Accomplished journalist, TV presenter, and much-loved Aussie Jessica Rowe will be the first to tell you, much to the horror of her husband and daughters, that she’s an over-sharer. From documenting her daily meal disasters to outing herself as a ‘crap housewife’, Jess’ truth isn’t far from her lips.
And now, the bubbly former Studio 10 host has something new she’d like to share, something a little more embarrassing than a burnt casserole.
“I suffer from excess sweating,” she uninhibitedly tells Now To Love.
Excess sweating, clinically known as hyperhidrosis, is far more common than many may expect. Yet, because sweating – like many other bodily functions – is shrouded in embarrassment, it’s often not talked about and people suffer in silence, when in fact, there are ways to treat it.
Jess was a young journalist on the news desk when she first noticed she was an excessive sweater.
“It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t something you talk about with a lot of people, but it’s something you don’t have to keep trying to manage,” says the 47-year-old who endured the condition for years.
Jess first noticed she was experiencing excess sweating in her early twenties, working as a news reader for Channel 10. It was an era of power suits and the young journalist found herself sweating through her layers.
“I would get really sweaty armpits and big dark patches. Initially I thought, ‘Oh, I’m just a bit hot.’ But it would still happen on cold days,” she recalls.
The 47-year-old says she would greet people with her arms pressed to her sides to conceal dark sweat patches.
“I tried everything! I put sanitary pads in my jacket.”
Desperate to hide the dark sweat patches from showing on air, Jess followed the advice of her mum and tried to cover the problem.
“My mum suggested I put sanitary pads in my jacket. But it didn’t work! All it did was give me fat armpits!” she laughs.
As well as lining her clothes with adsorbent pads, Jess tried it all to stop sweating, from deodorants that were so strong they would cause her skin to burn and itch uncontrollably; to drying her arms pits with a hair dryer in-between ad breaks while on TV.
“I tried everything until I got to the point where I thought, ‘There’s got to be something else’. And that’s when I went and spoke to my dermatologist about my options,” says Jess who found relief from sweating from Botox injections in her armpits.
Relief! The mum-of-two doesn’t suffer from embarrassing sweat marks any longer because she discovered there is a way to treat the condition.
Treating excess sweating with Botox injections
A common treatment for excess sweating, Botox injections temporarily block the chemical signals from the nerves that stimulate sweat glands. The injections can relieve patient’s excess sweating for up to 7 months and so long as they’re administrated by a Department approved specialist, the patient may be entitled to a Medicare rebate.
Excess sweating also doesn’t just occur in the armpit region, some may suffer from sweaty hands, feet, face or groin areas. Jess admits she also has clammy palms: “I’m always conscious of wiping my hands before shaking someone’s hand.”
So aside from being born with the impulse to over-share, why does Jess want to talk about how much she sweats?
“Why not!” she jokes, before adding: “Because it’s something that has impacted on me and has continued to. It’s surprisingly common, I didn’t actually realise how common it is.”
“I think it’s just important for people to know that if there is a part of you that is concerned, talk to your GP about it.”
For more expert advice on excess sweating and treatment visit excessivesweatinghelp.com.au.
