In this episode, we speak with Megan Cameron, Health & Wellness Coach, founder of Empowered by Sweat, and hyperhidrosis trailblazer.
Tune in to hear us talk about:
- Megan's hyperhidrosis story and her earliest memory with excessive sweating
- Why she started 'Empowered by Sweat' and what the name means to her
- How to reframe your sweating
- What shame is and how it works
- How early memories of Hh stay with us
- The exhaustion of hiding hyperhidrosis
- Why getting back in your body can help change everything
- A heart-body exercise you can do to bring awareness back into your body
- The power of the mind-body connection
- The importance of community and how it can conquer loneliness
✨Enjoyed the episode? Keep the conversation going by joining Sweat Girl Society's free membership community! Visit: https://sweatygirlsociety.com/community
🔔 Plus, don't forget to subscribe to you get notified of the next episode.
***
Connect with Megan Cameron:
🔗 Website: https://empoweredbysweat.com/
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empoweredbysweat/
🔗 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@empoweredbysweat
🔗 Facebook Group: 'Hyperhidrosis Sufferers -> Survivors -> Thrivers' https://www.facebook.com/groups/582961905239016/
About Sweaty Girl Society:
🔗 Website: https://sweatygirlsociey.com
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweatygirlsociety
🔗 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SweatyGirlSociety
***
Disclaimer: The information in this podcast is provided as an information resource only. It is not to be used or relied on for any medical, diagnostic or treatment purpose, and it should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Please consult your health care provider before making any health care decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.
Join Sweaty Girl Society's free membership community at sweatygirlsociety.com/community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Megan (00:00):
I started to turn down plans with friends.
(00:01):
I was avoiding hugging, I wasavoiding touching other people.
And it became all about hidingit.
For the longest time I was incomplete denial that I had shame
around hyperhidrosis, The moreyou push away from something,
the more it flares up withinyou.
I was able to reframe it.
So instead of looking at sweatas something to be ashamed of I
(00:24):
was able to empower myself evenwith sweat.
Getting back into our bodies is,is a huge starting point.
Speaker (00:35):
You are listening to the Sweaty Girl Society Podcast,
a show for women withhyperhidrosis, where we share
tips for living better withexcessive sweating.
I'm your host, Karina.
Now let's get into the show.
Karina Sweaty Girl Soci (00:49):
Welcome back to the Sweaty Girl Society
Podcast.
In this episode, we're speakingwith Megan Cameron.
Megan is a hyperhydrosisadvocate, a health and wellness
coach, and the founder ofEmpowered By Sweat.
I think you're gonna love thisconversation.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (01:01):
Hi Megan.
Welcome to the show.
Megan (01:02):
Hi.
Thank you so much for having me.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (01:04):
It's always nice to connect with a
fellow Canadian, so you're outwest, right?
Megan (01:09):
Yeah, in Alberta.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (01:10):
Okay.
I'm on the other side of Canadain Ontario.
But it's always nice to seeCanadians in the hyperhidrosis
space doing amazing work, whichis certainly what you are doing.
So I'm really excited to getinto this conversation today.
Talk more about the services andwhat you offer, your take on
hyperhidrosis.
So why don't we start with yourpersonal experience.
(01:30):
Can you walk me through yourjourney with hyperhidrosis?
What was your earliest memoryand how have you navigated it?
Megan (01:37):
Yeah, so my earliest memory was back when I was a
teenager.
I have primary hyperhidrosis, itstarted at puberty.
And I remember having patches ofunderarm sweat, within minutes
of getting dressed.
And it wasn't to heat, it wasn'trelated to anxiousness.
(01:59):
It was just my body doing whatmy body does.
At the time, I didn't know whatit was all about.
I remember holding my arms downtightly as a kid and layering
shirts.
I remember it was grade eight, Ijust wore sweatshirts all the
time and big baggy sweatshirts,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (02:17):
Yeah.
Megan (02:18):
just feeling like I needed to hide.
So that was my first memory ofit.
It felt isolating and that I wasdifferent.
I started to turn down going tofunctions at school.
I started to turn down planswith friends.
I was avoiding hugging, I wasavoiding being touched and
touching other people.
So it affected relationships andit became all about hiding it.
(02:41):
And I felt like I was constantlymanaging myself and trying to
stay ahead of what my body wasdoing.
So at the time, of course, we'reyoung, we don't know these
things.
I didn't know what hyperhidrosiswas.
And as I got older, I, I startedto learn more and more.
And I went through the processesof trying different treatments.
(03:03):
And from trying differenttreatments, it really opened up
my eyes to what was possible forme and how much it had affected
my everyday life and thedecisions and the careers and
the relationships that I hadmade, growing up.
It wasn't until I started tolearn more and find community
that I was not alone and thatthere were other people out
(03:25):
there in the world that had thiscondition or was struggling with
the same sort of thing that Ireally, was able to learn more
about it for myself and what itmeant for me and who I became
because of it or with it.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (03:37):
I think that so many people
listening who have hyperhidrosiscan relate I can certainly
relate, and I feel like so manyof our stories are so similar.
So, in terms of where you aretoday your business is called
Empowered by Sweat.
What does that mean to you?
Megan (03:56):
Well, what I've learned as I've older I was able to
reframe it.
So instead of looking at sweatas something to be ashamed of
and something that was my faultand something that I had no
control over, I was able toempower myself even with sweat.
(04:17):
So I called it Empowered bySweat because my journey, I've
actually been able to use sweatto empower me to really discover
who I am, work with shame, workwith embarrassment, work with
other people to do the same sortof thing and live with sweat if
I choose as opposed to livingagainst it, makes sense.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (04:41):
Yeah, it does.
I think that's a really hopefulmessage and hopeful idea.
So I wanna dive into this alittle bit more.
Going back to your story abouthiding your sweat and how so
many of us learn to hide oursweat over the years, whether
that's through baggysweatshirts, not touching people
(05:02):
keeping our arms physicallyclose to our body.
Why do you think there is somuch shame and a need to feel
like we need to hide our sweat?
Where do you think that comesfrom?
