feet. My feet are still hot but only mildly damp compared to what they used to be. On various postings, people said they get to about 95% dryness. I'd say that I've had about a 60% reduction in sweat. Zapping myself right now. Need to check my batteries. Not sure how long they last. Two more days and I'll drop to three times a week. MWF seem like good days. Give myself the weekend. Tonight was the first night that I nearly missed. Got wrapped up in some coding and wasn't looking forward to the treatment. Did it though.


9/7/2012
- Day 13 - So, I missed my treatment tonight through laziness and going out. One important thing is that I put on thin white cotton sport socks (name brand) this Friday morning and nearly had to take my shoes off at various points today. I wanted to test out different socks and sure enough, SmartWool socks are an absolute necessity in helping with minimizing sweat and stink. I won't wear anything but SmartWool to work from now on.

9/9/2012
- Day 13 & 14 - No treatments over the weekend. My feet are very dry now and I should put lotion on them. No real news to share.

9/11/2012
- Day 15 - Oops. Pushed off my treatment all night and laziness prevailed so I missed my first of 3 day treatments.
- Day 16 - Wore a new pair of sneakers today and ended up having to take my left shoe off early in the afternoon. Taking off my left shoe seems to cool both feet. Funny eh. There was a good hot sneaker smell with me all day even with SmartWool. Bad idea but had to try. I don't think its related to missing treatments but I'm zapping my feet today as a make up day.

9/12/2012
- Day 17 - So, I had another day where I had to take my shoes off at work and a uncomfortable ride home on the bus. Seems like I'm at 7 of 10 where 10 is my typical sweat day so I've been regressing and quickly. I dug out my voltage reader which I hardly know how to use. It says I'm running at about 9 volts from pan to pan. Straight to the wires, it's at 10 volts. I guess that's pretty low when they were recommending that male adult run at 18 volts. Based on the regression, I'm thinking I need to go buy a couple new batteries and go for 18 volts OR I might chicken out and just use two new ones. When I get the new ones, I'm going to get a voltage reading and see what I get. If I read this thing right, the batteries lasted about 2 weeks.

9/13/2012
- Day 18 - Alright. I had another hot sweaty day wearing my best shoes and socks. Suck. On the sweat scale from 1 to 10 where 10 is my normal sweat amount, I'm still down to 7 but its not good enough to make it through the day. I picked up a couple more 6volt batteries and tested them. I realized I took the wrong reading last night. The old batteries aren't too low now that Im reading them correctly. They are just under 6 volts (5.8) or so. I went ahead and plugged in the new batteries and added a 3rd and measured the tins. It's showing 20 whopping volts. I went ahead and plunged my feet in and I've got some good tingling going. I did cover the tops of my feet with Vaseline though. The electricity seems to find at least one unprotected part of the foot and it attacks it a little extra which causes a little red sore after the session. Anyway, it's totally bearable. I think they cedarsoles I have in aren't going to last past 2 weeks. I've them in for around a week and while washing my shoes tonight, I took a whiff and they've already got a sour smell. We'll see. I'm worried they are absorbing sweat and when stink when they get heated up. Alright, just switched polarity and doing part 2. I was a little worried but it's not too bad.

So, if I had any advice at this point, it would be to start with three 6 volt batteries (18-20 volts) and to not miss any sessions until your sweating has completely stopped (or 95%). The recommendations of people that came before me were 18v and to go until it gets better. I started low and when things started to improve to acceptable levels, I skipped a few sessions and immediately regressed. Don't skip sessions until you are very dry and gradually reduce sessions over a long period of time. To each their own though.

9/19/2012
- Day 24 - I missed a few days in terms of posting updates. I skipped treatments on Saturday and Sunday but continue doing them every day this week at 18 (20) volts. I''m still at 7 of 10 and have to take off my left shoe as often as possible. It's not terrible but the sweat is noticeable.

