ETS means endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy typically you have ETS surgery for blushing but it is more commonly used for hyperhidrosis.
Ok this is something we need to talk about, if you are considering ETS surgery for blushing then DONT. In my opinion, there are other ways to help cure your blushing than having the nerves butchered by a surgeon thus messing with the central nervous system.
I am just going to include a few snippets I found from various forums where ETS surgery for blushing has ruined lives, and patients have even died during surgery. Then we will discuss what the ETS surgery is and what the surgeon will do during the procedure. Remember by no means am I saying this surgery is downright dangerous and obsolete, I’m not a doctor or surgeon. After what I have researched and read its definitely not a route I would choose to go down, the risks are to great for me there are other options including the miracle track hypnosis we have already discussed HERE.
Read below some posts ( highlighted in blue ) from popular forums authors anonymous of course.
“Well I truly hope you will react better to ETS-surgery than I have. When it comes to better or more improved methods, unfortunately, I don’t think so. Whether they use the clamping method or not, it still kills the nerves and that’s the problem. In my case, I was obviously very young, and since I suffered from both sweaty hands and facial blushing, they decided to burn of both the T1, T2 and T3 on both sides (I wasn’t told this until ten years later), but there was something in the way when the surgeon was going to cut T3 on the right side. But both the T2 and T3 controls the heart function, and I am a LOT WORSE in the left side. It’s better to consult a neurologist than a surgeon, the neurologist will tell you about the aftermath, the surgeon is just focused on the procedure itself. There has also been a lot of deaths, sometimes during the surgery, sometimes a few hours later and sometimes several years later when the person has the flu. I honestly haven’t talked to anyone having these specific nerves being cut off who hasn’t had a lot of problems with the blood vessels constricting too much, that’s both what “cures” FB, but it’s also what caused me to have an infarct. No one is unaffected by having ETS. Even the clinics themselves are finally starting to admit the side effects. For example, http://www.lvhyperhidrosis.com/treatment.html People seem to forget that FB is caused by the sympathetic nervous system being overactive, this is often the case because of stress after unresolved traumas. And since having facial blushing is very stressful in itself, it just starts a downward spiral. If the nervous system can calm down, things will be much better. I would recommend EMDR-therapy”.After ETS my sympathetic nervous system is extremely overactive below the line of surgery, but now I can’t do anything about it, since it is a physical injury (ETS) which has caused it. When I did the surgery nothing would have stopped me, I wish it had. My life is ruined now. The National Institutes of Health(NIH) calls sympathectomy (ETS) ‘surgically induced Autonomic failure’ and ‘Neuro cardiologic disorder’, why would you want to have that”?! http://esfbchannel.invisionzone.com/topic/3898-fb-enough-is-enough-meds-vs-ets/?page=21&tab=comments#comment-35783“Just wanted to add that anyone considering ETS should be very, very wary of any doctor or happy ETS patient who tells you that a successful outcome from ETS depends on which level the surgeon cuts or clamps (T2 only, T2 and T3, T4 only, etc…..). This is a common way for surgeons to encourage patients to have ETS surgery and ‘reassure’ potential patients that ETS is safe – the surgeon will insist his technique and method are superior. I was cut at T2 8.5 years ago and I am fine – no CS, I can still sweat on my head, no heart problems. Overall, my health is good. However…I have spoken to others who have been cut at T2 and had a very different result. One person cut at T2 now has bradycardia, severe CS (soaks through their clothes), an inflamed nervous system, chronic fatigue, ongoing pain, dizziness….and other health problems. This person is young and was perfectly healthy before they had ETS. Now they are on disability. I don’t think the surgeons fully understand what they are doing with this surgery and I think each individual gets a different result from ETS. Some get lucky…others are left devastated”. http://esfbchannel.invisionzone.com/topic/2603-the-real-truth-about-ets/ Posted July 22, 2017 (edited)
“Hi everyone, had my surgery back on 29th April (cut at t2) with dr Greenstein in London 3 months ago now, even though I haven’t had a massive blushing attack (haven’t been in a really bad situation yet)I still feel like ets hasn’t helped with my blushing as I always feel myself go red, but as before ets I try and avoid the situation. If I’m not going red In an embarrassing situation I always have this awkward look on my face where it’s like paralysed and people can see I’m embarrassed – I thought if the blushing would go then this would go but that’s still there too. Really gutted as I genuinely thought ets would change my life. Another thing I used to never sweat like ever! I now sweat soo bad on my back and bum .. I work outside garden landscaping and the temperature is around 20 degrees (not even hot) and my t-shirt becomes soaked!! The whole back of the t-shirt is covered in sweat. The same when playing tennis in an air-conditioned room yesterday my whole back and bum was soaked you could bring it out and all my friends were laughing (they were dry)! This has obviously got me so down as I thought I could get on with my life after ets but it’s made it worse as I now have this awful sweating on my back. Just to note my face and hands are always bone dry. any suggestions you guys can give me? Does driclor work for the back? Any suggestions on my blushing? Really don’t know where to go now 🙁 thanks” http://esfbchannel.invisionzone.com/topic/3479-had-ets-4-months-ago-my-story/?page=6
Ok these are just a few examples I’ve found, and if you dig deep there are just FAR to many negative stories for me to risk having ETS surgery for blushing. Although I do think medicine is evolving what with stem research and advances in medical research etc, surely the ETS surgery for blushing down the line could be an option for me but for now it’s a no-no.
