Disclosures: 1. This blog post has been entered in the Patients Have Power Writing Contest run by Clara Health and is designed to raise awareness about clinical trials. I am passionate about this cause and hope it will help raise much-needed awareness about the power of breakthrough research. 2. I am an ambassador for the Clara Health Breakthrough Crew.
Update – July 11, 2018: This essay won me third place in the contest! View the winners.
Living Without a Cure
My feet are dripping wet and slippery, as if they’ve been dipped in Vaseline. The floor becomes dangerous to walk on. My hands. Bubbles of sweat pooling up and over my fingertips and appearing from nowhere. I’m trying not to ruin my keyboard as I type this. My palms are literally dripping puddles on the keys thanks to my excessive sweating condition – also known as hyperhidrosis.
Hyperhidrosis affects five percent of the global population according to the International Hyperhidrosis Society, but I bet this statistic is actually much greater. The problem? Too many people are ashamed of the skin they’re in and don’t speak up or seek help. It’s time to end the stigma.
Why Clinical Trials?
Currently, there is no cure for hyperhidrosis. In order to find one, or at least create more treatment options, we need clinical trials. Clinical trials pave the way for people like you to one day have access to more treatment options.
By choosing to participate in a clinical research trial, you are:
- advancing clinical research and development,
- fast-tracking solutions to reach people in a timely manner,
- offering hope to others who suffer from medical conditions to one day have access to more treatments, and
- using your patient voice to be your own best health advocate.
Clinical trials provide a chance to speak out about the importance of better research and treatment. Sometimes all I want to do is bury my head in the sand and pretend I don’t have hyperhidrosis. But that would probably cause me to sweat more and then the sand would stick all over me. I digress.
As a patient, you have the power. Use it to help others. As the Beatles say, we get by with a little help from our friends.
More Clinical Trials = More Options
A treatment that works for one person may not work for another – each one of us is unique. Therefore, we need a variety of treatment options which can only be found through the process of clinical research and clinical trials. When you use your patient voice and collaborate with organizations like Clara, you are helping advance the process of getting medications and treatments into the marketplace to help people live better lives thanks to the power of science.
Living with a medical condition can create fear and anxiety. And we all just want to be healed so that we can live our best lives.
In those with hyperhidrosis, we’re not sweating because we’re nervous. We’re nervous because we’re sweating. There’s a difference.
With more clinical trials and research taking place, we can have hope that one day a cure for excessive sweating will be found. Or, at least hope for access to a wider array of treatment options for our puddles.
Shaping the Destiny of Medical Trends
While others can’t zip themselves into my skin, perhaps they might understand what it’s like now to be a “sweater.” I’m surviving despite my medical limitations and using my patient voice to hopefully shine a light for others who might be too afraid to let their own shimmer be seen.
Won’t you join me in shaping the destiny of medical trends? Let’s create more awareness for clinical trials so that we can all find the light. Clara Health is a great place to start.
For information on the clinical trials process, check out these Clara Clinical Trial Guides. For real-life, down-to-earth conversations on health care and clinical trials, subscribe to the Patients Have Power! podcast.