9/24/2012
- Day 29 - I'm continuing to do the treatments. I went to Radio Shack and bought some stuff to make a switch so I can easily reverse polarity without taking my feet out. Well, let me tell you something. Holy mother of jolt, that is not a good idea. I flipped the switch on with my feet in and wammo, I about flew out of my seat and then proceeded to laugh my ass off for 2 minutes straight. Wow. It's not really painful but your body just jumps out of the water for you. Anyway, the switch is working awesome (when feet are out) so switching polarity is a snap. I know longer have to crawl under my desk to switch them. Just lift my feet, flip, and put my feet back in (slowly and heel first).

The switch I got is a 3-way switch. Middle is off and flip it in either direction to change polarity. Cost about 8$ for the switch and 25ft of 20gauge wire. Looks complicated but it's a snap once you understand how to wire it up.
switch.PNG
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Anyway, I think I'm at about 60%. Bought another new pair of shoes. This is one of the new mesh running shoes that look like they breath well but my feel still get hot. Had to take my shoes off several times today. Not a major sweat stink but enough. :| gah, this sucks.


10/1/2012
- Day 36 - Dang. Still doing the treatments while taking the weekends off and I'm at 50% or so. I'm having doubts and I'm frustrated with myself for slipping those few days after having super dry feet. Every since that slip up, I don't seem to be improving a whole lot. Patients I guess.

03/17/2012
- End - Shortly after that last post, I stopped the ion treatment process because it wasn't working. After that, I haven't tried anything except I religiously wear my smartwool socks. Mainly because they seem to absorb more sweat so it doesn't get into the shoe as much throughout the day. I've barely been getting by at work or other indoor social events. For whatever lame reason, my condition seems to be getting worse. The other day, I had one of my employees comment on the smell when I first came into work. I had a long bus ride and walked to starbucks that morning and so when I took off my shoes to let them dry out, it was bad enough that people can smell the sweat from a few feet around. It's killing my everything. This jolted me back into action. I'm going read all the latest posts and see if there is anything new. Oh, I'm also wearing "CROCKS" at work now which helps but I look like a fool.

- New Beginnings - Read through a bunch of posts. Found that most of the latest posts are just people replying and asking for more info to suggested cures. Likely going to try one of the real ion machines. People seem to do consistently well with those and I want to avoid surgery and pills. I'm going to try the chamomile tea while looking into the ion machines. On the Amazon page where the tea can be purchased, it has a picture with the following quote on the box. "Calms your nervous system, soothes and supports your digestion". Interesting. Buying some right now. Will try to cut out coffee entirely and start drinking this tea instead. Tea will be arriving in 3 days. Off to look at ion machines next.

03/25/2012
- Day 1 - Just got my HIDREX PSP 1000 Iontophoresis machine. Took the full 7-8 days. I also got the Sweat Protect soles, silver fiber socks, and Sweat Protect Antiperspirant. Gonna throw the kitchen sink at this problem if it helps. I just finished reading through the HIDREX instructions. They are written in 2nd language English and the device UI is rather confusing (and I'm an engineer) but I should be able to manage. The one interesting thing I gleaned so far was that I was using my home ion setup wrong. I was submerging my feet all the way and should have only have enough water to cover the bottom of my feet. That would have prevented the sores I got on the top of my feet. I should have put wash clothes on the bottoms to protect my feet from electrical shocks that I occasionally got. Anyway, setting up the machine for my first treatment now.

[edit] - Just finished. Went super smooth. Hardly felt a tingle. On the UI, left side of LCD is time. Right side is Amperage. Default is 15:30 which is 15 minutes:30mA. When you put your feet in, it slowly counts up the amps to 30 so your shock factor is way down and it does the same in the end. The left side of the interface aren't buttons. There are only 4 buttons. Knowing this will speed up your learning curve.

03/25/2012
- Day 2 - I applied the Sweat Protect antiperspirant before going to bed last night and I wore the silver fiber socks today. My feet sweat a normal amount but due to the thinness of the socks, my feet felt soaked the entire day. I brought a spare pare of smart wool socks and slipped those on about 3:00pm and it was like a small piece of heaven. Love the Smart Wool socks. Anyway, I'll try the antiperspirant that I got with machine in the morning as well as tonight. Zapping my feet right now. It took me about an hour to get setup last night. Tonight it was really quick. Plopped down the case, poured in two things of warm water, flipped the on switch, waited for the machine to boot up, and stuck my feet in. No shocks or anything and hardly any feeling at all. I'm pretty sure one of my reports has noticed the smell of sweat and brought someone over to smell it for confirmation. Today when I changed my socks, I'm pretty sure he tuned into the sound of what I was doing and left. I need a better plan for that. Glad bag and spare socks in pocket and a bathroom trip. If your reading this, you already know my anger and frustration with this b.s. problem. One minute left...

