r/Hyperhidrosis

(sorry for the long rant, also I sweat mostly from my forehead and back area, I'm thinking of getting botox but I'm starting HRT (MTF) soon and I'm hoping that will help a little)

Hi everyone,

I’m taking Oxybutynin (Ditropan) for severe hyperhidrosis, but I’ve noticed a few very strange patterns regarding how it works for me and I’m looking for some insight into the physiological reasons behind this.

Regarding my daily medication routine, I take Ditropan every 4 hours throughout the day, usually 7.5 mg per dose, with a lower 5 mg dose at night before sleep. I also have a habit of avoiding food almost all day because I feel like having food in my stomach delays or completely ruins the medication's effect, so I usually only eat late at night after my daily activities are done.

I'm experiencing a couple of very strange patterns with this medication. First, it completely fails when taken in extreme heat. If I take my dose while I’m already outside in high heat (around 35°C+), the medication feels completely ineffective and I sweat heavily. However, if I take it while sitting in a cool, air-conditioned room, it kicks in noticeably fast, sometimes in less than an hour.

Second, it only seems to activate when I start talking. I can sit around waiting for the dose to work, but the severe dry mouth (xerostomia) and sweat suppression only violently and suddenly kick in the moment I start actively talking to someone. As soon as I engage in conversation, my mouth instantly goes bone dry and my sweating drops significantly.

I have a few questions for the community:

Why does speaking specifically trigger or noticeably accelerate the onset of dry mouth and the anticholinergic effects of Ditropan? Is there a neurological or autonomic nervous system mechanism, like shifting parasympathetic or sympathetic tone, triggered by vocalization?

Why does the ambient temperature at the exact time of ingestion drastically alter how fast or well the medication absorbs and works?

Is avoiding food all day actually necessary for Oxybutynin absorption, or am I just worsening my body's heat tolerance by fasting?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

All my fellow sweaty hands sufferers, how do you deal with handshakes? I work in a job that requires me to shake important people’s hands a dozen plus times a day to include my managers and bosses because of meetings. My boss literally walks around every morning saying hi to all his workers by shaking their hands. One day he has even said “wow why are your hands so wet?” In front of all my coworkers. I feel like he’s actually judging how i can be a competent worker if im such a nervous sweater.

I have tried all the anti perspirants on out there to include ionto. It was effective but the problem is i started getting compensatory sweating really bad in other places that i hadn’t ever sweated before like my nose or back of my knees so i stopped. Now my hands sweat but nose also still sweats now.

I really miss covid days when we had an excuse to not shake peoples hands.

Is it almost socially better to just tell people sorry my hands are wet before i shake their hands? Is it unprofessional to say my hands are wet, i can i give you a fist bump instead?

I live in a very hot and humid state and have mild HH, back in July I started taking glycopyrrolate to help my sweatiness. I've been prescribed Drysol and Propranolol before taking glyco but those didn't work for me.

It's been over a month since I started glyco (1mg twice a day, morning and night) and I wanted to know other peoples side effects and how it affected them while taking it + if there is another medication that may work a bit better.

My side effects aren't too bad, consisting of dry mouth/eyes, pretty major loss of appetite - I eat once a day (pretty small meal too, start gagging if I eat too much) when I used to have a pretty big appetite -, constipation, and a bit of insomnia (not sure if the insomnia is correlated to the meds but it did get worse after I started taking it.)

The main side effect I'm worried about is the brain fog. I'm seriously starting to feel dumber and sometimes I can't remember what I just said to someone or what I did. I go back to my derm in less than a month and I was wanting to up my dosage to 2mg twice a day because I still am getting considerably sweaty with just 1mg, but I do not want the brain fog (or other side effects) to get worse if I do switch to 2mg.

I went to the hospital today to have blood drawn for a blood test. Once the results are available, I'll see the doctor again. If there's nothing wrong with my blood test results, what other things could be causing excessive sweating?

I’m F/22 and I have Hyperhidrosis on my hands and feet since birth. I’m not on any medication, since many are illegal in Switzerland. And I haven’t tried anything except aluminum solution for my hands. But that wasn’t effective at all.

My way to work/school always has many free seats so i don‘t encounter this problem on a daily basis. But now my commute to work has changed and I need to take a full bus of people. My Hands tend to sweat more in closed spaces, where there isn‘t any air circulation. So I‘m holding onto the pole in the bus and the pole is instantly wet. It gets so far that it’s dripping from my hand and down the pole. I always try to hold the pole in a low place, so nobody puts their hand beneath me, but it‘s still so embarrassing, because I‘m scared that people will see and make a scene out of it.

