Tumblr, Baking Soda Remedy, & Labeling

If you haven't ventured into the Tumblr world I encourage you to go dabble. Dip your toe in. Start with a quick "hyperhidrosis" tag search. You'll find a plethora of young users reaching out for help or at least a little understanding and acceptance. It's quite magical. I thank the powers that be everyday that I didn't have social media in high school BUT this is kind of awesome.

Here's a message you might find interesting I received on Tumblr:

Wow it just occurred to me to look for a hyperhydrosis tag on Tumblr and found your blog :) It's so nice to see that I'm not alone with this shit (which for me is a curse mostly because of social expectations about 'hygiene' and people assuming sweating means I'm nervous...).  

Anyway, two things that are in my mind:   

1) After experimenting with lots of kinds of deodorants a few years ago I found that putting Soda Bicarbonate powder on my armpits totally vanishes any sweat odor. It works wonders for me.

via Etsy

This is great to hear! I've never attempted to use Soda Bicarbonate or baking soda. I used it recently with my shingles disaster and it worked wonders to relieve itching. Hoorah for a natural remedy and not to mention dirt cheap. All deodorants have curbed my odor in my armpits. However baking soda might be something to consider for my groin (smelly hoohah, ugh), and perhaps my feet. 

Quick Baking Soda Remedies

2) Would you (or your followers) consider hyperhidrosis a disability? Because in a social context it does mean a lot of handicap and embarrassment, also makes some everyday activities more difficult or dangerous to do (eg. handling knives). I'm curious about the views of other people living with this condition.

What are your thoughts? We want to hear from you.

We all agree hyperhidrosis can be crippling. There are examples of people unable to perform their job due to hyperhidrosis who were then able to collect disability insurance. I know this to be true because I was denied disability insurance after having ETS surgery because of said examples. That's a post for another day.

My personal opinion, please by all means disagree in the comments, is if we consider hyperhidrosis a disability we're doing ourselves a disservice. We a creating a crutch for sufferers to fall on instead of empowering each other. We are fully capable of taking care of ourselves with HH. My daily functions are not put to a halt because of HH. They might be compromised. That said, I don't think we can fall in the ranks of those who need special assistance to get by. 

Instead of drawing attention to hyperhidrosis as a disability I would rather we draw attention to HH in general. Educating teachers, doctors, and employers that someone with HH is not excessively sweating because they're nervous or have poor hygiene we're simply being.

What do you have to say?