Starise
I didn't intend to make anything silly out of your experiences. I can certainly see how that would cause issues if you are a guitar player. I am glad that you are better now.
Dude, I didn't get any impression you were making anything silly out of it. :) It's really a challenge for those that suffer and I feel for them. In my 20s I had surgery to fix this. I had what's called an Endoscopic Transthoracic Sympathectomy. In essence, they make four holes - three for each side of your body. One on each side and one in your back. They first send in a camera (I have this all on video tape! :)) They then send in a tool that opens up in you and looks like a rake. They deflate your lung and hold it out of the way with the rake. They then send in a soldering iron (OK, probably called something different) and they cauterize a certain set of Ganglia (bunch of nerve cells). They have to get the right ones of course.
Went in on a Friday and was told I'd be back to work Monday. This was pretty experimental at the time and I had to do it at a university hospital where students hacked me up pretty good. I think it was three weeks before I could go back to work. Hell, I couldn't do most normal function unassisted (found out just how much my wife loved me) and was in the most severe pain of my life. In the hospital, I would have shot myself if I had a gun - no doubt in my mind. Took a full year to recover completely.
And it was worth ALL of that. I could finally pet my cat or dog without getting a wet hand covered in hair. I could hold my wife's hand without being self-conscious. Hell, I could finally shake hands with people without total embarrassment. It changed my life. I also stopped rusting strings and trem bridges. :)
I would imagine the procedure is easy-peasy now since this was probably around 96'.