Hyperhidrosis Discussion Forums
I purchased Drionic in 2004 and used it for four weeks almost every day to see if it helped my feet sweating that had significantly worsened since I had ETS to cure hand sweating.
Drionic did not help me at all for the short time I used it. After those four weeks, of use, the device's expensive proprietary batteries became dead and I converted the machine to accept regular low cost AA batteries via soldering new connections. However, the machine still did not prove to be effective, and an electrical engineer friend told me that even if the AA batteries had the same voltage as the proprietary batteries, the resulting current could be different! At this point I gave up and just wear socks when I am home unless I feel there is no feet sweating episode about to begin. Usually I can predict to an extent the days or hours when I know the feet won't sweat -- never figured out why there are days when the feet are completely dry and days when they are like a waterfall even during the same season. Maybe some day I will splurge on the more expensive and bigger iontophoresis machines that are out there and work better for many people. Mostly, I would like to walk around without wearing socks.
Now the funny part -- I got held up at Heathrow Airport in England because the customs guy thought that the Drionic (which I being the genius I am, carried in my hand luggage) was surely a bomb. He made me dismantle the whole device and three customs officers gathered around and couldn't believe that this electric machine was for hand or feet sweating problems. I am sure it does sound ludicrous to people who don't know about this kind of thing. I recommend not packing your Drionic or other iontophoresis device in your carry-on luggage when traveling.
Drionic has worked for many people and it is a mistake to give up on it. Some of the people for whom it works still decide to get the ETS surgery (thinking its a faster and permanent fix with no side effects) instead and that is truly a bad mistake. Once Drionic starts working, maintenance treatments are usually just needed once a week, and this is much better than killing sympathetic innervation to the whole upper body via ETS. Treatments should be performed at as high a setting as is tolerable.
The website listed below by Carolyn Lamoureux is a great place to see how to convert Drionic to electricity. Carolyn has over the year's helped numerous people to not give up and be persistent with their Drionic treatment and experiment with different add-ons and variations. I think she no longer answers any questions, but her website really says it all. Carolyn herself had great success with Drionic and decided not to get ETS surgery because of that.
Carolyn 's Excellent Drionic Modification Website
The proprietary batteries sold on Drionic.com are too expensive and run out quickly. Besides converting to electricity, another option is to try and convert the machine to accept normal AA batteries that can be purchased at any store (what I unsuccessfully attempted to do -- be sure to solder properly if you do it that way).
People recommend all kinds of stuff when using Drionic to get better results...from adding lime juice and/or alcohol and/or salt to the water, to using hot/warm water instead of cold water, to adding Dehydral or Robinul or even tea leaves in the baths. Check out the forums on this site to read about other people's experiences with Drionic and other iontophoresis devices. If you try it out, please post your results on the forums in order to help others like yourself.