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Hyperhidrosis has taken over my life and leaves me in constant anxiety of physical contact. But what is ‘hyperhidrosis’? Hyperhidrosis is a condition that causes people to sweat excessively in their hands, feet, face, chest, armpits and groin. The condition doesn’t always have a specific cause but is usually triggered by anxiety, certain medications, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), hyperthyroidism and infections.
Hyperhidrosis doesn’t have an on or off button, for me, it can start at any given time and can be fairly embarrassing if you’re not at home. I find it the most difficult when I go for a job interview, the day will always be going great too! That is until I go inside and see the big boss. This is when sweat begins to flood out as if God is doing Noah's Ark 2.0 (and let me tell you, that is NOT fun). ‘Big boss’ will come over as if on key and then the thunderclaps and clouds begin to go grey! The big boss brings up his hand for the dreaded handshake! I would like to take a moment to say that I am not overreacting, anxiety was giving me a thumbs-up. When the big boss put out his hand I start shaking and I always feel so impolite but I say ‘yep that’s me...But I can’t shake your hand...I have hyperhidrosis’ and at which point the big boss is like ‘what is that’ and I am mentally slamming my head against the wall. I proceed to inform them about my sweaty life to which I’m usually greeted with a friendly smile, which is great! But also very unprofessional on my behalf and often leads me to not getting the job. Sad man-hours. If this sounds familiar then I have great news for you, there are ways to treat hyperhidrosis - it's always best to consult your GP and if you’re in the U.K. See if the treatments can be done on the NHS;
If you’re unsure on whether you have hyperhidrosis then you should definitely consult your GP because if you’re anything like me, you’re probably sweating while reading this article. If you'd like some advice on Hyperhidrosis then feel free to message us! -Cody
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Have you ever watched “Morning routines”? “Night routines”? Maybe a “day in the life” video on youtube, hoping that you are able to wake up that early? Or be as productive during the day like what you’ve watched in those videos? Well, that's why building a routine is actually really good for you! It may even change your life for the better and help you! I personally enjoy watching morning routines, night routines, and day in the life videos because I aspire to wake up that early and be productive as well. Initially, I did try to copy their routines, I used to write down whatever they did and replicate the routines, hoping that I could be as productive and fresh in the morning as they were. That did work out for a couple of days, sometimes some routines did work out for weeks but honestly, never in the long term.
That's when I realized that the only way to actually have the “perfect” or the “most productive” routine, or the routine that your body and mind desires, is to actually slowly build your routine based on you. What I mean by this is, in order to have a “perfect” routine that you, personally do enjoy, you need to understand your needs and what your body and mind are comfortable with. Every single body and mind is different, frankly, it's quite difficult for people to be able to adapt to the exact same things. This means that I may not be an early riser or someone who's able to sleep early, and that's completely fine and normal, but that doesn’t mean that it's impossible to change. When I did try to make a routine for myself, based on what I saw in the videos, I forced myself to wake up early and sleep early, and do yoga in the morning and the night as well, and try to work out during the day, eat healthy, be productive all day, because I went to that extent to try to replicate routines. However, it actually doesn’t work that way. When I realized that I couldn’t cope with this routine for the long term, I assumed that it wasn’t possible to do it at all, but that's where I was wrong for the second time. It took some time to actually realize that building your routine doesn’t happen in one day. I believe that its really important to have a good routine for yourself because, in that way, you’re able to optimize your time better. However, you need to be patient with yourself and take the time to understand what your needs are. If you want to build a routine, you need to make the changes slowly and see if you’re comfortable with it. My sleep schedule was not the best, sleeping at 2-4, waking up at 6-7, and taking afternoon naps, and on weekends, sleeping in till the afternoon, wasn’t really the best choice for my health but I thought that waking up early and sleeping early was impossible. I was wrong. I thought that it was impossible, but it actually wasn’t. The first time I tried, I, of course, failed, because I was trying to force myself to follow the routines I watched online, but, the second time I tried it, I slowly and patiently adapted to a better routine. By this, I mean, I was so used to sleeping at 2-3 that I didn’t jump to 9-10 pm, I slowly started with 1 am, then got into bed by 11 pm, then some days I did relapse back to the late nights, but I didn’t