Megan (05:14):
I think a lot of it comes from stigma and social norms and
what is considered normal.
Now I believe that's changing alittle bit'cause with social
media being the way that it isand people speaking up a little
bit more about like conditionsand diseases and,
(05:34):
neurodivergency and all of thosethings.
I think it's opening up a doorfor people to explore things
that aren't considered normal.
and I see that withhyperhidrosis and people talking
more and more about it.
So I think that because the waysociety views sweat, there's a
lot of shame behind it.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (05:52):
When we think about shame, what is
the difference between shame andembarrassment, and how does
shame work?
Megan (05:58):
Great question.
'Cause I really had to dive intothis one myself because for the
longest time I was in completedenial that I had shame around
hyperhidrosis, which is, I mean,looking back to me, I'm like,
yeah, it's so obvious that it'sthere.
But I just assumed it wasloneliness, embarrassment,
anxiety, all the things.
But I never could label it asshame.
(06:20):
Brene Brown has been a greatresource for me because she
studies shame, right?
That's her thing.
And,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (06:26):
Yeah.
Megan (06:27):
I've dove deep into a lot of her work.
And one of the quotes I reallylove from her is, if you put
shame in a Petri dish, needsthree things to grow secrecy,
silence and judgment andhyperhidrosis literally hands
you that on a silver platter.
It makes sense that we haveshame around it.
(06:48):
And it also makes sense that wemay not wanna talk about shame.
So when we look at it fromdifferent perspectives and just
say we talk about it from theperspective of embarrassment,
it's, it's not I feelembarrassed, I was saying I am
embarrassed.
So that's the difference withshame in particular is that you
(07:10):
embody it, it becomes who youare as opposed to being like, I
feel this way.
It's a feeling.
A great example she uses isguilt.
So I am guilty as opposed to, Ifeel guilty.
There's a totally differentenergy that comes with the two
of them.
So hyperhidrosis, we really, andI'll speak for myself, we're not
(07:32):
living with hyperhidrosis, weare our sweat.
So it's
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (07:37):
Yeah.
Megan (07:37):
about it morning, noon, and night.
We live our lives to manage oursweat as opposed to living our
lives to live.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (07:45):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I do love Brene Brown's work Iremember coming across it for
the first time and it reallyspeaking to me, and I think when
we think about shame, it's thatsense of I am different.
I'm alone.
And I wanna keep this a secret.
For me, when I think back to myearlier years, especially my
early teenage years, I thinkthose were the most difficult
(08:07):
years for me.
Those are difficult yearsanyways because we're trying to
fit in.
And then when you layer onhyperhidrosis some of the most
painful memories maybe, or themost painful experiences crop up
during those years and shape ouridea of who we are.
So when I think back to when Iwas a young teenager there were
a couple defining moments thatI'll never forget that really
(08:29):
set me into like a shame spiral.
And I think deepened this ideathat my sweat made me yucky or
gross or different.
And one of those moments was Ihad some childhood friends in
the neighborhood and, they wereboys and they would roughhouse a
little or like try to take medown or whatever.
And there was one day where oneboy grabbed my hands and the
(08:50):
other boy grabbed my feet, andthen they started to like swing
me back and forth.
Can't remember if it was likefor my birthday or something,
you know.
But in doing so, my arms wereabove my head and my armpits
were exposed, and I was wearinga light colored shirt, and I had
big sweat stains under myarmpits.
And they both stopped swingingme and they were like, oh my
(09:10):
gosh! Why are you so sweaty?
Like, ew, you know, gross.
And, they put me down.
And in that moment of having myarms physically lifted above my
head, my body wanted to keep myarms closed.
And being exposed in that waywas so, so deeply shameful for
me in that moment.
Looking back on it now, I'vesort of like thought about it
(09:31):
and processed it but in thatmoment, it sent me into such a
deep shame spiral.
It was so triggering and I thinkI went away and cried in the
bathroom That was one of theexperiences I, I can remember.
Megan (09:42):
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing becausethese stories stick with us.
And sometimes we get, we getsometimes stuck in those moments
and we're living from whateverage it was that we were.
To like now, like we, it bringsit back and we may not have the
emotions attached to it if we'vedone work on ourselves, but we
remember them.
(10:04):
remember.
In particular, and you knowwhat's fascinating is over the
years when I've been workingwith people and then on the
community and hearing your storythings like this there is not a
particular moment that I hadwherever I was like called out
for my sweating.
Which I find fascinating.
(10:25):
You know what I mean?
So there,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (10:27):
yeah, I do.
Because there weren't many ofthose experiences that I had.
Typically people didn't notice,or if they didn't notice, they
didn't really care.
They moved on with their life.
Right.
Megan (10:36):
Yes.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (10:37):
But when you have hyperhidrosis, you
are so hyper aware of thepotential of people noticing.
Megan (10:43):
and it's, it's the stories that we're telling
ourselves about it, right?
So.
For example I was back in highschool and I had this huge crush
on this boy and I was wearing asweater.
And having a crush makes you alittle extra sweaty, right?
Because you're nervous.
And I remember watching abasketball game and he was
(11:05):
sitting beside me and I was justdrenched in sweat and I was not
as worried as much about thesweat showing because I had
mastered the art of pinning myarms down and wearing clothes
that hide it, but I could donothing about the smell.
That in particular, bothered memore than sweating.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (11:23):
Hmm.
Megan (11:24):
like, I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (11:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's true.
And I think, in sharing mymemories, had I shared those
memories when I was in my midtwenties, I probably would've
started crying, telling youthose stories, right?
I am in my early forties now,and so I feel more detached from
those times, but they're sodeeply, I guess ingrained or
(11:46):
embodied.
It's taken me years to evenshare that and not feel shameful
sharing those stories.
Megan (11:52):
I ask,
Karina, Sweaty Gir (11:53):
interesting.
Megan (11:54):
you, what is allowing you to be able to share those now,
apart from being older?
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (12:00):
Yeah, I don't know.
I think, I think maybe that isit.
It's being older and being morecomfortable in my own skin.
Having educated myself abouthyperhidrosis and realizing that
this is a legit medicalcondition, and even if I've been
dismissed over the years, it isvalid and my experiences are
valid.