03/26/2012
- Day 3 - Feet may have felt a little dryer than they normally do but hardly noticeable. I forgot the Sweat Protect last night but I did put it on this morning. Nothing like greasy feet in socks. :( Anyway, nothing to report yet. Zapping feet again without any discomfort.

04/03/2012
- Days 4 through 12 - A lot of stuff going on but mostly tired laziness for not posting daily. Mainly because there is little to report. I've done daily treatments and missed last Friday night due to playing pinball at our local pinball hangout and having a number of cocktails. :) I haven't really noticed any difference at this point and I'm 12 days in. The treatments go without incident. Tonight, I could really feel the prickles as it ramped up the amperage up so I know its doing something. Definite buzz. I'm hopeful if not desperate. I'm still using the shallow case that came with the kit. Figure I might as well stick with it and see if anything improves. It would be neat to determine that I need it on the tops as well. My feet get hot and wet so quickly in shoes that I can't tell where I'm sweating from. Seems like everywhere but I always feel the bottoms of my socks which seems like a clue although gravity might play a part in that.

Interesting side note. I sat out in 70 degree sunlight the other day (we don't get a lot of sun or hot heat here in the NW) and when I came back in, I was dripping with sweat everywhere which is pretty abnormal for me. I had sweat showing all around my shirt and my family commented on it. I've never sweated like that outside of working my ass off in 90 degree weather. Why in the world would I continue to sweat more and more with age? Are other people sweating more and more with age?

My kids are showing similar traits in terms of sweaty feet and one of them has moist hands. Very concerning. I didn't have sweat problems until my mid-thirties and I remember the problem starting because I somehow got a foot fungus and then a shoe odor started to develop. I got cured by taking some prescription pills and applying some over the counter topical stuff but it seems like the increasing sweat problem began at the same time. I may have always been a little damp at the end of the day but it was never a concern.

04/13/2012
- Days 13 through 23 - Not going all that well I guess. I've only missed a day and I'd say that things are about the same after 23 days. At work, it's the usual sweating but I've experienced some dryer moments around the house and on the bus. I think stress may play a large factor on how much I sweat. I have been using the default settings (15 minutes with 30 V/mA) with only .5 inches of water. I'm thinking I need to adjust at this point. I'm going to crank the V/mA by 5 each day until I've got a tolerable but noticeable buzzing sensation going. The other day, I did a treatment last Saturday morning to make up for a missed night and drove around town doing stuff and I'm pretty sure my feet seemed to sweat even more than normal during the day. If not for that, I would also consider performing the treatment in the morning and at night. For now, I'll stick with the increased amperage for about a week and if I see no changes, I'm thinking I will increase the water level next.

As for the tea, I just can't get myself to drink it consistently and the few days I have, I've noticed no difference. Drinking it for a month straight seems like an impossibility for me at this point. At least while I have my hopes invested into this machine. The funny thing about this problem is that it can be really hard to tell how effective something is.

One thing that is eating away at me is that my home setup saw good results after just 10 days whereas is this 1000$ device isn't seeing anything worth mentioning after 20 days. Hopefully it's just a water/amperage issue.

04/15/2012
- Days 24 through 25 - Missed Sunday night by mistake. Second day I've missed. I've gone up another 5 V/mA so I'm at 40 now. Noticing a little more buzz. Upon review today, I think I'm using too little water. I mean, the water isn't getting up into my toes which seems like an ideal place to sweat. Yeah. I'm going to go get bigger trays and fill it up to my ankles as someone else recommended. Added bonus is that I won't spill as much water due to these thin trays as I go to and from the sink. I'm not going to use my tins for fear of shocks. Figure I'll go after something plastic.

