Author: HQH
Released: May 19, 2001
Updated: September 9, 2004
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I found out the my abnormal excessive sweaty condition's name when 20/20 was airing one night in November of 1998. That night, I
was eating dinner with the rest of my family and my dad pointed out to the TV that they were showing something that I had - too
much sweating. It was featuring some mid-older guys and a girl in high school, I believe. At least one guy had some type of surgery
and the others, I don't know what happened to them. For the female, she had a non-surgical treatment - injection of botox. This
stop her from sweating, but the problem was that this type of treatment has to be done about every 6 months or so, because the drug
wears off. After watching 20/20, I finally found out that I had the condition called hyperhidrosis. That was a good chunk of time
from 1995 till 1998 to finally know the name of the abnormal excessive condition.
20/20 sparked the urge for me to go and find out what the Internet has information on hyperhidrosis and how I can one day stop
this excessive sweating. The research went on for many days on and off, trying to find as much information to even get me going
after some type of treatment. The first thing that I looked for was botox, because 20/20 got that treatment stuck in my head and
that's the only thing that I could remember.
Searching for botox came up very little. Not much solid information for me to create some type of foundation for me to even
consider. I remembered that 20/20 mentioned that botox was in some kind of testing phase to really see how it stacks up against
hyperhidrosis. I remembered saying that the drug will last about half a year and you would have to continuously get injections to
keep hands from sweating. Something that I might have to consider if there aren't any other ways to stop me from sweating.
Looking for the information about botox after watching that 20/20 episode didn't produce solid information for me to take any
type of quick action to end my hyperhidrosis condition. What I found on the Internet back then in 1998, was that there were
insufficient resources. There were a few websites that offered some alternative treatments, but the treatments were either
none-existent around my area or never heard of. Botox could come as close as I can get, but I surely knew that since botox is in
some experimental phase, botox wouldn't even be around my area. So, I gave up searching. No cure can be foreseen in my future
for now.
After my junior year of high school ended, it was summer time. It was some good chunk of time have passed when I tried to get
anywhere with some type of treatment for hyperhidrosis. I decided to just visit a doctor just for the heck of it to see if they got
anything up their sleeves to help me with my problem. So I visited a doctor on July 17, 1999. What the doctor prescribed to me was
Drysol and Zeasorb. Drysol is some type of liquid agent for me to apply onto my hands. Zeasorb was a powder to apply to my hands as
well. I tried them both as prescribed for less than a month. Of course, I wasn't surprised at all - these two didn't work. So there
was no point for me to keep on trying them. I wanted to go back to the doctor and see what else they could do, but I was able to do
that more than a year later since my parents avoided letting me go back to the doctor.
Here is how Drysol and Zeasorb failed me: Drysol kind of stings the hands once it is applied. It will then dry up somewhat, but
the hands will feel slippery because the Drysol solution was still on the hands. The problem is that after I put it on, my hands
will still be able to sweat. What Drysol attempts to do is try to clog up the pores in the hands that opens up so that sweat can
exit. Drysol fails to contain the sweat to within. My sweat will just bust through the clogged pores like there was no barrier.
Another thing to note is that Drysol made the palm of my hand's skin dry up so badly, the skin started to crack and peel. One
night, the skin was getting all torn up, that I just stopped using it and at night, I applied a big huge blob of lotion onto my
hand. The next day, I can see that my hand looked twice as much better than before, and it seems like 50% of my skin just came back.
As for Zeasorb, the powdery substance did nothing as well. All it did was make trouble. After putting on the powdery substance, my
sweat will break through the palm of my hands, mix with the powdery substance and mix. So what do I get? Some powdery substance mix
with sweat resulting nasty mud like solution. Not good.
After my senior year at my high school and graduation, it was almost time for college. That was when I was able to see the
doctor once more. It was August 20, 2000. I wanted to try the doctor once more before I start college. On that day, since I told
them that Drysol and Zeasorb didn't work, they are now referring me to a dermatologist - a specialist for the skin. This made sense,
because the female in 20/20 went to a dermatologist to get botox injected to her. Well, to my surprise, after the doctor got me a
referral and the number to call them, the next available open spot to see the dermatologist was on December 8, 2000. That is a huge
gap before I could visit the dermatologist - about three months!
