What Causes Excessive Sweating And How Can It Be Treated?
Excessive sweating is caused by overactive sweat glands, particularly in specific regions, for example the feet, under arms, hands, back, groin and face. Unlike regular perspiration, which is used to control your body heat, in people with hyperhidrosis, the sweat glands are over active… not because of external factors such as a hot room, a hot day or exercise… but always.
If your excessive sweating does not occur at the same time as other symptoms, and is not general all-over body perspiration, it’s considered primary hyperhidrosis. If your excessive perspiration is accompanied by additional symptoms and you have non-localised sweating, then it is termed secondary hyper hidrosis which is usually the result of either drug side effects or an underlying medical condition.
No-one knows for sure what causes excessive sweating, but it’s known that there is over-stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system which results in excess sweat production from the sweat glands. The sympathetic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that isn’t under our conscious control. It is the same part of the nervous system that controls the movement of our digestive system… it operates without us doing anything to control it. It is believed that in hyperhidrosis, emotion, anxiety and stress might play active roles, but it’s largely speculation and guesswork because the cause is simply not known.
One interesting clue regarding the cause of hyper hydrosis is that it seems to have a genetic component (according to Medline) which indicates that specific genes may be involved. If hyperhidrosis is hereditary, it may mean that faulty copies of one of more genes are responsible for the condition. It will be interesting to find out more. The more we understand the roots of excessive sweating, the closer we are to a cure.
Excessive sweating treatment, assuming it’s the primary type of hyperhidrosis, are various and complicated. They range from simple use of anti-perspirants and deoderants for manageable hyper hidrosis to surgical intervention involving severing the nerve to the sweat glands, or removing the sweat glands themselves. Cheap home remedies for hyperhidrosis have been found to help many people, especially when many different remedies are used at the same time.
Before considering surgery or drugs, it is strongly advised that someone thinking they have hyperhidrosis should consider using natural treatments and remedies and, if they fail, consult a heath professional. We recommend the ebook, “Stop Sweating and Start Living” by Mike Ramsay as a great way to learn all about hyperhidrosis and what you can do to control your sweating naturally and cheaply.