give up just yet. I started again, I got into bed earlier and waited till I fell asleep, and even with the mornings, my main focus was getting enough sleep. So, since I slept early, I also focused on waking up early, thus, I was slowly building on my sleep schedule routine. Similarly, I wanted to see what else I could change in my routine. I saw in the videos how people were able to do yoga in the morning and night, and how they looked so refreshed so I decided why not. I did force myself to do it, and it did take time to realize that it didn’t really help me. I’m not saying that yoga isn’t good for you, but personally, it didn’t really help me, in terms of my mental health, so I decided to stop doing yoga and focus on some breathing techniques which are actually really helpful. I did try and work out, and that actually went really well but didn’t work out in the long term because I did overdo the workouts. I used to watch how people could work out for 2-3 hours straight, but I slowly came to the understanding that my body is comfortable with 30 mins to an hour of working out, and that to, maybe twice or thrice a week. Therefore, I started trying out more things to see what really makes me feel comfortable and what works for me, but at the same time, if something didn’t work out and I wanted to make it happen, I had to be patient with myself and wait for my body and mind to adapt to it. Like, I used to be able to study only at midnight and beyond when it came to school, and it was quite bad considering the fact that I wasn’t able to even prepare for my exams for the whole day because I couldn’t focus unless it was at night. That didn’t mean that I gave up just there though. I decided that since I could wake up early and put a stop to the afternoon naps, I could maybe try and sit down to finish my work in the morning. Honestly, nearly every morning during my summer vacation, I woke up early and sat down on my table. Even if I wasn’t able to focus, I still sat down and waited for my mind to come to terms that I had work to complete. Now, I can proudly say that even if it's 4 AM or 5 AM, I’m able to study without procrastinating too much. I realized that at the end of the day, to only find the perfect routine that you desire, you need to be patient with yourself, your mind, and your body. There’s absolutely no deadline to make a perfect routine, so you just need to work on building your routine every single day, and every single day, try to make small changes and see if they work out for you or not. If some things don’t really turn out the way you want them to, then don’t give up just yet! Keep at it and sooner or later, you’ll be able to achieve it! A routine is like a puzzle. You need to start figuring out which pieces fit and until you do, the puzzle may be incomplete. Be patient with yourself, and sooner or later, when all the pieces seem to fit, the puzzle will be ready. Be patient with yourself, and take time to understand your mind and your body needs. -Ananya Before my 18th birthday, I had seen 3 therapists, 4 psychologists, and 9 doctors. I had 3 procedures and tried more medicines than I can remember. I can recall the exact day my chronic pain began. It was November 2nd, 2016, and I thought I was having a heart attack. I remember almost passing out in my bed, waiting for an eternity in the emergency room, and all of my tests coming back with no answers. In the end, it was a simple blood test that shined some light on what was going on inside of my body. The test showed that I had an abnormally high level of C-reactive protein, which meant I was fighting inflammation somewhere internally. When this test result came in, my doctors finally gave me a diagnosis of costochondritis. Costochondritis is essentially chest pain with no apparent cause. It usually occurs in children and teenagers and most grow out of it within a few weeks, but there are the unlucky few whose pain stays. My costochondritis diagnosis lasted for three years. I had just turned 15 when my inflammation went away, but I was still experiencing the pain. Even though my body was physically better, my brain was not on the same page. It kept sending out pain signals because after three years it had gotten so used to doing so. Because there is no longer a physical cause, the pain has now linked itself to my mood and anxiety. When I’m stressed or anxious or depressed, the pain gets worse, which isn’t good when my genetics make it so I can’t make enough serotonin, the chemical that is in charge of depression. My brain had become my own worst enemy. Finding out that the inflammation was gone was heartbreaking. For three years, I had lived on anti-inflammatory medicines and diets, and I had been told that when the inflammation went away, so would the pain. There are no words to express how broken and depressed I felt when that was no longer the case. I got angry at myself and the world. I refused any new medicines or treatments because I had wasted so much of my life bouncing from doctor to doctor, just trying to feel normal again. Eventually, I started trying new medicines again, but these were aimed towards improving my mental state. My doctors thought that if I could get my anxiety and depression - the two things that worsened the pain the most - under control then maybe my pain would get more manageable