6/28/2014
- Wow. Can't believe its been this long since I last posted. Still have the same problem and I've just been dealing with it albeit, poorly. Just read another post (from 2012 with recent replies) where someone claims a vitamin combination is working for them so give that a try if you haven't. I plan to run to the store and pick some of these up and see what happens. Not expecting a whole lot. Again, nobody ever responds with results (including me sometimes) and we need to do better at that to progress more rapidly.

A) Magnesium Oxide tablet - 500mg
B) Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc tablet - 333mg Ca, 167mg Mg, 16.7mg Zn
C) Sage extract from Nature's Best - 500mg of Sage Extract

Another person claiming Osteopathy worked for them but no follow-ups. I may look into this in the coming days.

Ideally, we have a list of possible cures and mitigation attempts (wool socks) with a vote up or down button so we can see who has tried what and with what success. That would shortcut this back and forth effort a great deal.

My own ongoing saga report:
Still dealing with chronic hot feet which results in very moist and smelly shoes (not from bacteria). I gave up on the Hidrex machine (need to sell it actually) because it was too much of a pain in the ass to do every night and my last effort wasn't producing results. Likely my own fault as I sucked at using it consistently but not any surprise given the level of effort and dedication it requires. Anyway, still keeping my shoes off every moment of the day that I can. Going to any social function (movies, dinner, plane (that sucked), or anything) is a stressful, frustrating, and a large part of why I am so anti-social, distracted, and depressed. Family doesn't get it and declares I have no problem which is also frustrating. As for work, it's becoming a bigger and bigger deal as I pretty much have to keep my shoes off at work the entire day except for meetings where I watch people slowly scoot away from me as the meeting progresses. I stopped taking the bus and now drive in because of this so I'm spending a small fortune on gas/parking. Although I've been picking up golf so having the clubs handy all the time is a small win. Uhg. Anyway, I went to a dermatologist the other day and they quickly ran through all my options (expecting nothing new) and I was actually surprised by a couple thing which is why I've come back to share.

1. Botox injections are only around $1000 a shot and last around 6 months and are super effective. The Dr. said it is extremely painful for feet though and my response was, "I'm willing to cut off my feet at this point and pain is the least of my concerns.". Anyway, if I break that down monthly, it's around $166.00 a month and I don't have to do anything.

2. The Dr. discussed something NEW called Ultherapy and said it was $5000.00 for two applications spread several months apart and the results are permanent. The FDA has not approved Ultherapy for Hyperhydrosis (maybe at all) but it is commonly used for tightening skin and is deemed relatively safe and potentially effective. The process is said to be painful but tolerable and it feels like you get zapped repeatedly for about an hour. Short term effects are known to be some irritation and redness for I think a day or so but nothing a little ibprofen can't handle.The Dr. didn't have any real evidence that the procedure would work and so far, she's only tried it on a single hand of a women who hasn't been back in for a follow-up yet. Dr. said I get a "free" botox shot if the procedure doesn't work out.

While searching the web for Ultherapy, I came across MiraDry and I'm not sure why I missed it before. The device is FDA approved for armpits and various blogs suggest a very high success rate although I found numerous postings where it didn't work out for people. MiraDry effectively microwaves the sweat glands while supposedly doing little to no damage to everything else. Side effects are known to be short-term irritation, bumps, redness that can last anywhere from weeks to months. While searching for information online, one person said they paid $3,000 for both treatments and that was back in 2012.

Anyway, Ultherapy and MiraDry do the same thing but in different ways. Both fall into the unknown success for hands/feet category. One is cheaper but comes with months and months of pain. The other is more expensive but comes with days worth of pain. Dr. claims it has a similar success rate to MiraDry although she never mentioned MiraDry. A quick search on UItherapy prices and its anywhere from $1500-$3000 depending on amount of face area covered. Since I'm doing both feet over two sessions, I think I'm getting a fair/good deal. Actually, now that I think of it, MiraDry is a procedure specific device while Ultherapy is effectively multi-purpose and already used by dermatologist for the face. The recommendation likely comes because it's hardware they already have at this clinic. Whatever, I'm doing it.

I will do my best to loop back around and share the results.

