A mum left unable to sweat following surgery to treat a painful skin condition says Prince Andrew's infamous claim infuriated her.<br /><br />Amy O’Connell, 38, went under the knife after being diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa, which leaves sufferers with painful lumps.<br /><br />She had her lymph nodes, hair follicles and sweat glands removed - which means she now doesn't sweat from the neck down, she says,<br /><br />Amy, from Beaconsfield, Bucks., now finds hot weather intolerable and can even faint, she claims.<br /><br />And she has blasted Prince Andrew's "audacity", after he claimed in a BBC interview that he doesn't sweat.<br /><br />The royal said he couldn't physically sweat when questioned about sexual assault allegations.<br /><br />Amy said: "Your body has to sweat or you die – we were laughing at the audacity of Prince Andrew.<br /><br />"It was so infuriating - it’s like saying, 'My body forgot how to breathe'.<br /><br />“Sweating is such an issue that I can’t be out when it’s too hot as my body can’t function and I black out. <br /><br />“It’s a lifelong journey no end to this, it’s a battle of finding new ways to cope and deal with it. <br /><br />“While I was getting used to it there were times when I blacked out in the street - my daughter is a young carer and as a family we’ve had to figure out ways to deal with this.” <br /><br />Amy says the condition first started to show itself when she hit puberty as a teenager.<br /><br />But she wasn’t diagnosed until 2009. <br /><br />She was prescribed the strong acne medication Roaccutane to try and treat to problem areas but found it didn’t work. <br /><br />With 30-40 clusters of pus-filled boils across her body, Amy says her mental health was heavily affected by the condition. <br /><br />After giving birth to her son in 2012 she experienced a flare-up and a dermatologist suggested they remove the source of the problem. <br /><br />In 2013, she underwent painful surgery on her left armpit to remove lymph nodes, sweat glands and hair follicles. <br /><br />This was followed by similar surgery under her breasts in 2014 and again on her right arm in 2017. <br /><br />Her sweating problem then followed - and she says she is still adjusting to life now.<br /><br />Amy said: “There’s not any rhyme or reason to the flare-ups.<br /><br />"After another year of going through different specialists, a dermatologist said in Europe the treatment is just to cut it out and asked if I wanted surgery.<br /><br />“I had operations on arms first and had to have therapy as the scarring was dramatic. <br /><br />“I had an operation on my left arm and it changed my life – they cut out whole lymph nodes, sweat glands and hair follicles. <br /><br />“But my children couldn’t look at me when I came back, I looked like I’d been put together in a Saw movie, it was very graphic for how small the procedure should have been. <br /><br />“My body took a long time to adjust, I’d say I’m still adjusting now - I go from alright to really really hot really fast. <br /><br />“It’s not actually that rare but when you have them on your boobs, groin and armpits, no one wants to talk about it.
