Caleb
United States
From funny experiences to personal inconveniences I can be thankful for Hyperhidrosis for it is a huge factor to what made me, me. As I am writing this I can feel the beads of sweat forming on my palms, and feet, slowly turning to rivers and ultimately to what feels like oceans. Every couple lines that I write I am obliged to wipe my hands or be forced to bear a waterlogged (in this case, sweat-logged) keyboard. As of right now my home is a comfy 75 degrees Fahrenheit but even in the chilliest of temperatures reaching below the freezing point of water, my hands and subsequently feet are inclined to cool me off.
Whatever it may be in my hands for a long period of time will eventually feel the presence of a gradual to an unyielding flood. Though, sometimes I forget about my hyperhidrosis when I’m having a good time. As in playing with my dog, Bella. We would chase one another around the house, most notably through the kitchen and dining room area where the kitchen had laminate flooring and the dining room had carpet. I get so caught up that Bella might catch me that I don’t notice the ends of my appendages starting to sweat in anticipation I might “lose”, that is until my feet hit a 90 degree turn from the kitchen toward the dining room and my feet have absolutely no grip. I also remember back when I was still going to daycare and they had a game room I would always play the stand up arcade Sonic the Hedgehog game. I would get so into the game I didn’t notice my hands sweating but when it came time to switch players I was forced to remember since the daycare lady would make a big deal of it and come in with a spray bottle and paper towels. She never understood why every time I was done playing, the console was pretty much always soaked, even going on to assume I was sucking or spitting on the controls, which was never the case. This evolved to my consciousness to my electronics keyboard/mouse/phone which I have to pause from time to time wherever I’m at to wipe off the excess amount of pooled sweat because my phone can’t distinguish where I am pressing or I could potentially short another keyboard/mouse. This also brings me to when I first held the hand of my significant other, not only is it embarrassing for me to leave a sweat print on my partner but in some instances they refuse to hold my hand because of that very fact.
There’s also good things that come out of this condition as well like the extra grip I have whenever my hands first begin to sweat, or when they’re soaking I have in essence some heat resistance, or even perhaps a neat nickname! When I was in high school and the people I’ve grown up with all my life knew me and of my condition, found it strange when my hands were dry. On the bus going home one day one of these friends felt my hand by accident and noticed they were dry and even went on to comment something along the lines of “Woah! Your hands are dry for once!”. Growing up with this condition I began to notice when my hands would sweat, so I replied with “I bet I can make them start sweating”. As they held my hand, I closed my eyes and started thinking in depth about falling off of a skyscraper, when I truly thought about it and put myself in that situation, my hands started sweating! To their surprise and somewhat mine, I was dubbed then onward “Aquaman”.
Some might suggest wearing gloves, I too thought of this and for a brief time wore latex gloves since they were easy to get plus disposable. At the end of a mere 15 minutes, when I took those gloves off my hands were quite literally dripping with sweat, let alone the sample collected in the gloves. Needless to say, I didn’t go the glove route, not even cotton gloves since when I lay in bed at night and my feet begin to create cesspools which soak into my blankets. When my feet stopped producing sweat I was forced to still feel the coldness of the markings they left. For those of you without hyperhidrosis, I implore you to dump a quarter cup of water on the foot section of your blanket you’re wrapped in and move your feet across it, then you will feel my nightly struggle. I have also been to the doctor to get prescribed a solution to rub on my hands and feet at night to eradicate my problem but after a week I fall off of this newfound regiment with the thought that one day it might come in handy. Along with the fact that it is just a part of me. While I have to be self aware about it, I started carrying around a handkerchief to wipe my hands whenever they become too bad. Who knows, one day it might actually be useful and bring an advantage others without this condition might not have.
