Hyperhidrosis at Work

(This post is part of the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health. I will be writing a post a day for all 30 days. You can learn more about it here: http://info.wegohealth.com/HAWMC2012.)

I’ve been at my new job as a medical writing web specialist for two months now. In addition to it being a new situation that triggers my hyperhidrosis automatically, I am facing a huge learning curve with regard to websites, content management systems, HTML, and the general landscape of web terminology. Writing for the web is very different from writing a blog, essay, print piece, etc. For the past two months I have been on information overload with a plethora of things running through my brain. By the time Friday rolls around, I am worked.

Along with all the new concepts I am learning are the tutorials I’m getting for how to do things on my computer. Depending on whatever program I’m working in, someone will have to show me step by step what to do. You know what this means. I’m at my computer with someone either standing over/behind me to explain, or sitting next to me as I mouse around the screen. This is a necessary step in the process, and I am not complaining. It’s helpful to be walked through everything, even multiple times, until it clicks in my brain and becomes intuitive. However, it’s a huge trigger for my sweating, and I end up soaking my mouse pad. I actually had to remove the wrist rest that was near the mouse because I sweat on it so much it started to gross me out. It would never completely dry, so I just threw it in a desk drawer.

I did bring my 4-inch desk fan to work. I use it mainly in the morning when my hyperhidrosis is at its worst. Is yours always worse in the morning? I wonder if it’s because I’ve only been awake for a couple of hours by the time I get to work. My body temperature might still be going back up from having dropped during my sleep cycle. But my office is always hot in the morning since the door has been closed all night, so who knows. It takes me a good 30 minutes to adjust to my office temperature.

I’ll be honest. These past two months have been a real struggle for me when it comes to my hyperhidrosis. I’m already out of my comfort zone and feel overwhelmed trying to learn my job, but my hyperhidrosis is making it so much worse. Some days are better than others, and I do have dry segments of my day, but they are definitely few and far between. I’m taking copious notes on a daily basis, but half the time they are sweaty notes. I was on a conference call one day and my fingers stuck to the pages of my notebook. I was holding it open with my left hand and writing with my right hand; every time I picked up my fingers they would make a sound.

One day, I had to go offsite for a business meeting. I was carrying a file folder with me, and by the time I got there my fingertips had turned blue! I should have known better than to use a blue file folder. I looked like I had been Smurfed. When I left the meeting, I strategically picked up my notebook first so it covered most of my grip, then the file folder, and then my pen so that my thumb would only touch the pen, not the file folder. I learned my lesson quickly after that. If I’m going offsite, I bring the new messenger bag I told you about. Good thing I was doing some forward thinking. That bag is essential for me when I have to carry things around offsite at work.