(12:21):
I would ask that back to you.
What sort of interventions canwe do in terms of building our
confidence and our resiliencearound sweat.
Megan (12:28):
Yeah.
I think a lot of it has to dowith, well, owning it is a one,
one big thing, like being.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (12:35):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (12:36):
That this is what my body does.
That's a big part of it becausethe more you push away from
something, the more it flaresthings up within you.
Resistance to things can bedifficult.
I find that helps to be lesspast focused and more future
(12:56):
focused.
What got us here today isn'tgonna get us to where we wanna
be in the future, right?
So, reframing the way we look atour bodies, reframing the way we
look at sweat having compassionis a big one.
like I said, I couldn't rememberany stories where I was actually
called out on my sweat.
It's because.
(13:17):
All the stories were coming fromme.
I was telling myself how gross Iwas.
I was telling myself how awful Iwas
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (13:23):
Right, and imagine how hard you were
working to hide your sweat, theamount of labor that goes into
hiding.
Megan (13:32):
yeah.
Exhausting, right?
Because it's going 24 7 in yourmind, in your nervous system.
So big part of what I do is help
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (13:41):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (13:42):
Work with their nervous system I help people to kind of
drop down into their bodies andpay attention to what their body
is doing and why their body isdoing these things.
I have found that there's a hugedisconnect between bodies and
our brains.
I believe a big part of that isbecause we just don't trust our
(14:04):
bodies anymore.
Right?
We don't wanna attach them, wedon't wanna have anything to do
with them.
We're so mad at them becausethey've,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (14:10):
Yeah.
Megan (14:10):
there is so much trauma in our lives Getting back into
our bodies is, is a hugestarting point.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (14:17):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (14:19):
And yeah, acceptance and compassion.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (14:24):
I can really relate to that idea
of getting back into our bodies.
I think over the years I feltlike my body was working against
me.
Like it was betraying me.
In the summer specifically, Iget quite sweaty and I get
swollen on my hands and feet andit makes it physically
uncomfortable and I'm like, ugh,you know, just like frustrated
with my body.
But when I was younger and youknow, those shame spirals, even
(14:47):
in my twenties, thirties, I'msure it happen would happen now
in the right situation, right?
Like the, the shame spiral.
Those moments where you'respiraling, you feel so out of
your body and disconnected.
So what are some copingmechanisms we can do in that
moment to try and come back intoour body?
Megan (15:04):
Yeah, great question.
Especially in the moments,right?
Because those are the ones whereyou're not thinking, you're just
reacting, right?
So.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (15:12):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (15:13):
A few tools that I've found have worked really well
for me, but then also the peoplethat I work with is it's called
Heart-Focused Breathing.
Do you mind if I us through?
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (15:23):
Please.
Yeah, please.
I'm curious.
Megan (15:25):
So I am trained in something called heart math.
I don't know if you've heard ofit Some of our, might be, but,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (15:30):
Yeah.
Megan (15:31):
so you put your hand on your heart.
And then you focus yourattention in the area of your
heart, and
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (15:39):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (15:39):
your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest
area.
Breathing a little slower anddeeper than usual, but finding
an easy rhythm that iscomfortable.
So we do this for about 30seconds, and you can do it with
your eyes open, or you can do itwith your eyes closed.
I've learned to do it with myeyes open because in those
(16:00):
moments, right, it's hard to belike.
You can't,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:04):
Yeah.
Give me 30 seconds while I closemy eyes.
Yeah,
Megan (16:08):
when you just breathe
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:09):
yeah.
Megan (16:09):
in and out and focus on your heart or chest area.
A lot of silence during yourpodcast, so we don't have to do
the full 30.
But it just brings you right,like for me and the people I've
worked
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:25):
Right back into your body.
Megan (16:26):
Back in your body.
And the beautiful thing about itis it helps build that coherence
between your brain and yourheart.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (16:33):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (16:34):
So that's one of the tools I use.
And then another one that I loveis just as simple as like
rubbing your hands together,your fingers together, because
then you're paying attention toand focusing on that
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (16:50):
Right.
Bringing your,
Megan (16:52):
back
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:53):
focus back into your body.
Mm-hmm.
I love that.
In my twenties, I did a lot ofyoga and throughout my thirties
too.
But I think that that equippedme with a lot of coping
mechanisms.
I didn't realize at the time,but that mindfulness, that
sitting in your body andfeeling, the different parts of
your body.
Those sorts of mindfulnesspractices can be really helpful.
(17:13):
That's lovely.
And so one thing that I strugglewith is if we think about
primary hyperhidrosis for amoment, one of my triggers is
humidity or stale air or air notmoving, so that's, I feel an
environmental trigger of somesort.
But then another trigger can besocial situations.
And so I feel that's a littlebit of social anxiety perhaps.
(17:36):
It's hard to distinguish to mesometimes if, if I can reduce my
anxiety, will I be able toeffectively reduce my sweating?
Is there a feedback loop causedby feeling the sweat coming and
then being more anxious aboutthat and so you sweat more?
I don't know.
Do you have any thoughts onthat?
It's a tricky one to pull apartbecause I don't think we can
(17:57):
just control it with our mind,but I also think that there is a
mind body connection there.
Megan (18:02):
Yeah, I, definitely believe that there's a mind body
connection um, not necessarilyto the point of it stopping
hyperhidrosis.
I'm not by any means an expertbut there's something going on
in the body.
We don't know exactly what'scausing it, which is fascinating
that we still don't know.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (18:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of unknowns.
Megan (18:23):
of unknowns.
Uh, but I definitely can talkfrom my experience in that.
I have absolutely been able toreduce how much I sweat, not to
the point of it being gone.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (18:35):
Right.
Yeah.
And I guess it's aboutcontrolling the triggers that
you can control to the extentthat you can control them.
Because I think when I look backat my relationships over the
years when I first met my nowhusband those first dates, I
would sweat a lot because I wasexcited and he was a new person
and it was stressful.
You know, it's all thosedifferent emotions wrapped up.
(18:55):
And now when I'm with him, morethan a decade later, I never
sweat.
