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Treatment? For what?

OK, I understand that not everyone will be comfortable with my "sweat and let sweat" approach to dealing with HH. While I think it's the best option in terms of cost, stress, and risk of side effects, some of you might want to take further measures. I can particularly understand for people with palmar (hand) HH as that can limit your daily activities in a significant way.

Antiperspirants - There are antiperspirants galore, all (?) of which use aluminum as the primary ingredient for stopping sweat. Metals are not something to fool around with lightly. The human body needs only trace amounts of some metals, and more can be a health hazard. Aluminum has been implicated in Alzheimer's Disease, a rather awful degeneration of the brain while the rest of the person still lives. Can the aluminum in an antiperspirant accumulate enough to cause Alzheimer's? Studies are inconclusive so far. But do you really want to take that risk just to avoid some sweating? I don't. Some people also think antiperspirants increase the risk of developing breast cancer. The evidence for this appears weaker than that for Alzheimer's, but it's yet another reason to think twice before slathering your pits with chemicals.

Dress Shields - These are pads of various shapes, sizes and thicknesses which you can pin inside your clothes to absorb sweat. I've tried them. They work most of the time, and the rest of the time I've actually managed to sweat around them. Somee so bulky you'll think a linebacker has put his shoulder pads inside your pits. Walking around with with soaking wet sponges in my pits all day isn't my idea of fun either. This reminds me of a funny dress shields incident that happened to me years ago (note to self: write about that one of these days). Also dress shields are of no use with sleeveless outfits.

Iontophoresis - OK, so I had to look up how to spell it. As I understand it, this is an electrical process that "zaps" the sweat glands and somehow convinces them to turn off for awhile. Apparently, it works well for some people, and poorly for others. I've not tried it, but they always taught us in school that water and electricity don't mix. Sticking some buzz box into my drippy pits makes me a little uneasy.

Drugs - There are assorted drugs that tend to reduce sweating. They often have immediate side effects like a dry mouth. Who knows what long term effects they might have? Too much risk for too little return, in my opinion.

Botox - All the rage in Hollywood, mainly for wrinkles. Botox is a form of botulism toxin, that's right, the stuff that gets in food and kills people. Botox is injected into skin (such as the forehead) and temporarily numbs or disables the muscles that make the skin wrinkle. Only in Hollywood! Then someone discovered you could inject it into armpits to numb the sweat glands for awhile (several weeks, from what I've read). This is another treatment option that doesn't appeal very much to me. Needles in my armpits? _shudder_

Surgical Removal - The sweat glands can be excised (removed) from your pits. Scarring and other complications can result. If I don't like needles, guess how I feel about knives. I've heard that Salma Hayek resorted to this procedure to cure her HH because she thought people in the US would not accept her otherwise. _sigh_

ETS Surgery - This procedure cuts the nerves the stimulate the sweat glands. Works but apparently has a relatively high rate of complications such as compensatory sweating in other parts of the body, numbness and feeling of intense heat. You'd never get me near such a procedure.

Those are the main options. If your main concern is about others seeing you sweat, I don't think any of these options is worth the risk and/or discomfort. OK, maybe the use of some antiperspirant or dress shields on special occasions is warranted. That's my opinion, yours may differ. These days it seems more and more women are saying NO to the dangers presented by these options and sticking (no pun intended!) closer to nature. Maybe you should try it for awhile to see for yourself.

(For more information about some of these options, see the Links page.)