No blood, some tears but plenty of sweat

That’s the plight of sufferers of a glandular condition. But help is on the way!

I JUST ordered myself an ion­tophoresis machine. Never heard of it? Well, learn something new, folks! It’s a portable anti-sweating machine.

The reason most people won’t have a clue is because it is used to treat a relatively uncommon medical condition called hyper­hidrosis, meaning excessive sweating in Greek and Latin.

I have lived with this condition all my life and have met with a few fellow sufferers along the way. But it is only at this late stage of my life as a senior citizen that I have discovered the International Hyperhidrosis Society. I love its tagline: “The world’s only non-­profit organisation serving all who sweat excessively.”

According to its website, 385 million people suffer from excessive, uncontrollable sweating. That may sound like a lot, but that’s just 5% of the global population so the huge majority of people are unfamiliar with the condition.

There are two types of hyper­hidrosis – primary focal and ­secondary generalised.

Primary focal hyperhidrosis is not caused by another medical condition, nor is it a side effect of medications. It is a result of the body’s overactive sweat glands, and excessive sweating occurs at specific or focal areas of the body. Most commonly, these are the hands, feet, underarms, face and head.

As the name indicates, secondary generalised hyperhidrosis is caused by another medical condition or is a side effect of a medication. People with secondary hyper­hidrosis sweat on larger or other generalised areas of the body.

Primary hyperhidrosis starts in childhood or adolescence; ­secondary hyperhidrosis in adulthood. Another key difference between the two is that people with the primary type don’t sweat excessively while sleeping while those with the secondary type often experience it in their sleep.

Studies have shown that primary focal hyperhidrosis can be inherited, and many members of the same family may suffer from it. And that describes me to the T.

It’s double whammy for my four siblings and me because both our parents have the condition. We have it to varying degrees. My brother, second sister and I have it worse than our eldest and youngest sisters. For all of us, the focal areas are hands and feet.

Despite living with this condition all my life, it is only now that I know there are two types of hyperhidrosis and the existence of an effective treatment.

If I had known of iontophoresis earlier, it would have saved me from a lot of embarrassment in my work and social life. But because our parents just dealt with it, we kids followed suit.

I had always hoped the condition would subside as I grew older, similar to the way I got less hairy. Oops, that’s a tale of woe for another time.

There is a bit of improvement with age, but I wish it was more significant. In the past, my hands or feet would suddenly act up even when I was totally relaxed. Now they stay dry when I am cool and stress-free.

And that is a trigger for the sweat glands – stress, as well as anxiety, excitement or hot ­weather. That was bloody inconvenient for me as a journalist. The job required me to meet with a lot of people for interviews and ­shaking hands was a real bane.

When I knew a handshake was coming, I would surreptitiously wipe my right hand on my skirt or pants first.

What made it even more uncomfortable was a sweaty paw would also lose heat so the person would end up holding a cold wet hand.

I have lost count of the times the receiver of my sweaty hand reacting with, “Wah, your hand is so cold and wet. Nervous ah?” Or some such comment.

All I could do was smile weakly, mutter something about having cold hands but a warm heart, and withdraw my hand as quickly as possible.

Having sweaty hands also got in the way of other things, like writing. I happen to be left-­handed as well, and that means I write by pushing my pen across the page and risk smearing what I have written on a page.

To make it worse, back in the old days, we had to write with fountain pens, so the only way not to leave a trail of smeared words was to rest the hand on a blotting pad. You can imagine what a relief it was when ball-points replaced fountain pens.

If sweaty hands were problematic, wet feet posed another challenge. As a schoolkid, I had to change my socks every day or risk developing athlete’s foot.

Open-toe footwear like slippers and sandals were no solution either, as they would often leave us with grubby feet. My second sister, May, who lives in Australia, says her husband teases her by calling her Pigpen after that cute boy character in the cartoon strip, Peanuts, who just picks up dirt and dust wherever he goes. Sweaty feet do the same.

Footwear like Crocs that are made of plastic are a big no-no because once the feet sweat, we go slipping and a-sliding in them.

In many ways, hyperhidrosis can interfere with the sufferer’s everyday life. For example, I have ruined several computer keyboards because my sweat dissolved many letters on the buttons.

May remembers the time when she was working in a clothing store in London and how her colleagues would make fun of her for leaving wet marks on the merchandise.

I often feel my hands are clammy and sticky so I wash them a lot. When I bake, I wear plastic gloves that have to be repeatedly changed because the sweat will pool in the gloves.

Since it is a hereditary condition, I did worry about my three children inheriting it. Indeed, they have it but in a much milder form. None of them feel it has caused them any problems or setbacks, which is a relief to me.

So, are there treatments for hyperhidrosis? Yes, there are, like antiperspirants that temporarily block the sweat glands but are only effective against mild hyperhidrosis. There are medicated cloths, gels and patches for the underarms, Botox injections, surgery to remove the glands or to cut the nerves going to the palms or underarms.

While I had heard of most of these treatments long ago, none appealed to me. Unfortunately, I never heard of the iontophoresis procedure even though it has been around since 1952. I only found out about it when I was researching for this column.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology Asso­ciation, the portable device is safe and easy to use. Add water to the pan in the device, place your hands or feet in it, and turn on the switch.

Patients start with 20 to 30 ­minutes treatment daily or once every two to five days, and after five to 10 treatments there will be noticeably less sweating. Once that occurs, most people can maintain the results by using the device once a week or every other week.

This is truly music to my ears. My iontophoresis device is coming from Shenzhen, China – where else! – and costs less than RM200 on Shopee. It should arrive by the end of this week.

I can’t wait to get my sweaty hands on it. Like I said, if it works, I wish I had got it much earlier and avoided a lot of social anxiety. Oh well, better late than never!

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.