or even disappear entirely. It took 8 months to find the right medicine and then COVID-19 hit. The pandemic hasn’t changed much for me. My pain had already kept me housebound, the only difference was that now my friends were stuck in their homes too. They finally got to see a sliver of what the previous four years had been like for me. It might seem weird, but I was happy they had to stay home because it meant they weren’t out having fun without me like in previous years. Last summer, I tried a new procedure. Its goal was to burn the nerves in my ribs that were transmitting the pain signals and force my brain to reboot. It was temporarily successful, but eventually, the nerves healed and the pain was back, but at a lower intensity. I still have the pain, but there are fewer intolerable days. I still can’t wear a bra regularly, and I need to take more time for myself to make sure my anxiety doesn’t reach extreme levels since it could trigger a pain flare-up, but I’m doing better. I wish I could say there was some magical cure that made my chronic pain disappear, but there wasn’t and there still isn’t. I still struggle with it and some days are worse than others. But managing my depression and anxiety has helped tremendously, and learning to not overwork myself and get too stressed has been key. In the last year, my battle with my pain has moved to the neurological side of things. The pain is no longer caused by my body, but by my brain. I’ve had to learn to take care of my brain to keep my pain in control. It’s been a long and slow journey, but I’m just taking it day by day, and maybe someday, I will have a pain-free life again. Links for people who want to learn more about inflammation and costochondritis: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=167&contentid=c_reactive_protein_serum#:~:text=The%20C%2Dreactive%20protein%20(CRP,of%20CRP%20in%20your%20blood. https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/about-inflammation https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/costochondritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20371175 https://www.healthline.com/health/costochondritis I hope you all enjoyed reading this article! Sydney SydneyFor nearly 3 years now I’ve been suffering from Non-Epileptic Seizures. It all started back in 2018 when I was on my way back from London and woke up on a train station platform. The train staff were very comforting, letting me know what happened. What I wasn’t expecting was what the reason was for me to be lying on the train station platform. One of the kind staff said to me, “Melissa, you have had a seizure, we’ve phoned your dad and he’s on his way. We got your information from your passport and then contacted your emergency contact”. At first, I was panicking, as I’d never had a seizure before I was never known to have them. But my brother was! He was epileptic and on the way back from the station I was with my dad in the car and all these questions were going around in my head. “What has caused this seizure to happen?” “Did I knock my head hard on the floor?” - As I had an awful headache after the incident. What I didn’t realise was what effect this would have later on in my life. I would start to have daily seizures and this restricted me from working as I was working in a nightclub at the time. So, when I went to get tested, they ruled out it was epileptic seizures at first. But, a few months on, it was proven not to be epileptic seizures; it was a case of Non-Epileptic seizures. At first, I had no knowledge of what this diagnosis was but by doing my own research I have average knowledge of what it is now. Today, 3 years on I still suffer from these seizures and they have changed my life. They have caused me to go jobless and not be fit to work. That means I’m stuck at home all day every day. Also not being allowed to drive as it’s dangerous if I do so. That limited me to where I can go as I live on the outskirts of my town. But what has affected me the most is losing my friends. I’ve lost a lot of my friends due to these seizures as my friends are scared to be around me. At first, they were okay with it but as it became a regular thing they just got fed up, I guess. I was touring with my friends known as Jedward and I had a seizure just before the concert. So this leads to an ambulance being called and the decision my friends had to make, ‘Who would go with me in the ambulance?’ Luckily I felt okay after a check-up in the ambulance and I was bouncing back half an hour later just in time for the concert. It was a weird experience. Normally when I have a seizure, I have a massive headache and I’m drained but this time that wasn’t the case. After this experience, I did learn who my true friends were but I also learnt that I can’t expect everyone to wait around for me. I would want them to enjoy their time and not be in an ambulance missing the concert. 3 years ago, yes this would have upset me to see my friends leave me to go to the concert without me, but now, I see it as a positive because I’m not dragging them behind and making them miss out on a fun experience. It’s grand to realize that everything happens for a reason, you find out who your true friends are the hard way. But then again do you have to see it like that? Try to turn it into a positive so it’s good for your mindset.
