Hey people...After a few months post-reversal, I wanted to post my story. And thank you to all who have also posted because I get a lot of hope that this reversal is going to be successful in the long-run.
I'm a 25 year old otherwise healthy man. I had bilateral clamping sympathectomy at T3/T4 levels performed in early 2011 by Dr. Reisfeld, for hand sweating. It was my birthday present to myself...OOPS! 5 days post-op, after realizing that I made a really really bad decision given the inability to sleep, total body sweating, major increase in feet sweating, and penile dysfunction, I had the clamps removed. I might have given it more time, but I had major travel plans and had to leave the country, so really I got lucky and had them removed at 5 days, and thank god I did.
Post-removal, all crazy side-effects cleared up immediately, except for fairly severe compensatory sweating, some gustatory sweating with spicy foods, lowered heartbeat at rest and during exercise, and super high "holy-shit-I-ruined-my-life" levels of anxiety. The extreme foot sweating lessened, thankfully, but CS because very apparent as I live in a hot, humid environment, which I used to love, but now cannot stand. My CS is from trunk (back, belly, chest), ass, crotch, legs, feet. It's really terrible. And if I'm nervous, I'm sweating a lot from all of these places, as well. And if I'm hot and nervous, I hate life.
I'm now at 5 months post-reversal, and I notice some improvements, but still have bad CS. Positive things are that I sweat from both armpits now, and from parts of my arms, and even from my hands if I'm hot, but only lightly. These things I consider great, and hopefully they make my trunk sweat less. But unfortunately, trunk sweating comes before these other options. If I'm exercising, I will completely soak through clothes, but have total body sweating, including all arms, upper chest, upper back, entire head, face, etc, which wasn't the case immediately after the reversal. More and more even sweating has come with time. I guess this is the biggest improvement. Also, my heart rate has increased and become stronger.
I now have a major major distrust of western medicine...I'm over it. So, I've taken to healing myself naturally. Here's what I do:
- Yoga a few times a week. I had practiced Bikram (hot) yoga prior to the surgery, and I continue to post-surgery because I feel like it gets blood flowing, increases healing and it's OK for me to sweat like a freak there, because everybody is. Only problem is that it takes much longer for me to cool down after class, and I'm sweating heavily for a while now. This is another thing that the surgery affected. I also do ashtanga yoga, in which I still sweat a LOT but I can cool down easily after because it's not in heat. It's all good. I feel like yoga has definitely encouraged more even body sweating and also got my heart back into action.
- Running, even though I'll soak through my clothes, all exercise is good, gets blood flowing, promotes healing, makes me happy
- Acupuncture - I've been doing this for 3-4 months now, once a week. I found a great acupuncturist, who is focused on lessening my body heat through acupuncture and also strengthening my heart. Sometimes I notice a difference and sometimes I don't. In any case, I'm sure my body appreciates it.
- Eating cooling foods, avoiding spicy foods and especially NO red meat. Eating chicken, fish, veggies, fruits, etc. I can always tell that I sweat more if I'm eating red meat.
- Taking supplements to heal nerves. Vitamin B complex with C, vegetarian Omega-3 pills, and Omega-6 with rosmarin (also known to heal nerve damage).
- As many have said on this forum, smoking weed to calm the BLEEP down, and I definitely don't sweat much when I'm smoking. It feels like old me!!
- Being positive (as best I can), living, doing things I like, sharing feelings with people
ETS completely changed my life. I used to be incredibly active, mountain climbing, cycling, yoga, dancing, etc and while I can and do still practice these activities, I'm much more uncomfortable doing so. This makes me sad and angry all the time. I went through a really severe depression surrounding all of this for a couple of months, and have come out on the other side with some acceptance and hope, but I'm still shocked by the truth of my new reality. Whatever.. My most important point that I'll write is, I SHOULD HAVE JUST ACCEPTED MYSELF. Now I'm wishing praying and hoping for sweaty hands. I'd trade them back in a second. My biggest hope that I take from this forum is that some people report really positive reversal results, after 8 months to 1 year and more, so at 5 months post-ETS reversal, there's still hope. That's it.. Well, there's tons more actually. Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks
