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"'Swedded' Bliss"

9 July 2003

It's been a few weeks since I updated this site. Between being a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding and then the 4th of July holiday, the time has passed as a blur. Thank goodness Kevin is so understanding about my HH because I've certainly been doing a lot of HHing.

The wedding was a particular challenge: a periwinkle satin sleeveless dress! Can you say HH nightmare? As soon as I saw the bridesmaid's dresses she was planning I knew I was in trouble, but I didn't feel it appropriate to ask her to change them just because of my HH. As you know from this site, I "go sweaty where others fear to tread" but this was going to be too much, even for me. Combine the thyroid hormone I'm taking with the stress of a wedding and the heat of a June evening and things were not going to be pretty.

So I ended up breaking all my rules and resorting not only to antiperspirant, but also some meds. Given that my sweating is very much stress induced, I tried Inderal, which has a calming effect. It did help a little I think, but it also made me feel ill. I've since learned it interacts with thyroid hormone, so I've stopped it. I also bought one of the heavy duty antiPs, Certain Dri, which I'd never tried before, and that led to an embarrassing scene at a supermarket pharmacy after work one day.

I couldn't find it on the shelf so I asked the pharmacist. He immediately looked down at my underarms where big wet stains on my blouse were peeking out and said he thought they had some. He the proceeded to talk loudly to the girl at the register, "Hey Cindy, do we have some Certain Dri in the cabinet there?" I could feel the blush starting and the sweat trickling from my armpits. "Certain Dri?" she asks, "Is that the special deodorant?" Now the people waiting at the register were all looking at me. I wanted to shrivel up and die. For me be sweaty in group settings seems like the worst.

Well, I used it for the wedding, and it helped, more than the standard antiP but I was still sweaty. I'd say the combination of the Inderal and the Certain Dri cut my sweating to less than half it would have been otherwise. That's another way of saying the wet stains soaked only about halfway down to my waist. This picture is a good example, except I was sweating more than this (and no, this is not me!). On the periwinkle satin, that's about how dark and obvious the stains were. _sigh_

But I had decided I was not going to let my HH stop me. I mean, at the church and reception it's not like there are "No Sweaty People" signs, right? The only one that could stop me from participating is me, and I was not going to let that happen. So, I went out and danced and partied and had fun, and no one said anything about my sweating, not even the photographer during the obligatory photo sessions. Well, Kevin did, but he was sweating too. After briefly considering not attending because of my HH, I'm glad I didn't back out. I not only survived, I had a good time.

For prior stories, see the archives.