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ugyan, you make a very good point about there being not consistent results that shows that T3 and T4 result in less CS and especially that t2 usually causes an inablilty to sweat on the upper body.

my surgeon cut me at the T2 and T3 levels 11 years ago. i finally returned to see him about 4 months ago to give him the long term update on all of my terrible side effects and how it was a terrible decision. he was defensive but helpful and actually had his secretary give my names and phone numbers of other patients who had the surgery around the same time as me.

at this point i'd like to point out that he is still performing the surgery the exact same way that he performed it on me in 1999. whether he's treating sweaty hands, armpits, blushing or facial sweating, he always cauterizes the t2 and t3 levels (and based on reading my surgery report i think he removes the ganglia....which really makes me mad)

So, contacted 5 patients who had the SAME exact procedure as me....from the same surgeon.

The first lady (48) said her only complaint was that the sweating returned to her hands 2 months after the surgery, and that she had chronic pain in her chest for 6 months and had to take painkillers for it. but other than that, she doesn't feel any different.

The next guy was 33, had two kids, and said his major complaint was the CS and that his feet sweat even more than they did before he had ETS performed. He said he gets too hot when the temperature is above 80 degrees farenheit, and he starts sweating profusely on his lower body.....but he can still sweat on his upper body in warm weather.

Then next lady was about 50, said her only complaint was the occasional CS. I asked her if she could sweat on her upper body and she said no, but that she never sweated much or even at all, even before she had ETS, and so she hasn't noticed any difference. (which just seems bizarre to me). She asked me what some of my symptoms were and i began to explain my major complaints (but in a watered down version, not to scare or frighten her). When i mentioned a feeling of a loss of emotions she says "now that's really interesting that you mention that because my husband always jokes with me about how nothing gets me excited or upset." And she further explains that "my husband and I just bought a new big house and my girlfriends kept saying ""oh you must be soooo excited, your house is beautiful"" and i felt bad and guilty because i wasnt' excited at all and didn't know why." And she says that she has been like this for a while and just never attributed it to a possible side effect of the surgery. I think most people are less sensitive to noticing changes in their bodies.

The next girl was about my age 26, and was in her last year of medical school up in New York. She said that her biggest complaint once again was the occasional CS, but that she would honestly go through with the surgery again if she had to do it over again. She said she can still sweat on her upper body, but sometimes gets too hot in warm weather.

The fifth person's number was disconnected.....
But, just take these four people, who all had the same exact surgery. half were satified, half regretted getting it done. Even the ones who were satified complained about side effects but said they were still thankful to have dry hands. None of them have once contacted our surgeon to give him an update/complain/praise him/etc.

we all know that it's irreversible, so most people just have it performed and then try to move on and deal with whatever the consequences happen to be. This is exactly what i did for 10+ years, until i had had enough of feeling like shit all the time.

the results of ETS are not predictable AT ALL. Even if you're cutting at the same level on 100 patients, i feel like all will have different results/side-effects/ sweating patterns/praises.

Ugyan, you could not be more right that the physiological make-up of our sympathetic systems vary greatly from person to person. This surgery is like playing russian roulette. It's totally experimental and unpredictable and basically mad-science if you ask me.

1/3???
33% is HUGE!!!!!!!