MEL“In case of a cabin pressure emergency, put on your own mask first before assisting others.” We always hear this sentence every time we take a flight. It is a good concept to apply to our lives. We need to remember the importance of helping ourselves first before helping others. Putting yourself doesn’t mean you’re choosing either your or another's life. It means putting yourself makes you function better and strengthens you to support your loved ones better. Even a therapist can ask guidance from other therapists. It doesn’t mean they’re not credible. It helps them prepare and recharge so that they can help clients as well. One way of self-help is self-love. Loving yourself is different from being a narcissist. A Narcissist needs professional guidance because Narcissistic Personality Disorder is characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance. They lack empathy and therefore rarely make friends with others. Different from being narcissistic, self love is an act to appreciate and care about oneself. Self-love is a journey and everyone should have a trial and error method to find the best way to love themselves. In order to help our self, here some ideas that I’ve tried and you can apply them too: No screen day Due to online situations, life is attached to the screen. Sometimes, I’ve gotten very anxious about things on social media. I couldn’t bear to look at notifications on my social media. So, reconnecting with nature instead of the screen, would be very relaxing. Hugging someone with no context This gives me another level of satisfaction. When hugging someone, I feel calm and relax. Also, my negative emotions go away. It may be because the stress hormone is released. Meditating I’m not sure with the actual method, but it is kind of staying still and being aware of nature’s sounds. Nature’s sounds help release my anxiety and stress. Those tips may work for some people but not others. Hopefully, they can help some of you guys. Enjoy your journey to a fulfilling life!
Ice cream. A treat that is loved by people all across the globe - myself included. It tastes so good, good enough to make me sick. Suddenly, I am covered in red rashes and find myself sneezing profusely. I remember my mom saying, “I told you to stay away from milk and milk based products. You don’t listen to me! “ But how do you resist something so tasty? I pondered. ”You have to resist for your own good.” This may be easier said than done. According to Mayo Clinic, an allergy is an abnormal response of our own immune system, causing our bodies to fight a peaceful substance. This can cause a variety of symptoms which can range from coughing and wheezing, to shortness of breath and digestion problems. I am lucky that my milk allergy is moderate and does not cause anaphylaxis (closing of the airway). Some people, however, aren’t as lucky. In fact, anaphylaxis is quite a common issue. Though there are parallel symptoms between a milk allergy and lactose intolerance, it is important to note that they are not the same. Each needs different routes of treatment in order for a patient to experience relief. So, how did I find out I have a milk allergy? When I was about one year old, my mom took me to a doctor as I was showing signs of breathlessness after drinking milk. They performed blood and skin tests, and determined that I had developed a milk allergy. When I first learned this, I wondered: “why did it take so long to figure it out?” It didn’t. We don’t have a fully developed immune system at birth. As it continues to grow, our systems can make mistakes and initiate fights that have no source of prior conflict, hence allergies. In my case, when I drink milk, my immune system sends out antibodies to attack the casein protein found in the substance, which creates sickness-like responses. These responses are different in each individual. How do I cope with my love for sweets and how do I manage symptoms? I rely on antihistamines or sometimes epinephrine shots. Both of these help my body to realize that there is nothing harmful to battle within it. Since you can’t be taking these drugs constantly, I avoid consuming milk at all costs. I do this by looking up the labels for each and every product I eat. Sometimes the casein protein will be found in food products that don’t list it as an ingredient. It is important to be aware of this, and consult your immunotherapist or general practitioner about any foods or drinks you are concerned about. I mainly eat soy or rice based frozen desserts, sorbets or puddings which are really good substitutes for those I can’t enjoy, like ice cream. I will admit, I give in sometimes and eat treats that contain the casein protein, but I quickly pay for it by experiencing my usual symptoms. Then as usual I have red rashes and have to take antihistamines. I have to take supplements too to fulfill my daily calcium and Vitamin-D requirements. This makes for quite the hassle. Thankfully, this allergy is well-known and science revolving around it is rapidly advancing. Soon enough, we will have better treatment. It’s just a matter of time, patience and symptom management. In the meantime, however, if you or someone you know is struggling with symptom management or resistance, please feel free to reach out to me through our TWE platforms. I would be more than happy to offer you further tips and tricks.
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Teenagers With Experience is an online organisation created to provide teenagers worldwide with an online platform to share their own experiences to be able to help, inform and educate others on a variety of different topics. We aim to provide a safe space to all young people. You can contact us via email, social media or our contact form.
Please note that the content on this website is created by teenagers. While we strive to provide accurate and helpful information, it is important to remember that we are not professional experts. If you are experiencing a crisis or need professional advice, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or a helpline. |