I’m so uncomfortable, and after the bus ride I'm always very down. Experiences like that ruin my whole day. I can't think about anything else, and I wallow in self-pity because I can't do anything about it. Normal people don't realize how stressful it is, and the fact that they find it disgusting doesn't make it any better for me. I always have a really hard time enjoying the evening after such an experience on the bus.

I‘m thinking about trying iontophoresis but I‘m very impatient and idk if I could stick to the schedule it requires to see results.

Also does anyone have tips on how I can dry my hands in the bus in a non obvious way? In winter I can just pull my sweatshirt sleeves over my hands, but in summer, while wearing a t-shirt thats not an option.

Hey everyone, just needed to vent somewhere people actually get it.

I’m struggling really bad with sweating every single day. Sitting down anywhere in public whether it's at a restaurant, on public transport, in classrooms, or on plastic chairs is a total nightmare because I’m terrified of leaving a sweat mark when I stand up.

My entire closet is basically black clothes at this point because I can't risk wearing anything else. I honestly feel trapped in my own body. What makes it 10x harder is living in a third-world country where hyperhidrosis just isn't recognized. People here just assume you're overly nervous or gross, and the total lack of awareness means getting made fun of is a real threat.

I really don't know what to do anymore or how to keep coping with this day to day. Has anyone in a similar environment found ways to manage this?

Do any other women suffer with wet sweaty hair? It makes me feel so unattractive and unhygienic. I’m talking about when out and about. I wash it everyday so I am hygienic but it feels so horrible before I shower when I’m sweating in public.

My dermatologist prescribed me drysol for my hands a while ago, about 5-6 weeks, I’ve been using it every single night before bed, my hands aren’t getting any better, should I talk to her about Botox? My hands have been ruining my life for the past 2 years, no shaking hands, no holding hands with my girlfriend, not being able to pass the controller with my buddies without wiping it off, etc. She told me drysol usually helps in most cases but with my luck sadly it hasn’t helped even a little bit, all it’s doing is making my hands sting. Has anyone gotten Botox to combat the hand sweats? I feel awful not being able to shake hands with friends, family, teachers, and most importantly my girlfriend. She’s been extremely understanding through all of this and I just want to this to stop. Thanks guys. Sorry I needed to get this rant out.

In spite of already being highly annoying and anxiety inducing because of inconsistency of sizing, this activity also made me sweat like I was taking a Zumba class. Thank goodness I only have to do this once in awhile. I totally forgot to bring my mini-fan with me. Luckily I had a bunch of paper napkins in my bag.

I don't really know how to explain everything, but I desperately need advice.

I have hyperhidrosis and I sweat excessively. It is very difficult for me to control, even when I try extremely hard. The sweating can sometimes cause body odour, and unfortunately people have used this to bully and humiliate me for years.

During college and hostel, students made videos of me, mocked me and shared things about me. I completed college and moved back to my hometown, thinking I could finally start over.

But the bullying and trauma haven't stopped.

People around my house gossip about me. Some people take photos of me and share them with their friends. I hear people calling me "smelly girl" and making hurtful comments when I'm outside. After everything that happened in college, I constantly worry that people are recording me or talking about me.

I know some people may think, "Just control the sweating" or "Just ignore them," but I have tried. It is genuinely very difficult to control hyperhidrosis. I can't simply decide not to sweat. I've tried to manage it, but the fear and embarrassment have become much bigger than the physical problem itself.

The things people said to me keep replaying in my head. I'm scared to go outside. I'm scared to get a job because I worry that someone may have my old videos and that they could spread them to people at my workplace.

I'm 23 and I feel like I'm watching people my age move forward while I'm stuck with years of trauma.

I cry in front of my mother because sometimes I genuinely don't know how much more I can take. I don't have enough money for private therapy, and my mental health is getting worse.

Recently someone said something extremely hurtful to me and I completely broke down.

I've started having suicidal thoughts, and I'm scared of where this is going.

If anyone has experienced severe bullying, public humiliation, hyperhidrosis, or having embarrassing videos/photos shared about them, how did you rebuild your life? How did you eventually become comfortable going outside, getting a job and not constantly worrying about what people were saying?

Please don't tell me to "just ignore it." I've been trying to survive this for years. I really need practical advice and hope from people who have been through something similar.