SO WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE ETS SURGERY
When your blushing is so severe your GP can recommend YOU for an endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy procedure, it’s not a routine operation that the NHS carry out either I had to apply for funding or look privately. It is as I mentioned before more commonly used for people with extreme sweating called hyperhidrosis, but it’s also carried out for people with severe blushing who haven’t found a cure.
The procedure involves having the nerves cut in the thoracic region that control the blood vessels in your face, this is permanent as the nerves are destroyed. The procedure is controversial, carries unacceptable risk and also not carried out in some countries, with many negative stories online. To me the risk is far too great even for an outcome that could change my life, I simply cannot risk a more negative outcome. Surgeons can opt to cut more than one nerve depending on the severity of their condition, I think they are called T1,T2,T3,T4 and the more nerves that are cut the more the risk and more potential side effects.
Remember you are having nerves cut that control many many different organs and glands, in the short term there are many success stories but these come with side effects. And there are reports of many different conditions in individuals in the long term. At the end of the day, you are having parts of the autonomic nervous system disabled, and in the long term, no one knows what the outcome will be for an individual patient as everyone is different.
So during the procedure which takes around 40 minutes, you will be put under general anaesthetic, so you will be asleep. The surgeon will make small incisions under the armpit and using an endoscope inserted into the incision, the surgeon will locate the nerve that controls the dilation of blood vessels in your face. He will then insert surgical equipment through the other incisions to cut this nerve he may cut different nerves but this will be discussed before surgery. Then this will be repeated on the other side, and small dissolvable stitches used to close the incisions then you will be taken to recovery.
THREE MAIN RISKS OF HAVING ETS SURGERY FOR BLUSHING
You COULD end up with excessive sweating in other parts of your body also known as compensatory sweating. Because the nerves you are having cut control sweating. You may find after the operation you will sweat profusely from your back and bottom, I did read one case where although patients blushing had been eradicated, they were sweating so much from their bum I’m talking dripping wet, although the blushing had stopped they were now more bothered about the excessive sweating and more embarrassed. They were desperate to reverse the operation but because the nerves had been destroyed there was little hope of a reversal.
Sometimes during the procedure air will get caught in the chest cavity, so the surgeon will have to insert a tube to drain the air in the cavity. Can be a little scary for the patient but rarely leads to more serious complications.
In some cases a patient can receive what is known as horners syndrome, where the upper eyelid on one side of the body will droop, I think this is more rare now for this to happen it happened in the early days of the procedure with inexperienced surgeons.
This is just a summary of the procedure you can find out more here, but I just wanted to write about my experience because I WAS SOOOOOOOOOO desperate to cure my blushing that I started looking into ETS. And as desperate as I was I just didn’t want to run the risk of compensatory sweating, bigger problems to my health years later because a part of my autonomic nervous system had been disabled or even risk death.
I’m glad I didn’t go down the surgery route as with a little more research, I was able to find something that worked for me so if you want to find out more click below to see how I cured my blushing.