December 8, 1999 came by. Finally, time to see the dermatologist. I could remember that once I was escorted into an empty
patient room, I would end up waiting... and waiting... and waiting. It was a very long waiting period. Of course, during that
timeframe, my hands would just sweat crazy and the room was cold! Finally, the doctor came in, took a look at me. He asked me some
questions, and he told what was available to treat this condition. There was the electrocution with water, which I didn't want to
do, then there was the mentioning of botox which he never has done before, and I would be the first one to try it. No way. He
mentioned one more or so, but to none what I wanted. So, I told him that instead of those "minor and temporary" treatments, I want
a treatment that could give a permanent result - thus surgery. He asks me if I wanted to do something else rather than surgery, so
I reassured him that I would rather go for the surgery for permanent result. So he told his assistant to go find a neurosurgeon. At
first, I was puzzled why I should be going to a neurosurgeon. At this time, I didn't really think about the surgery dealing with
nerves, so I just went along with them. The assistant found a neurosurgeon, and I was in good luck. There is one nearby. The
neurosurgeon's place was near a Toyota dealer that I know of and easy to find.
I go home and give the neurosurgeon a call. I find out that I have to go get another referral to see the neurosurgeon. So, I
got my referral and called in to get an appointment set. The date is now set for January 2, 2001. Great, next year (well, actually
less than a month).
Visited the neurosurgeon on January 2, 2001. The doctor - Dr. Hammock, had no clue about hyperhidrosis. This sucks! She asked me
why would the dermatologist ever send me to her. She knows nothing, and her medical book shows very to little helpful information
about hyperhidrosis. So I offered to get her some information about hyperhidrosis. I went home and came back with some papers
describing what hyperhidrosis is and what type of surgical treatment there is on the same day. After giving her the information, she
said that she would contact me on this matter on how she would solve this problem of mine. The papers that I gave her to photocopy
were information found on the Internet. The info were from:
http://www.sympathectomy.org/ and
http://www.aetnaushc.com/cpb/data/CPBA0310.html which were very helpful to her.
At this point of time, I was thinking that if she comes up with a solution, it better not be her reading books, journals and
gathering as much information as possible about hyperhidrosis and then perform the miracle surgical operation on me. I would not
like to be the first. I would rather have someone who had perform the surgery before and have experience. This is because the
surgery requires experience or else I'm at risk by her mistakes, if any, and end up disabled or something bad.
Nearly a month after my visit, I called back to make sure that the doctor had not forgotten me. The clerk lady told me that the
doctor would get back to me within a few days. A couple of days later, the doctor got back to me. She told me that she knows of a
colleague that does such thing - some surgical procedure up in George Washington University Hospital. She gave me his contact
information. Hopefully, this will be the last doctor I have to go visit and cure me already.
First, I had to get another referral before I go see this doctor. When I got my appointment, the earliest open day that they
have for me was on March 22, 2001. I asked if there was any other day that is open. None whatsoever. Just March 22. So, I agreed to
take that day. March 22 is a very long way to go. That's almost three months away! More waiting time.
Thursday, March 22, 2001 came about. Appointment day with the doctor has finally arrived. I made way to George Washington
University Medical Center (across the street from George Washington University Hospital) with my dad this time, since I would have
no clue where it was, and it would be my first time going all the way up to Washington D.C. all alone and I might get lost, so my
dad offered to go with me. The doctor was Dr. Caputy, somewhat old man having gray hair, but was young enough to not be considered
old. Dr. Caputy said that I was able to have surgery - Bilateral VATS (Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery) Sympathectomy. After he said
that, I wanted to schedule the surgery as soon as possible. Turns out that the operation can take place on Friday one week from
today (Friday, March 30, 2001). So they scheduled it for me and I was able to leave feeling all happy that I can be cured in one
week. So this meant that I had to get my blood tests done as soon as possible. So I called up my local physician to get my blood
test. Scheduled it about 5:00 PM today. I arrived at my local doctor's place, but some bad news came about. It turns out that I had
to get more than my blood tests. I had to get an EKG, a physical check, CBC, PT/PTT, bleeding time, and a CXR (chest x-ray). I
believe those are the stuff I have to test for. I may have left something out or adding something in by mistake. Looking back at
the old medical copy statements are hard to determine what I got. So, all these tests were scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, March
23, 2001).
The next day (Friday, March 23, 2001), I completed all the tests needed prior to surgery in about 2 hours or so. They took 3
test tubes of my blood! Arg!!! The chest x-ray, I had to run across the street to a hospital to get it. The funny thing was that
after I took the x-ray, I noticed on a clear glass pane window, there was this notice paper. It was something about the x-ray's
maintenance report card or something like that. Well, the thing is that this paper is issued every so often to ensure the public
that the x-ray machine was safe. Well, to my surprise, the document has expired! It was over a few months I believe. I told one of
the nurses that worked there about this. Too late to rescue me from any health issues if the x-ray was deemed bad by the US Health
Department I believe. Anyway, the nurse ensured me that there was an updated document. It's just that no one put the new one out.
Looks like someone hasn't been doing their job or it's a conspiracy.
All the tests required prior to the surgery is done. Now it's my local physician and hospital's turn to get the results shipped
to my surgeon before my operation date. My surgery date is set for Friday, March 30, 2001.
hyperhidrosis4.htm
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