Catherine C.

Philippines

[THE MANY PERSONAS OF CATHERINE] Here’s my hyperhidrosis story, alongside my many personas. In our country, the Philippines, it is hot and humid all-year round. And while tourists enjoy the Philippine sun so much, I’ve grown to despise it. Commuter Catherine commutes to school, and public transportation in our country isn't so advanced. Most of the time, I have to sit through an hour-long drive despite the many buckets I’m filling with my own sweat just to get to school. It has been like that ever since and so, sweating should not be a surprise, right? But there’s more to it than just sweating. It is so excessive to the point that even Student Catherine deals with it on a daily basis. Whenever I write notes for my classes, my palms would sweat a lot, making me lose the tight grip on my pen and wetting my paper. It’s just a hopeless case. Don’t even start me with Physical Catherine. I love doing physical activities and while I understand that it is inevitable to sweat, it’s just too much to bear. I have classmates who put up the same work in these activities as much as I do but here they are, with their underarms up in the air with no trace of anything. Meanwhile, there’s me with a literal map on both sides of my underarms. It doesn’t help that my sports shirt is light-colored. Did I mention that even with dark-colored ones, these literal maps prevail? Oh yes. When I get home from a day of commute-school-activity-commute, it’s still a surprise how much sweat I’ve accumulated. I guess, we just never get used to it, especially when it gets more overwhelming the next day. For all of these personas (Commuter Catherine, Student Catherine, and Physical Catherine), there’s only one truth that remains, and that is the Catherine with hyperhidriosis. While I’m all for empowerment and not letting insecurities get a hold of you, I must admit that having hyperhidrosis truly gets to me. It’s an insecurity of mine that hinders me from maximizing my capabilities as Commuter Catherine, Student Catherine, and Physical Catherine, and essentially from being the Catherine I want to be. But, I have high hopes for the future. Given the rise of technology (as seen in Dermadry’s technologies) now, I’m sure there’d come a time for me to replace this one universal truth with an even better reality- a Catherine that is secured and safe within the limits of her own body. I aspire to have that security for myself.