I'm very comfortable and atease.
He's not a trigger anymore.
Right?
So that tells me there issomething here in terms of the
mind body connection and how wecan potentially work to develop
some mechanisms that can helpcalm our mind, and then
therefore reduce our triggerswhere possible.
Megan (19:17):
And I think recognizing, like you were saying, that shame
loop.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (19:21):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (19:22):
able to get yourself outta that shame loop by
bringing yourself back into yourbody is a really great tool that
I've used for myself and forothers.
Because it's interrupting that,right?
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (19:33):
Yeah.
Being aware is sometimes verypowerful first step.
Megan (19:36):
Yeah.
I find a lot as we talked aboutearlier, that we're very
hypervigilant when we'resweating.
Like we're very focused, hyperaware of it.
And I, I wonder and I'm curiousabout how many people when they
focus on how much they sweat,are they also focusing on how
much they aren't sweating?
So are you noticing the momentswhen you sweat as much as the
moments that you're not
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (19:56):
Yes.
And then the moment you noticeyou're not sweating, that's when
I at least start to feel thosetingles in my hands and my feet
Megan (20:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (20:04):
and the sweats back.
Yeah.
Megan (20:06):
interesting.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (20:06):
Yeah, for sure.
So, I wanna switch gears andtalk about community.
You mentioned community earlierand that that has been a major
source of connection andstrength and transformation for
yourself.
Can you talk a little bit aboutcommunity and how that can be
helpful for somebody withhyperhidrosis?
Megan (20:25):
Absolutely.
I find that being part of acommunity helps break the
silence and helps with theloneliness.
Having a safe place to go to, totalk about what's going on with
you, helps calm your nervoussystem for one thing, helps you
be able to acknowledge thatyou're not alone and brings that
sense of being with like-mindedpeople and people that get it.
(20:49):
We are meant to be with people.
It's just what we do.
We want to be part of something.
We wanna belong.
It's very human of us.
It makes us feel safer.
All of the research tells usthat.
So when we feel isolated,because of the, say a condition
like hyperhidrosis, we can feelvery.
(21:09):
And our nervous system is alwayslike in that fight or flight
being very vigilant and alwaysaware, right?
But if we are part of acommunity that, helps us to feel
safe, then it helps calm ournervous system and helps us feel
like we are belonging tocommunity of people who can
(21:31):
speak our truth to.
But it also opens us up to beingvulnerable which up the door to
shame too.
So I think that it's veryimportant that you choose the
right community and that youfeel safe in it.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (21:43):
You feel safe.
Yeah.
Megan (21:44):
Yeah.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (21:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
And I know that you are veryinvolved in helping to build
community.
You moderate a Facebook groupwhich I can link to in the
description.
and I know you're part of ourcommunity at Sweaty Girl
Society.
And so I think that, the morework we can do to create various
communities with different waysof accessing them and trying to
(22:07):
keep them a safe space, that canonly help facilitate
conversations, normalizeexperiences, and bring people
together in new ways.
They just make you feel so muchless alone and so validated that
other people are experiencingthese things.
It's not just in your head, it'sreal, and it's legitimate.
Megan (22:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
The other thing I love aboutcommunity is that you connect
with people all over the world.
we're all humans.
And that's the one thing thatconnects all of us, is that
we're humans and our experiencesmay not be the same, but our
feelings are all the same.
That sense of loneliness, thatsense of embarrassment, that
sense of anxiety and that like,me too, I get it.
You get me.
(22:47):
So the beautiful thing,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (22:48):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Megan (22:49):
started
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (22:50):
yeah,
Megan (22:50):
Yeah.
Was with community so it was bigpart of it for me.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (22:53):
yeah.
So can you tell everybodylistening sort of what you're up
to these days, what's up next?
What you're working on?
Megan (23:01):
Absolutely.
So the biggest thing, i'm stillbig part of the community.
I'm still monitoring the, theFacebook group.
But I am looking at creating apaid membership community
because I feel I'm able to makeit more of a safer space for
people, if that makes sense.
So,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (23:20):
Yep.
Megan (23:21):
for me, I have to be in my own space in order to be able
to help others to feel safe intheir own space.
So
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (23:30):
Yeah.
Megan (23:30):
something that's in the works.
And it's gonna focus a lot onhealth and wellness and shame
around hyperhidrosis andallowing people to open up and
feel that they are empowered.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (23:41):
That's really exciting.
Megan (23:42):
I'm very future focused.
And then I also have a new groupcoaching program opening up in
January,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (23:49):
Oh, great.
Megan (23:50):
is all about the heart math and that heart and brain
connection people calm theirnervous system and work with
their nervous system.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (23:57):
That's really exciting.
And you're, do you offerone-on-one coaching as well?
Megan (24:01):
Yep, yep.
That is anytime.
I do a free discovery call.
So talking to me and finding outif we're a fit to work together
is very important.
'cause again, it's around thatsafety too.
If I don't
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (24:13):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Megan (24:14):
safe around me, we're not gonna be able to open up, do the
work we
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (24:18):
Be the right fit.
What's one piece of a hopefulthought you would leave people
with who are maybe having a badday with their hyperhidrosis or
feeling in need of a little bitof support.
What's one thing you would sayto people?
Megan (24:30):
I think the biggest thing is remembering that we're not
alone.
And that everybody in the worldhas, and not to, to dismiss what
we're feeling, but everybody inthe world has pain one way or
another.
But where our choices lie is inwhether or not we struggle.
So we can work on the struggle.
So even though our bodies may bedoing the things that they're
(24:51):
doing, you're not alone in it,and there's people that you can
reach out to and talk to.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (24:55):
Yeah research shows about 5% of the
world's population hashyperhidrosis, which equates to
about 385 million people wethink.
So that is a big number.
We are truly not alone.
And like you're saying, nor dowe need to go through this
journey feeling alone andisolated and, and plagued by
shame and embarrassment.
So I love that.
(25:15):
So where can people find you,Megan?
Megan (25:17):
At Empowered By Sweat.
You can go to my website or Ialso have Megan Cameron
coaching.
