Excessive Sweating: A Primer

Do you avoid wearing shirts even if you like to? Do you make excuses to skip social events especially those where there's dancing involved even if you really enjoy dancing? What's keeping you from enjoying the things you love to do or doing the things that other people do? If your answer is excessive sweating, then read on. This article is for you.

Excessive sweating is not normal. You sweat more than what the body requires to be able to regulate body temperature. But forget chalking it up to a bad case of nerves or humidity. Even if you stay in an air-conditioned room all day or do nothing more stressful than sip a cup of tea, you can still suffer excessive sweating. Excessive sweating can be either generalized, or localized in your hands, feet or underarms.

Hyperhidrosis, the medical term for excessive sweating, may be inherited (primary) as a dominant genetic trait and may start to show at adolescence, sometimes, even before puberty. Some experts claim primary hyperhidrosis is caused by overactivity of the sympathetic nerve, which controls the sweat glands. The jury is still out on this one but many take this explanation for gospel, anyway.

Excessive sweating can also be an acquired condition (secondary) which may start to show at any point in a person's life. Secondary hyperhidrosis may be caused by menopause, gout, thyroid or pituitary disorders, tumors, or even mercury poisoning. In some people, anxiety makes sweating worse.

There are three traditional approaches to treating hyperhidrosis and these treatments are administered by doctors successively.

Oral medications. First, you are given oral medications along with prescription-strength antiperspirants. Regular antiperspirants contain aluminum chloride. However, sufferers of excessive sweating need stronger concentrations to treat their symptoms. This is usually not very effective with sweaty palms and feet and usually cause skin irritation.

Botox. If oral medication does not work for you, the next level of treatment involves a botox injection. Type A botox injections are FDA-approved treatments and if administered properly, its effects can last well onto six months, sometimes even more.

Surgery. For serious sweating of the hands or feet, surgery may be your next option after oral medication. Botox injections are not ideal because they're not as effective on the hands and feet as they are on the underarms. Moreover, the number of injections you need to put yourself through to get results can be very daunting. A shot or two is tolerable; five will surely make you gulp and hesitate. Eight calls for serious decision-making. But 30 injections? Those just might send you running out of the door!

An alternative to Botox is laparoscopic surgery. Through a small incision on each arm, the surgeon gets access to your sympathetic nerve which runs alongside the spine and disables that nerve. Disabling the nerve could be done either by cutting it out, burning it, or clamping the nerve. The procedure may be reversed when the nerve is only clamped.

Treating excessive sweating through surgery is very effective. However, pain is not the only thing that makes it impractical for most. There is the cost --- and unless you were born with the Trump money to play with, cost will always factor in your choice of treatment. Obviously, aside from oral medications, all the options given require a lot of money. Botox injections and laparoscopic surgeries are expensive. If you're uninsured or under-insured, cost will prove to be a huge problem. So will your health provider. Before you seriously consider pricey treatment, check if your provider covers the procedure. If you don't, you may end up footing the bill yourself!

Is there an alternative?

The answer is yes. In recent years, alternative treatments have become popular not only because they are typically inexpensive but because they work. Most importantly, there are more alternative remedies than there are clinical ones. For instance, author Mike Ramsey offers a solution to excessive sweating in his Stop Sweating And Start Living ebook. Ramsey's system doesn't involve drugs or a surgical procedure. What it is IS a program you can incorporate into your daily routine. When you follow the system from start to finish, Ramsey guarantees you can get rid of excessive sweating permanently.

Common sense and accurate information are your ally in winning the fight against excessive sweating. Sometimes, dealing with sweat can be as easy as exercising a little lifestyle management. You can change your diet, for example, and avoid certain foods that aggravate your sweating. You can also practice better hygiene.

Bottomline: there are many things you can do to deal with excessive sweating. So don't just sit there and sweat away. Be proactive! Look for solutions!