Weddingbee Blog

You wanna know why I picked the little Socks icon? It’s actually very poignant to not only my wedding planning, but my day-to-day life.

I sweat.

No, but really. I sweat a LOT.

I was born with what’s called hyperhidrosis, and it’s an overactive nervous system that causes sweating in my hands and feet (some people have it on the face and underarms as well).

Source

Much like this, though that isn’t me. Both my hands and feet look like that.

Oh yeah, and it’s constant. Not just when I’m nervous or hot, though it gets worse when those two factors weigh in.

When I was 14, I had surgery to fix this issue for my hands. Unfortunately it didn’t completely help my hands and had no effect on my feet, which sweat much like the picture above.

Nowadays, I take daily medication to try to keep it all in check, and some days are better than others. I’ve tried Botox twice (it’s supposed to paralyze sweat glands or something) but that didn’t work. Topical gels and antiperspirants don’t do any good either. When it comes to wearing material that isn’t absorbent—say like, heavy satin, silks, and poly-blends—my sweating is worse.

It’s also worse when I don’t have socks on.

This is my footwear, every single day of my life:

Personal Photo

Sexy, right?

I wear these thick fuzzy socks every day to keep my feet happy. They’re expensive socks that wick away moisture and most people only use them for running and hiking. I also wear them under a pair of boots every work day. Even in 90+ degree heat, I’ll wear a pair of heeled boots to work simply because I can wear socks inconspicuously that way.

I don’t wear flip-flops or sandals, open-toed shoes or pumps, or any other super cute shoe for that matter. When I do wear those kinds of shoes, I slip, slide, swell and suffer. My feet are also too soft (from sweating constantly) to form calluses, so usually strappy shoes (or even just flip flops) just cut right into my skin, I bleed, and then have icky scars.

(Side note: I’m really, really sorry to be this disgusting, but I’m getting to the point.)

With this issue, I was extremely hesitant about wedding dresses and wedding shoes because I know that a big part of my wedding day will be affected by my sweating. I try not to let it affect my day-to-day life (though it sucks in the summer because I want to wear flip flops & cute shoes BADLY), but on my wedding day, it’s unavoidable: I’m wearing a dress that isn’t very absorbent, and I’m wearing shoes that won’t look good with thick white socks.

I’ve been trying to go over my options on what to do about this, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Put some absorbent little towlies in my dress pockets
• Wear thick hose that feel a little like socks
• Go through iontophoresis again

Wondering what the third thing is? They’re little shallow trays that I fill up with water and plug them into a device that sends a low electric current through the water. Think—a mild electrocution. It’s supposed to plug up or paralyze the sweat glands or something. I’ve tried it before, but with no success since it was too painful to keep up consistently.

Source

Source

Why the EFF are these chicks smiling??? Dude, ELECTRIC CURRENTS are ripping through your body! I do NOT smile during these treatments!

I think for my wedding, I might just have to suck it up and try the treatments again.

I decided to share this because I know that there are a lot of people who have hyperhidrosis, and too many are embarrassed to talk about it. It’s a small thing on a scale of what could be worse, and it’s not the end of the world, but it is a condition that I have to consider a little too often when picking out clothes and shoes.

One of my biggest fears is that my hands will sweat and swell so badly on my wedding day that the photographer won’t get good pictures of my ring, or that when Mr. Socks puts my wedding band on my finger, that it won’t fit because I’ll be too sweaty and swollen. I also fear my feet being so uncomfortable that I won’t be able to walk by the end of the night, which is basically what happened at my sister’s wedding.

So there you go: I hope you aren’t too grossed out, and I hope that if you’re dealing with any medical issues for your wedding you find solutions that will make you happy. I hope that the happiness of the day far outweighs the discomfort I’ll feel as a sweaty little mess.

Do you have any physical hurdles to overcome in regards to your wedding day?