Or you can find me on theFacebook page.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (25:26):
We'll definitely link it.
Megan (25:28):
your group as well.
I have to say that you creatinga space for women is so
impactful and so importantbecause although, the research
says women and men both equallystruggle with hyperhidrosis, we
carry shame in different ways.
So I think opening up a safeenvironment is, is really
important.
So thank you for that.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (25:48):
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
And thank you for all the workthat you do.
I love talking to you each timewe have a conversation.
I leave feeling inspired and alittle bit more hopeful.
So thank you for everything youdo, and thank you for your time
today, Megan.
Megan (26:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Thanks for listening to the Sweaty Girl Society
Podcast.
If you like today's episode,join our free membership
community@sweatygirlsociety.comslash community.
I started to turn down plans with friends.
(00:01):
I was avoiding hugging, I wasavoiding touching other people.
And it became all about hidingit.
For the longest time I was incomplete denial that I had shame
around hyperhidrosis, The moreyou push away from something,
the more it flares up withinyou.
I was able to reframe it.
So instead of looking at sweatas something to be ashamed of I
(00:24):
was able to empower myself evenwith sweat.
Getting back into our bodies is,is a huge starting point.
Speaker (00:35):
You are listening to the Sweaty Girl Society Podcast,
a show for women withhyperhidrosis, where we share
tips for living better withexcessive sweating.
I'm your host, Karina.
Now let's get into the show.
Karina Sweaty Girl Soci (00:49):
Welcome back to the Sweaty Girl Society
Podcast.
In this episode, we're speakingwith Megan Cameron.
Megan is a hyperhydrosisadvocate, a health and wellness
coach, and the founder ofEmpowered By Sweat.
I think you're gonna love thisconversation.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (01:01):
Hi Megan.
Welcome to the show.
Megan (01:02):
Hi.
Thank you so much for having me.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (01:04):
It's always nice to connect with a
fellow Canadian, so you're outwest, right?
Megan (01:09):
Yeah, in Alberta.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (01:10):
Okay.
I'm on the other side of Canadain Ontario.
But it's always nice to seeCanadians in the hyperhidrosis
space doing amazing work, whichis certainly what you are doing.
So I'm really excited to getinto this conversation today.
Talk more about the services andwhat you offer, your take on
hyperhidrosis.
So why don't we start with yourpersonal experience.
(01:30):
Can you walk me through yourjourney with hyperhidrosis?
What was your earliest memoryand how have you navigated it?
Megan (01:37):
Yeah, so my earliest memory was back when I was a
teenager.
I have primary hyperhidrosis, itstarted at puberty.
And I remember having patches ofunderarm sweat, within minutes
of getting dressed.
And it wasn't to heat, it wasn'trelated to anxiousness.
(01:59):
It was just my body doing whatmy body does.
At the time, I didn't know whatit was all about.
I remember holding my arms downtightly as a kid and layering
shirts.
I remember it was grade eight, Ijust wore sweatshirts all the
time and big baggy sweatshirts,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (02:17):
Yeah.
Megan (02:18):
just feeling like I needed to hide.
So that was my first memory ofit.
It felt isolating and that I wasdifferent.
I started to turn down going tofunctions at school.
I started to turn down planswith friends.
I was avoiding hugging, I wasavoiding being touched and
touching other people.
So it affected relationships andit became all about hiding it.
(02:41):
And I felt like I was constantlymanaging myself and trying to
stay ahead of what my body wasdoing.
So at the time, of course, we'reyoung, we don't know these
things.
I didn't know what hyperhidrosiswas.
And as I got older, I, I startedto learn more and more.
And I went through the processesof trying different treatments.
(03:03):
And from trying differenttreatments, it really opened up
my eyes to what was possible forme and how much it had affected
my everyday life and thedecisions and the careers and
the relationships that I hadmade, growing up.
It wasn't until I started tolearn more and find community
that I was not alone and thatthere were other people out
(03:25):
there in the world that had thiscondition or was struggling with
the same sort of thing that Ireally, was able to learn more
about it for myself and what itmeant for me and who I became
because of it or with it.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (03:37):
I think that so many people
listening who have hyperhidrosiscan relate I can certainly
relate, and I feel like so manyof our stories are so similar.
So, in terms of where you aretoday your business is called
Empowered by Sweat.
What does that mean to you?
Megan (03:56):
Well, what I've learned as I've older I was able to
reframe it.
So instead of looking at sweatas something to be ashamed of
and something that was my faultand something that I had no
control over, I was able toempower myself even with sweat.
(04:17):
So I called it Empowered bySweat because my journey, I've
actually been able to use sweatto empower me to really discover
who I am, work with shame, workwith embarrassment, work with
other people to do the same sortof thing and live with sweat if
I choose as opposed to livingagainst it, makes sense.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (04:41):
Yeah, it does.
I think that's a really hopefulmessage and hopeful idea.
So I wanna dive into this alittle bit more.
Going back to your story abouthiding your sweat and how so
many of us learn to hide oursweat over the years, whether
that's through baggysweatshirts, not touching people
(05:02):
keeping our arms physicallyclose to our body.
Why do you think there is somuch shame and a need to feel
like we need to hide our sweat?
Where do you think that comesfrom?
Megan (05:14):
I think a lot of it comes from stigma and social norms and
what is considered normal.
Now I believe that's changing alittle bit'cause with social
media being the way that it isand people speaking up a little
bit more about like conditionsand diseases and,
(05:34):
neurodivergency and all of thosethings.
I think it's opening up a doorfor people to explore things
that aren't considered normal.
and I see that withhyperhidrosis and people talking
more and more about it.
So I think that because the waysociety views sweat, there's a
lot of shame behind it.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (05:52):
When we think about shame, what is
the difference between shame andembarrassment, and how does
shame work?
Megan (05:58):
Great question.
'Cause I really had to dive intothis one myself because for the
longest time I was in completedenial that I had shame around
hyperhidrosis, which is, I mean,looking back to me, I'm like,
yeah, it's so obvious that it'sthere.
But I just assumed it wasloneliness, embarrassment,
anxiety, all the things.
