What Causes Uncontrollable Sweating?
What Causes Uncontrollable Sweating?
Uncontrollable sweating can be very unpleasant. It’s important to work out whether you have uncontrollable sweating because of primary hyperhidrosis, or because of a different underlying condition (secondary hyperhidrosis). Here’s how you can tell…
Is your Uncontrollable Sweating Primary Hyperhidrosis, or Secondary Hyperhidrosis?
If there are other symptoms, such as pain, headaches, nausea or a high temperature, and your uncontrollable sweating is generalized, ie, you sweat all over your body, then your uncontrollable sweating is unlikely to be primary hyperhidrosis, but is more likely to be related to the condition which causes excessive sweating as one of the symptoms. For example, people with the flu can have uncontrollable sweating, but that’s a generalised sweating relating to infection with the influenza virus, which also causes other symptoms.
Excessive sweating, when it’s generalized, and accompanied by other symptoms, is called secondary hyperhidrosis. Sweating from one or more specific locations (usually the feet, hands, head, face, back or underarms, which isn’t accompanied by other symptoms, is known as primary hyperhidrosis, or focal hyperhidrosis.
Health issues that can cause secondary hyperhidrosis include diabetes, cancer, hyper-pituitarism, hyper-thyroidism, chronic infections (tuberculosis), menopause, spinal cord injury, neurological conditions, gout, hypoglycemia, angina, heart attack or another cardiovascular problem and drug / alcohol withdrawal. Also, certain types of medication can cause excessive sweating too.
It’s not known what causes primary hyperhidrosis, although an overactive sympathetic nervous system is thought to play a significant role in stimulation of the sweat glands. Of course, the question then becomes what causes the overactive sympathetic nervous system?
If you suspect you have primary or secondary hyperhidrosis, you should see a doctor, preferably a dermatologist. You may also want to read more articles on this site to help you understand hyperhidrosis better and learn about some of the ways other people have tackled their uncontrollable sweating problems. An excellent ebook about hyperhidrosis is, “Stop Sweating and Start Living” by Mike Ramsay. It explains all about hyperhidrosis and what you can do to control your sweating naturally and cheaply and is highly recommended.