Heavy Sweating: Heat or an Issue with Health?

Sweating is a completely normal and necessary function of the body that is essential for regulating temperature, and that’s doubly true during exercise or when it’s just plain hot outside. But if the perspiration slides to a level you’d define as excessive — with no apparent cause, disrupting your daily habits — it might be a sign of an underlying health issue. Medically called hyperhidrosis, there are several types, including focal sweating experienced in the hands, feet, armpits and face and generalized sweating that occurs throughout the body. Everyday,girls and boysbreak a bit of sweat, it’s a surefire sign that you’re either too cold, or that you wear way too many layers, but if you’re sweating for no reason – and can actually soak through your clothes – then there may be a medical reason such as a hormonal imbalance (in which case it’s a side effect of menopause, puberty, pregnancy, and therefore anything that fucks with your hormone situation can also mess with your sweat glands), infection, metabolic disease, or an underlying progressive disease.

1. Primary Hyperhidrosis

Primary hyperhidrosis is one of the most common factors leading to profuse sweating. Hyperhidrosis is a condition in which the body sweats in much higher amounts than is necessary and the sweat glands are hyperactive even when the body doesn't require cooling. It is not life-threatening, but can be quite painful and cause emotional suffering and skin-irritation. For some people, secondary hyperhidrosis—sweating driven by an underlying health condition—is more concerning. Diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and menopause are common offenders. For example, individuals with diabetes can have night sweats from an imbalance in their blood sugar, and sweating overly can accompany a hyperactive thyroid when someone’s metabolism is racing. In like manner, hormone fluctuations that happen as women start to go through menopause are known to cause hot flashes and excessive sweating in most women.

2. Diseases and Long-term Conditions

Diseases and long-term conditions also can cause abnormal sweats. The finding of night sweats is frequent in tuberculosis, HIV, and some bacterial infections such as tuberculosis. Further, some cancers, in particular lymphoma, are cause for drenching night sweats, with unexplained weight loss and fatigue. Neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease are great examples of a malfunctioning nervous system that lose the ability to regulate sweat, and anxiety and panic issues can result not only in excessive stress sweat, but spontaneous stress sweat. And some medications, including antidepressants, blood pressure drugs and insulin, can cause excessive sweating.

3. Treatments

The excessive sweating is typically lifelong, and starts during a person’s teen years. Treatment involves addressing the cause. Treatments include prescription antiperspirants, iontophoresis (a treatment that involves sessions of using low electrical currents to decrease sweating), Botox injections and surgery, in the case of primary hyperhidrosis. And if there is an underlying primary condition, such as hyperthyroidism or diabetes, treating that illness may cure the sweating. Life-style modifications might also be helpful; while cotton clothing may be particularly helpful and hydration (to avoid spicy food and caffeine) sometimes improves symptoms.

Although sweating can be a nuisance for many folks, sometimes it's also a symptom of underlying incantation and ought to be looked into – particularly when it’s a new significant symptom, which doesn't seem to have a cause like small Asian woman walking in the sun and gorging herself on peppers, because it's otherwise unexplained or accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, weight loss, or an arrhythmia. Early treatment can also diagnose and fix any underlying medical issues and enhance one’s quality of life if he or she sweats excessively. No matter what the reason is, whether the reason is harmless or something darker, determining what is causing the sweating is the first step to living a better life.