Historical Note: I had purchased some spendy burkenstocks thinking they were a dress/clog shoe that I could get away with at work. After wearing them a few times and getting comments and glances, they ended up having a real strong odor. Perhaps if I had applied some amount of wax to the cork sole but I didn't. I think that was a recommendation and in hind-sight is something I should have certainly done up front.

7/19/2014
Went through with the Ultherapy. Paid $5500.00 for two applications where I performed the first yesterday, I took 4 advil before going to the clinic, two anti-pain and anti-anxiety meds after I got there. The put me in a room with a bed where I was face down. No idea what it looked like but she had different attachments that worked at different depths. Depths were measured in mm. She applied 3-4 attachments on me which means she was making sure to kill off sweat glands at different depths which I think means, she was guessing at the depth and wanted to be sure. The person who applied the Ultherapy told me they are coming out with a design for the feet where the only difference is the depth and how she thinks its at 2mm. They also told me they had performed the procedure in on their own face, 1 armpit, and 5 hands. I asked about the results and they said they didn't know yet. Seriously?

The procedure:
- The nurse and I used a pain scale from 1-10
- The pain depended on attachment type and length of time she held the device on. Not sure if she controlled duration at all.
- When she would apply the "tool", it was like having something about this height and width applied [---------------------------------]. I never saw it and I wish I had so I could share it with you.
- When applied, it felt like being zapped by a microwave where it started with no pain and over the course of a few seconds, it would get to burning hot.
- Some of the attachments had 0 pain while some had mid-range (5-6) and some had 7-9 and one had 9-12. The 9-12 would find me jerking away in pain while the others were easily managed.
- Once she stopped "zapping", the pain would go away almost instantly.
- Overall, it took about 30 minutes for the procedure and I was able to put on my socks and shoes and walk out no problems aside from the drugs that made me feel physically buzzed but clear headed.

I consider myself as having a high tolerance for pain... for a geeky city boy.

The night of the procedure, I ended up at a BBQ, cocktails, and ended up throwing a football around. I decided to wear my sneakers without socks (which I would never do normally). I was sweating from head to toe but my feet were pretty dry. By no means is this the first test though. My first test come Monday when I attempt to go as long as I can without taking off my shoes.

Old Schedule:
8am - Shoes on in the house and then immediately off in my car.
9am - Shoes on for the walk into work and then immediately off when I get into my office.
??? - Shoes off and on all day as I go to meetings, bathroom, and walk around.
5:00pm - Shoes on for the walk to car, and off again when I reach the car.
6:00pm - Shes on to walk in the house and then off again.

New Schedule:
Going to see how long I can leave my shoes on before they have to come off.

In 8 weeks, I'm scheduled to go back for part two of the procedure. I'll be sure and share my findings. Wish us luck.

10/4/2014
Quick update after my second session. Took stronger drugs this time and told her to do whatever it takes. Unfortunately, my feet are still getting hot and sweating about the same but perhaps a little less. Regardless, the improvement is not significant and certainly not worth the money I spent so far. They are giving me a third session for "free" as I appear to be a willing test subject that can handle the pain well enough. I plan to have a discussion with them about a more scientific approach. I think the woman I work with is just trying all the different attachments instead of testing one at a time. I'm going to suggest testing one at a time and a different one on each foot. I have to get a better understanding of the device though. If these don't work out, I'm supposed to get the botox shot.

I still have to kick off my shoes every chance I get whether in the car or at work. The other day I wanted to leave a football game (sitting outdoor and at night) by half-time because I didn't want other people to have to sit there and deal with the hot odor. Luckily our team was getting crushed so we left early without me having to explain why I wanted to leave.

Last night I was drinking (a lot) as part of an event and I swear I didn't think once about my feet being hot. Certain shoe (Vans) that seems to offer my feet plenty of space but the drinking seems to really turn down the heat some how. Wondering what controls the heat now. My feet don't sweat unless they get hot which is expected so why are they getting so damn hot?

2/18/2018
I've got some great news to share.