But I never could label it asshame.
(06:20):
Brene Brown has been a greatresource for me because she
studies shame, right?
That's her thing.
And,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (06:26):
Yeah.
Megan (06:27):
I've dove deep into a lot of her work.
And one of the quotes I reallylove from her is, if you put
shame in a Petri dish, needsthree things to grow secrecy,
silence and judgment andhyperhidrosis literally hands
you that on a silver platter.
It makes sense that we haveshame around it.
(06:48):
And it also makes sense that wemay not wanna talk about shame.
So when we look at it fromdifferent perspectives and just
say we talk about it from theperspective of embarrassment,
it's, it's not I feelembarrassed, I was saying I am
embarrassed.
So that's the difference withshame in particular is that you
(07:10):
embody it, it becomes who youare as opposed to being like, I
feel this way.
It's a feeling.
A great example she uses isguilt.
So I am guilty as opposed to, Ifeel guilty.
There's a totally differentenergy that comes with the two
of them.
So hyperhidrosis, we really, andI'll speak for myself, we're not
(07:32):
living with hyperhidrosis, weare our sweat.
So it's
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (07:37):
Yeah.
Megan (07:37):
about it morning, noon, and night.
We live our lives to manage oursweat as opposed to living our
lives to live.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (07:45):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I do love Brene Brown's work Iremember coming across it for
the first time and it reallyspeaking to me, and I think when
we think about shame, it's thatsense of I am different.
I'm alone.
And I wanna keep this a secret.
For me, when I think back to myearlier years, especially my
early teenage years, I thinkthose were the most difficult
(08:07):
years for me.
Those are difficult yearsanyways because we're trying to
fit in.
And then when you layer onhyperhidrosis some of the most
painful memories maybe, or themost painful experiences crop up
during those years and shape ouridea of who we are.
So when I think back to when Iwas a young teenager there were
a couple defining moments thatI'll never forget that really
(08:29):
set me into like a shame spiral.
And I think deepened this ideathat my sweat made me yucky or
gross or different.
And one of those moments was Ihad some childhood friends in
the neighborhood and, they wereboys and they would roughhouse a
little or like try to take medown or whatever.
And there was one day where oneboy grabbed my hands and the
(08:50):
other boy grabbed my feet, andthen they started to like swing
me back and forth.
Can't remember if it was likefor my birthday or something,
you know.
But in doing so, my arms wereabove my head and my armpits
were exposed, and I was wearinga light colored shirt, and I had
big sweat stains under myarmpits.
And they both stopped swingingme and they were like, oh my
(09:10):
gosh! Why are you so sweaty?
Like, ew, you know, gross.
And, they put me down.
And in that moment of having myarms physically lifted above my
head, my body wanted to keep myarms closed.
And being exposed in that waywas so, so deeply shameful for
me in that moment.
Looking back on it now, I'vesort of like thought about it
(09:31):
and processed it but in thatmoment, it sent me into such a
deep shame spiral.
It was so triggering and I thinkI went away and cried in the
bathroom That was one of theexperiences I, I can remember.
Megan (09:42):
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Thank you for sharing becausethese stories stick with us.
And sometimes we get, we getsometimes stuck in those moments
and we're living from whateverage it was that we were.
To like now, like we, it bringsit back and we may not have the
emotions attached to it if we'vedone work on ourselves, but we
remember them.
(10:04):
remember.
In particular, and you knowwhat's fascinating is over the
years when I've been workingwith people and then on the
community and hearing your storythings like this there is not a
particular moment that I hadwherever I was like called out
for my sweating.
Which I find fascinating.
(10:25):
You know what I mean?
So there,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (10:27):
yeah, I do.
Because there weren't many ofthose experiences that I had.
Typically people didn't notice,or if they didn't notice, they
didn't really care.
They moved on with their life.
Right.
Megan (10:36):
Yes.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (10:37):
But when you have hyperhidrosis, you
are so hyper aware of thepotential of people noticing.
Megan (10:43):
and it's, it's the stories that we're telling
ourselves about it, right?
So.
For example I was back in highschool and I had this huge crush
on this boy and I was wearing asweater.
And having a crush makes you alittle extra sweaty, right?
Because you're nervous.
And I remember watching abasketball game and he was
(11:05):
sitting beside me and I was justdrenched in sweat and I was not
as worried as much about thesweat showing because I had
mastered the art of pinning myarms down and wearing clothes
that hide it, but I could donothing about the smell.
That in particular, bothered memore than sweating.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (11:23):
Hmm.
Megan (11:24):
like, I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (11:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's true.
And I think, in sharing mymemories, had I shared those
memories when I was in my midtwenties, I probably would've
started crying, telling youthose stories, right?
I am in my early forties now,and so I feel more detached from
those times, but they're sodeeply, I guess ingrained or
(11:46):
embodied.
It's taken me years to evenshare that and not feel shameful
sharing those stories.
Megan (11:52):
I ask,
Karina, Sweaty Gir (11:53):
interesting.
Megan (11:54):
you, what is allowing you to be able to share those now,
apart from being older?
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (12:00):
Yeah, I don't know.
I think, I think maybe that isit.
It's being older and being morecomfortable in my own skin.
Having educated myself abouthyperhidrosis and realizing that
this is a legit medicalcondition, and even if I've been
dismissed over the years, it isvalid and my experiences are
valid.
(12:21):
I would ask that back to you.
What sort of interventions canwe do in terms of building our
confidence and our resiliencearound sweat.
Megan (12:28):
Yeah.
I think a lot of it has to dowith, well, owning it is a one,
one big thing, like being.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (12:35):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (12:36):
That this is what my body does.
That's a big part of it becausethe more you push away from
something, the more it flaresthings up within you.
Resistance to things can bedifficult.
I find that helps to be lesspast focused and more future
(12:56):
focused.
What got us here today isn'tgonna get us to where we wanna
be in the future, right?
So, reframing the way we look atour bodies, reframing the way we
look at sweat having compassionis a big one.
like I said, I couldn't rememberany stories where I was actually
called out on my sweat.
It's because.
(13:17):
All the stories were coming fromme.
