What is Excessive Sweating or Hyperhidrosis?

Excessive sweating is a problem that is quite common, especially in the case of soles, armpits or palms. It's very annoying and it can influence your life in a negative way. For example, something that sweats a lot might avoid contact with other people, because he might get embarrassed. The good news is that it can be treated.

What exactly is excessive sweating?

Usually, by sweating you keep the temperature of your body at a normal level when the weather is hot, when you exercise or when you have a fever. Excessive sweating however is not normal and happens even when you're not exercising, anxious or hot.

There are two types of excessive sweating, either generalized or focal. Since there are different treatments for them, you first need to find out which one you have.

Excessive sweating that is focal

Focal excessive sweating means that it takes place in one or more places: soles of the feet, palms of the hands, scalp/face, armpits.

The rest of the body will sweat like it should be, but those areas that I mentioned will sweat much more. Nobody knows what the exact cause of the focal sweating is, since it's not accompanied by other problems. The problem seems to be caused by overactive glands. In some cases it will be something that is inherited in the same family, so genetics might have something to do with it. Around 3% of all people are affected by this problem.

It can be of different degrees of severity, and it will not affect you all the time. Some things will trigger the problem, such as spicy foods, emotion, heat and anxiety. If you're anxious about sweating, this can trigger it as well. In most cases though, you will have no idea what triggers it. It's usually a condition that takes a lot of time to improve.

There is no need to take tests if you have focal sweating. If you use an antiperspirant and it doesn't do its job, you can talk with the doctor to give you a treatment.

Excessive sweating that is generalized

Generalized sweat means that your entire body is affected, not just a few areas. It's not as common as the focal one is. In most cases generalized sweating is caused by a medical problem. There are quite a few conditions that can cause sweating: heart problems, drug side effects, anxiety disorders, spinal cord nerve damage, infections, hormone problems, some cancers, and so on. If you suffer from generalized excessive sweating, you should talk to a doctor, to see what's the problem that is causing it.

Focal excess sweating and some complications that can appear

Even though it's not a serious problem, excessive sweating can be embarrassing and distressing. A good example is shaking hands with someone when you have sweaty hands, or working with documents and getting them wet. If you're sweating under your armpit, you will feel bad about the wet patches under the arm and maybe even change clothes more often.

There are some complications that are not as common, like the skin becoming irritated, sore and infection prone. You can even get eczemas.