Do you experience excessive sweating? If so, you could experience a condition that’s called hyperhidrosis. While everyone sweats to regulate our body temperature during physical activity or in hot weather, hyperhidrosis causes you to sweat more than normal people. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do about it as you can also learn when you view this website.
Table of Contents
What is hyperhidrosis?
Some people tend to sweat less, others more and then there are people who sweat excessively. Hyperhidrosis refers to excessive sweating when there isn’t any obvious reason for it. Naturally, everyone sweats during physical activity or also in hot weather. With hyperhidrosis, you’d sweat without doing any physical activity or any other reason why your body might want to cool down its temperature. Thus, your sweat glands are more active than those of other
.
Hyperhidrosis causes you to sweat on several body parts, which most affects the following:
- Armpits
- Feet
- Hands
- Face
- Scalp
It usually occurs on both sides of the body at the same spot. I.e. if you sweat on the left hand, you also sweat on the right hand in the same areas. You don’t necessarily have to sweat excessively in all body parts mentioned above. Some people only experience excessive sweating on their feet, others under their arms which can only be helped by the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating.
Causes of hyperhidrosis
The causes of it are usually considered idiopathic, i.e. without any main cause. However, there are so-called primary hyperhidrosis and secondary hyperhidrosis.
Primary hyperhidrosis
Primary hyperhidrosis is hyperhidrosis that occurs without any other reason, such as a side effect of medication. Researchers are currently of the opinion that primary hyperhidrosis may have its root cause in genes. If someone in your family suffers from hyperhidrosis, you are likely to have it as well. Contrary to secondary hyperhidrosis, which we’ll take a look at in a second, primary hyperhidrosis turns up during childhood or early adolescence already.
Secondary hyperhidrosis
Secondary hyperhidrosis can be caused by a variety of conditions and turns up unexpectedly at any point in your life. To treat secondary hyperhidrosis, the root of all evil should be tackled first. In the meantime, you can handle secondary hyperhidrosis with the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating.
Root conditions leading to secondary hyperhidrosis include:
- Obesity
- Menopause
- Hyperthyroidism
- Diabetes
- Alcoholism as well as alcohol intolerance
- Stroke
- Pregnancy
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Lymphoma
- Frostbite
- Gout
Last but not least, it is worth mentioning that secondary hyperhidrosis can also be caused by medications. Contrary to primary hyperhidrosis, secondary hyperhidrosis tends to affect your whole body and not just your hands or armpits. It’s still embarrassing for most so that it’s worthwhile looking into the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating.
What impact can it have?
In medical terms, it is not a dangerous condition. According to research, it affects about 15 million Americans, which seems like a rather low number. On the other hand, you can see that it’s not as uncommon as you may think.
Even though it’s not dangerous to your health, it may have quite a negative impact on your mental wellbeing. People who are excessively sweating are rather embarrassed about their excess sweat. They may not be keen on shaking hands with other people to hide their sweaty hands. Sweat pearls dropping off one’s forehead isn’t entirely sexy either and most people with hyperhidrosis end up with anxiety issues. Anxiety tends to make hyperhidrosis worse though.
As such, hyperhidrosis can greatly affect social life and also lead to very low self-esteem.
How can you treat it?
At first, you should consult with a doctor to find out if there’s a reason for it you’re experiencing. If your doctor can’t find any reason to treat an underlying condition, there are a plethora of treatment options at your disposal.
Switch your deodorant with the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating
Sweat on its own doesn’t cause any body odours. But your hair follicles excrete fats and proteins along with your sweat. These, in turn, react with bacteria that naturally live under your armpits or on any other area of your skin. Deodorant, for example, usually has antibacterial properties and masks any body odours with other fragrances. But you’d still end up with these enormous sweat spots on your clothing. The best antiperspirant for excessive sweating creates a gel when reacting with sweat that clogs your pores so that you can’t sweat while it also has antibacterial properties. At best, you’re using a clinical strength antiperspirant which is more effective than other antiperspirants.
Botox therapy
Botox isn’t only used to keep wrinkles on the forehead at bay, but also for excessive sweating. It’s applied to the affected areas to reduce the nerve stimulus leading to excessive sweating. It’s a rather expensive treatment in comparison to using the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating, but it’d give you some time off of excessive sweating.
Oral medication
There are medications, called anticholinergics, which can make your sweat glands produce less sweat. It may appear like a grand option, but medications always come with side effects the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating wouldn’t have. Ultimately, you may have to take more medication to fight the side effects.
Surgery
If none of the above-mentioned treatments works for you, your doctor may advise surgery for your problem. It’s usually considered a last resort. With surgery, your nerve endings would be destroyed that communicate to your sweat glands to produce sweat. This can be done either via laser radiation or an endoscope, but both surgeries are not without any risks. There’s also no known procedure to possibly undo the surgery.
Parting words
If you’re experiencing excessive sweating, it’s a good idea to contact your doctor first once you can exclude primary hyperhidrosis. However, doctor’s appointments aren’t exactly easy to get these days and often involve a long waiting time. Medications have side effects that may impact your life negatively in other terms and surgeries are never without risks and consequences either. To keep your hyperhidrosis in check, your bets are on the best antiperspirant for excessive sweating.