I was telling myself how gross Iwas.
I was telling myself how awful Iwas
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (13:23):
Right, and imagine how hard you were
working to hide your sweat, theamount of labor that goes into
hiding.
Megan (13:32):
yeah.
Exhausting, right?
Because it's going 24 7 in yourmind, in your nervous system.
So big part of what I do is help
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (13:41):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (13:42):
Work with their nervous system I help people to kind of
drop down into their bodies andpay attention to what their body
is doing and why their body isdoing these things.
I have found that there's a hugedisconnect between bodies and
our brains.
I believe a big part of that isbecause we just don't trust our
(14:04):
bodies anymore.
Right?
We don't wanna attach them, wedon't wanna have anything to do
with them.
We're so mad at them becausethey've,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (14:10):
Yeah.
Megan (14:10):
there is so much trauma in our lives Getting back into
our bodies is, is a hugestarting point.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (14:17):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (14:19):
And yeah, acceptance and compassion.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (14:24):
I can really relate to that idea
of getting back into our bodies.
I think over the years I feltlike my body was working against
me.
Like it was betraying me.
In the summer specifically, Iget quite sweaty and I get
swollen on my hands and feet andit makes it physically
uncomfortable and I'm like, ugh,you know, just like frustrated
with my body.
But when I was younger and youknow, those shame spirals, even
(14:47):
in my twenties, thirties, I'msure it happen would happen now
in the right situation, right?
Like the, the shame spiral.
Those moments where you'respiraling, you feel so out of
your body and disconnected.
So what are some copingmechanisms we can do in that
moment to try and come back intoour body?
Megan (15:04):
Yeah, great question.
Especially in the moments,right?
Because those are the ones whereyou're not thinking, you're just
reacting, right?
So.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (15:12):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (15:13):
A few tools that I've found have worked really well
for me, but then also the peoplethat I work with is it's called
Heart-Focused Breathing.
Do you mind if I us through?
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (15:23):
Please.
Yeah, please.
I'm curious.
Megan (15:25):
So I am trained in something called heart math.
I don't know if you've heard ofit Some of our, might be, but,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (15:30):
Yeah.
Megan (15:31):
so you put your hand on your heart.
And then you focus yourattention in the area of your
heart, and
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (15:39):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (15:39):
your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest
area.
Breathing a little slower anddeeper than usual, but finding
an easy rhythm that iscomfortable.
So we do this for about 30seconds, and you can do it with
your eyes open, or you can do itwith your eyes closed.
I've learned to do it with myeyes open because in those
(16:00):
moments, right, it's hard to belike.
You can't,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:04):
Yeah.
Give me 30 seconds while I closemy eyes.
Yeah,
Megan (16:08):
when you just breathe
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:09):
yeah.
Megan (16:09):
in and out and focus on your heart or chest area.
A lot of silence during yourpodcast, so we don't have to do
the full 30.
But it just brings you right,like for me and the people I've
worked
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:25):
Right back into your body.
Megan (16:26):
Back in your body.
And the beautiful thing about itis it helps build that coherence
between your brain and yourheart.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (16:33):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (16:34):
So that's one of the tools I use.
And then another one that I loveis just as simple as like
rubbing your hands together,your fingers together, because
then you're paying attention toand focusing on that
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (16:50):
Right.
Bringing your,
Megan (16:52):
back
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (16:53):
focus back into your body.
Mm-hmm.
I love that.
In my twenties, I did a lot ofyoga and throughout my thirties
too.
But I think that that equippedme with a lot of coping
mechanisms.
I didn't realize at the time,but that mindfulness, that
sitting in your body andfeeling, the different parts of
your body.
Those sorts of mindfulnesspractices can be really helpful.
(17:13):
That's lovely.
And so one thing that I strugglewith is if we think about
primary hyperhidrosis for amoment, one of my triggers is
humidity or stale air or air notmoving, so that's, I feel an
environmental trigger of somesort.
But then another trigger can besocial situations.
And so I feel that's a littlebit of social anxiety perhaps.
(17:36):
It's hard to distinguish to mesometimes if, if I can reduce my
anxiety, will I be able toeffectively reduce my sweating?
Is there a feedback loop causedby feeling the sweat coming and
then being more anxious aboutthat and so you sweat more?
I don't know.
Do you have any thoughts onthat?
It's a tricky one to pull apartbecause I don't think we can
(17:57):
just control it with our mind,but I also think that there is a
mind body connection there.
Megan (18:02):
Yeah, I, definitely believe that there's a mind body
connection um, not necessarilyto the point of it stopping
hyperhidrosis.
I'm not by any means an expertbut there's something going on
in the body.
We don't know exactly what'scausing it, which is fascinating
that we still don't know.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (18:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of unknowns.
Megan (18:23):
of unknowns.
Uh, but I definitely can talkfrom my experience in that.
I have absolutely been able toreduce how much I sweat, not to
the point of it being gone.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (18:35):
Right.
Yeah.
And I guess it's aboutcontrolling the triggers that
you can control to the extentthat you can control them.
Because I think when I look backat my relationships over the
years when I first met my nowhusband those first dates, I
would sweat a lot because I wasexcited and he was a new person
and it was stressful.
You know, it's all thosedifferent emotions wrapped up.
(18:55):
And now when I'm with him, morethan a decade later, I never
sweat.
I'm very comfortable and atease.
He's not a trigger anymore.
Right?
So that tells me there issomething here in terms of the
mind body connection and how wecan potentially work to develop
some mechanisms that can helpcalm our mind, and then
therefore reduce our triggerswhere possible.
Megan (19:17):
And I think recognizing, like you were saying, that shame
loop.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (19:21):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (19:22):
able to get yourself outta that shame loop by
bringing yourself back into yourbody is a really great tool that
I've used for myself and forothers.
Because it's interrupting that,right?
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (19:33):
Yeah.
Being aware is sometimes verypowerful first step.
Megan (19:36):
Yeah.
I find a lot as we talked aboutearlier, that we're very
hypervigilant when we'resweating.
Like we're very focused, hyperaware of it.