I finally came across something that is helping and is reasonable. It's a cream called Glycopyrolate. You apply it once a day like deodorant and it's helping immensely. I can now wear shoes for hours on end with minimal sweating. It's expensive though and costs about 150$ a month and requires a pharmacy that is capable of making it. The instructions are to put four clicks worth of cream on each day but I've been managing just fine with one click a day so the cost is down to about $40 a month. I'm still experimenting with it though. If you try this, I'd recommend going all out with four clicks to start just so you can feel the joy of dry feet again and then play around with it after that. I actually stopped using it after my first 4 weeks because I was concerned about the cost and I learned something useful. After a week or so of not using it, my feet started to sweat more and more each day so there is some kind of build up that happens. The Dr that prescribed it to me said there are no concerning side effects to worry about with this stuff. I haven't done any research beyond that yet so you should. The Dr hasn't had a great deal of experience with this stuff so I was a bit of an experiment after he did some research. I don't know why this stuff hasn't gotten out there. Perhaps the cost. My prescription allows for 7 refills which will last me about 2 years at one click which is fantastic. I'll post back if anything changes. Wishing you all the best.

*edit* - One other interesting thing to note is that I've been intermittent fasting since the start of the new year so about 2 months now. I don't eat from 6pm-12pm (18 hours) and when I do eat, it's been carb free. I've lost about 30lbs with 20lbs more to go. I do not believe intermittent fasting has helped at all with my sweating. Losing weight will likely help but only because I'll be a little more confident with myself which will counter my social anxieties a bit.
Last edited by graydwarf on Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:48 pm, edited 46 times in total.

Sonya
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:13 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by Sonya »

Hi graydwarf,

I am going to keep posting this until everyone who has severe hand and feet sweating knows about it:

My Dr. said mine was the worst case of hand sweating he had ever seen. Sweat literally dripped from my hands. My feet sweated a lot too.

He prescribed 3.75mg of Tranxene twice daily.

My hands and feet have been dry ever since. My Dr. explained that I would have to take it for the rest of my life, but he thought that would be better than the stress I suffered daily because of the excessive sweating. I have been taking it for 15 years with no side effects.

Please don't be ashamed to tell your doctor. I suffered for 30 years before I did. Tranxene has been around for a long time and is available in generic. With insurance, I only pay $10 for a month's supply. I cannot stress enough what a miracle this has been for me. I can shake hands with confidence, wear sandals, so many things I couldn't do prior to taking this medication.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

I read up on Tranxene and it's an anti-depressant with serious side effects and diminishing returns. I've been scared off from taking any pill for now.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

Posted a Day 2. See original post with picture of ion setup.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

Posted Day 3, 4, and 5. See original post for updates.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

Posted Day 6.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

Posted Days 7-12. Feet are about 60% dryer.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

On day 29. See original post for updates.

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

Re: My starting story...

Post by admin »

Hey graydwarf, I run no-ets.com and wanted to thank you for this super thread.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

I've been meaning to come back and post my update. Bought a new computer so I didn't have the link anymore. Anyway, I updated my status. Refavorited and Status Reactivated.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

Just restarted on Day 1 with my new Hidrex PSP 1000. See bottom of story for progress.

superyou
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 8:03 am

Re: My starting story...

Post by superyou »

When I first used my Fischer device, the depth of its trays meant the water barely reached the tops of my feet. My skin around the water surface would get sore and dry. I realized I needed to be treating more of my feet as I sweated up to my ankles so I made deeper trays. This worked perfectly, and as a bonus the skin above my ankles doesn't get sore at the higher water level.

graydwarf
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:27 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by graydwarf »

Ah, very interesting. With this psp1000, I feel practically nothing. I mean, "is this thing even on" kind of nothing. Either it's super awesome or I'm doing it wrong. I only put in enough water to make the cloth float. The travel case it comes in is so shallow you can't put in much more than that but that's what they recommend.

superyou
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 8:03 am

Re: My starting story...

Post by superyou »

The shallow trays work fine for hands but not for feet if they sweat anywhere above just the soles. I discovered this when the iontophresis worked for me, drying my soles successfully but the tops of my feet still perspired.

I wrote a long post about this if you're interested. Search my posts for the "Using Fischer iontophoresis device for feet" thread.

Tranxene
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:02 pm

Re: My starting story...

Post by Tranxene »

how's the hidrex treating you mate

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