What is excessive sweating?
Normal sweating helps to keep the body temperature steady in hot weather, during a fever, or when exercising. Excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) means that you sweat much more than normal. Even when you are not hot, anxious, or exercising, you make a lot of sweat.
Excessive sweating is classified into three types (as follows). It is important to know which type you have as the causes and treatments are very different.
Primary (idiopathic) focal hyperhidrosis
This means that excessive sweating occurs in one or more of the following 'focal' places: palms of the hands; soles of the feet; armpits (axillae); face/scalp.
You sweat normally on the rest of the body. It tends to be symmetrical, that is, both palms, both feet, both armpits, etc, are affected. The exact cause is not known and it is not associated with any other conditions. (The word idiopathic means 'of unknown cause'.) It just seems that the sweat glands in these areas are 'overactive' or more sensitive than normal. In some people, it may 'run in the family' so there may be some genetic factor involved in causing it. It usually first develops under the age of 25, but it can develop at any age. Men and women are equally affected. It is common and affects about 3 in 100 people.
The severity can vary from time to time. It may 'come and go' and can be made worse by 'triggers' such as anxiety, emotion, spicy foods, and heat. Anxiety about the sweating itself may make it worse. However, for most of the time, nothing obvious triggers the sweating. It tends to be a long-term condition, but symptoms improve in some cases over time.
If you have the typical symptoms of primary focal hyperhidrosis, you usually do not need any tests. Your doctor may suggest one or more treatments (below) if 'normal' antiperspirants do not work well.
Secondary focal hyperhidrosis
This is uncommon. It means that the excessive sweating occurs in a particular 'focal' part of the body. But, unlike primary focal hyperhidrosis, there is a known or likely cause. For example, a spinal disease or injury may cause sweating in one leg. Any focal sweating that is not symmetrical (that is, just in one hand, or one leg, etc) may suggest a secondary cause rather than primary focal hyperhidrosis which is usually symmetrical. Your doctor may suggest some tests to look for an underlying cause if one is suspected.
Generalised hyperhidrosis
This means that you sweat more than normal 'all over'. This is less common than primary focal hyperhidrosis. However, it is usually caused by an underlying medical condition. A whole range of conditions can cause a generalised increased sweating. For example: anxiety disorders, various heart problems, damage to nerves in the spinal cord, side-effect to certain drugs, various hormone problems including an overactive thyroid gland, infections, certain cancers, etc. If you have Generalised hyperhidrosis your doctor is likely to examine you and do some tests to find out the cause. Treatment depends on the cause.
The rest of this leaflet is only about primary focal hyperhidrosis.
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margaret coley, about 1 year
my husband is 70 yrs gets sever bouts of sweating with no obvious reason may be once a month 0 yrs old gets sudden bouts of sweating with no obvious reason
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MARGARET COLEY, about 1 year
my husband 70 yrs old gets sever bouts of sweatting fo no obvious reason can u help
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