And I, I wonder and I'm curiousabout how many people when they
focus on how much they sweat,are they also focusing on how
much they aren't sweating?
So are you noticing the momentswhen you sweat as much as the
moments that you're not
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (19:56):
Yes.
And then the moment you noticeyou're not sweating, that's when
I at least start to feel thosetingles in my hands and my feet
Megan (20:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (20:04):
and the sweats back.
Yeah.
Megan (20:06):
interesting.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (20:06):
Yeah, for sure.
So, I wanna switch gears andtalk about community.
You mentioned community earlierand that that has been a major
source of connection andstrength and transformation for
yourself.
Can you talk a little bit aboutcommunity and how that can be
helpful for somebody withhyperhidrosis?
Megan (20:25):
Absolutely.
I find that being part of acommunity helps break the
silence and helps with theloneliness.
Having a safe place to go to, totalk about what's going on with
you, helps calm your nervoussystem for one thing, helps you
be able to acknowledge thatyou're not alone and brings that
sense of being with like-mindedpeople and people that get it.
(20:49):
We are meant to be with people.
It's just what we do.
We want to be part of something.
We wanna belong.
It's very human of us.
It makes us feel safer.
All of the research tells usthat.
So when we feel isolated,because of the, say a condition
like hyperhidrosis, we can feelvery.
(21:09):
And our nervous system is alwayslike in that fight or flight
being very vigilant and alwaysaware, right?
But if we are part of acommunity that, helps us to feel
safe, then it helps calm ournervous system and helps us feel
like we are belonging tocommunity of people who can
(21:31):
speak our truth to.
But it also opens us up to beingvulnerable which up the door to
shame too.
So I think that it's veryimportant that you choose the
right community and that youfeel safe in it.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (21:43):
You feel safe.
Yeah.
Megan (21:44):
Yeah.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (21:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
And I know that you are veryinvolved in helping to build
community.
You moderate a Facebook groupwhich I can link to in the
description.
and I know you're part of ourcommunity at Sweaty Girl
Society.
And so I think that, the morework we can do to create various
communities with different waysof accessing them and trying to
(22:07):
keep them a safe space, that canonly help facilitate
conversations, normalizeexperiences, and bring people
together in new ways.
They just make you feel so muchless alone and so validated that
other people are experiencingthese things.
It's not just in your head, it'sreal, and it's legitimate.
Megan (22:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
The other thing I love aboutcommunity is that you connect
with people all over the world.
we're all humans.
And that's the one thing thatconnects all of us, is that
we're humans and our experiencesmay not be the same, but our
feelings are all the same.
That sense of loneliness, thatsense of embarrassment, that
sense of anxiety and that like,me too, I get it.
You get me.
(22:47):
So the beautiful thing,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (22:48):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Megan (22:49):
started
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (22:50):
yeah,
Megan (22:50):
Yeah.
Was with community so it was bigpart of it for me.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (22:53):
yeah.
So can you tell everybodylistening sort of what you're up
to these days, what's up next?
What you're working on?
Megan (23:01):
Absolutely.
So the biggest thing, i'm stillbig part of the community.
I'm still monitoring the, theFacebook group.
But I am looking at creating apaid membership community
because I feel I'm able to makeit more of a safer space for
people, if that makes sense.
So,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (23:20):
Yep.
Megan (23:21):
for me, I have to be in my own space in order to be able
to help others to feel safe intheir own space.
So
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (23:30):
Yeah.
Megan (23:30):
something that's in the works.
And it's gonna focus a lot onhealth and wellness and shame
around hyperhidrosis andallowing people to open up and
feel that they are empowered.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (23:41):
That's really exciting.
Megan (23:42):
I'm very future focused.
And then I also have a new groupcoaching program opening up in
January,
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (23:49):
Oh, great.
Megan (23:50):
is all about the heart math and that heart and brain
connection people calm theirnervous system and work with
their nervous system.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soci (23:57):
That's really exciting.
And you're, do you offerone-on-one coaching as well?
Megan (24:01):
Yep, yep.
That is anytime.
I do a free discovery call.
So talking to me and finding outif we're a fit to work together
is very important.
'cause again, it's around thatsafety too.
If I don't
Karina, Sweaty Girl Soc (24:13):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Megan (24:14):
safe around me, we're not gonna be able to open up, do the
work we
Karina, Sweaty Girl Society (24:18):
Be the right fit.
What's one piece of a hopefulthought you would leave people
with who are maybe having a badday with their hyperhidrosis or
feeling in need of a little bitof support.
What's one thing you would sayto people?
Megan (24:30):
I think the biggest thing is remembering that we're not
alone.
And that everybody in the worldhas, and not to, to dismiss what
we're feeling, but everybody inthe world has pain one way or
another.
But where our choices lie is inwhether or not we struggle.
So we can work on the struggle.
So even though our bodies may bedoing the things that they're
(24:51):
doing, you're not alone in it,and there's people that you can
reach out to and talk to.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Societ (24:55):
Yeah research shows about 5% of the
world's population hashyperhidrosis, which equates to
about 385 million people wethink.
So that is a big number.
We are truly not alone.
And like you're saying, nor dowe need to go through this
journey feeling alone andisolated and, and plagued by
shame and embarrassment.
So I love that.
(25:15):
So where can people find you,Megan?
Megan (25:17):
At Empowered By Sweat.
You can go to my website or Ialso have Megan Cameron
coaching.
Or you can find me on theFacebook page.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (25:26):
We'll definitely link it.
Megan (25:28):
your group as well.
I have to say that you creatinga space for women is so
impactful and so importantbecause although, the research
says women and men both equallystruggle with hyperhidrosis, we
carry shame in different ways.
So I think opening up a safeenvironment is, is really
important.
So thank you for that.
Karina, Sweaty Girl Socie (25:48):
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
And thank you for all the workthat you do.
I love talking to you each timewe have a conversation.
I leave feeling inspired and alittle bit more hopeful.
So thank you for everything youdo, and thank you for your time
today, Megan.
Megan (26:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Thanks for listening to the Sweaty Girl Society
Podcast.
If you like today's episode,join our free membership
community@sweatygirlsociety.comslash community.
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