UK girlies please help me out here!! It seems the Sure has now changed the formula (not just packaging) to their deodorant. As someone who sweats A LOT. It is literally the only one that worked for me. Please if you have any alternatives to this help me out. I already use a once weekly antiperspirant besides that but because of how much I sweat I also need a very good working daily deodorant/antiperspirant to replace this one long term - I'm nearly running out and don't know what to replace it with.

Dermadry has been life changing. I was skeptical after a few weeks with no progress, but happy to say that on week 4 I have started to see significant improvement in my hands to the point where my palms and some fingertips will only get slightly damp, but dry really fast.

The best thing by far is that there are no side effects. The hardest part is staying consistent with it, but it’s only 20 minutes a night.

I hope this advice helps people who are in the position I was a few months ago debating alternatives from this page. Don’t waste your time or money, just get the dermadry. I recommend using sanpellegrino as well and not just tap water; you can feel the current much stronger, and I did start noticing most improvement after I switched to it.

Hello everyone. I've been struggling with excessive sweating for years. It doesn't matter whether it's winter or summer. Even walking outside for about 10 minutes and then stopping makes me sweat a lot. Especially in winter, even standing still in places with poor airflow, such as public transportation, is enough to make me sweat. If I dress more lightly, I get cold and end up getting sick, but if I dress more warmly, I start sweating.

What I'm wondering is this: If I exercise regularly, could my body become more accustomed to physical exertion and therefore start sweating less during everyday physical activities? I've been exercising regularly for about a month, but so far I haven't noticed any change in my sweating.

Does exercising regularly actually have any effect on this? I'd really appreciate it if anyone who has experienced something similar could share their experience.

25 M here. I’ve been dealing with HH all my life but began treatment with Gylcopyrrolate for four-ish years now and it used to work like a charm. I haven’t had many side effects and truthfully I didn’t think too hard if I had anything that correlated with the reported side effects. Solely because I just wanted something to work. When I was in elementary, high school, and college, I would just ruin sheets of paper or leave puddles of sweat where my hands rested. White shirts would be ruined after seemingly days. Dates would be awkward and many social interactions would be weird because someone would comment on how sweaty just my hands were. Luckily, I met a girl around 19 who I will be marrying next year after 7 years of being together :). Soon into our relationship was when I was finally prescribed Glyco and what a relief that was when I finally had a dry day , let alone WEEKS! I would only sweat when I would work out like a normal person and it felt great. It gave me such a boost in confidence that I felt that I was missing solely because of these fucking hands and feet. But nowadays, especially in these increasingly hot summers, I tend to have to take maybe one extra pill but sometimes it doesn’t help and I feel like I’m back in high school again. Last night, as my fiancée and I were making out, and as I was running my hands up her shirt instinctually she pulled it off and rubbed my hand into the bedsheets. Immediately it just turned me off and recoiled, feeling ashamed that I am fucking sweaty after just 10 minutes of light foreplay. She apologized and promised it wasn’t to make me feel bad. I believe her and I know she mean’t well but god it still haunts me today. I just wish it would stop. I remember when I was 13 and being told by any and all adults “oh yeah I used to be sweaty, but you’ll grow out of it” and yet here I am. It’s such an incredibly stupid and mild condition that shouldn’t exist and yet here we all are seeking some comfort in a subreddit about this shit. I cannot wait to be able to afford Botox because I would love to try it in my hands in feet. It does make me comfortable knowing others suffer from this and I hope we all find peace and solutions to this.. dumbass condition. I have yet to get bloodwork and further things done to diagnose the issue and I think I’ll start looking into this soon. But, today is just not a good day for sweatiness and I needed to vent. Thanks to anyone and everyone who reads this!

I just tried my dermadry for the first time an hour ago, the thing is, in the last couple of mins of the treatment my hands became so uncontrollably shaky, I was barely holding them in place to continue the treatment and they continued to be shaky after I was done, it's been an hour, they're still shaky if I try to hold something or if I stretch out my hands, I used it on 5 mv and it wasn't painful, just a bit uncomfy so is this normal? Will it go away? Will I experience that for some time after every session or is it because it's my first time?

I see a few old posts of these - wondering if anyone has new or different opinions?

I have tried clean sport and lavender citrus. Clean sport smells exactly like old spice which I can honestly live with. But I’m so surprised that lavender citrus honestly smells… masculine? I know I could just go with unscented but does anyone know if works just as well? The product certainly works for the sweat part - I would also like to smell nice too - just not so scented that I may overwhelm or overpower my perfume.

Thank you kindly.