How to Treat Excessive Sweating
- Thursday, March 13, 2008, 18:15
- Health
- 17 comments
You don’t wear a nice blouse you like, because you are afraid to sweat through it. Sounds familiar? About 2-3 percent of the population suffers from excessive sweating. It is a medical condition and is called hyperhidrosis. It happens because of the overactive thyroid. This problem is usually localized in the underarms, palms and soles. Most sufferers have it in their underarms. It can start at any age, even in infancy, and is difficult to control. The more you think about it, the more you sweat. It can have a debilitating impact on your social life. But this problem can be solved.
Facts about Excess Sweating
- Every person has 2 to 4 million sweat glands present under the lower part of the skin.
- Sweat glands exist to control the body temperature by emitting a watery secretion which should cool the body.
- Obese people suffer from excessive sweating much more often than thin ones.
- Women during menopause are more prone to excessive sweating.
- Metabolic and neurological disorders contribute to heavy sweating.
- A low blood sugar level can cause hyperhidrosis.
- Excess sweating can be hereditary.
There are different treatments which are effective against excess sweating.
Antiperspirant Deodorants
The easiest way to reduce sweating is to use an antiperspirant deodorant. There are good deodorants that usually work, but when it comes to excess sweating, they can show no effect. Some of them can cause irritation.
Oral Medications
There are a number of oral medications which help to control sweating. But they can have side effects along with desired ones. You should anyway consult your physician about their use.
Drysol
Before going to bed dry your armpits with a soft towel and apply Drysol. Then wash it off in the a.m. and don’t reapply any deodorant. This should be done every night. It works better than antiperspirants and regular deodorants, as it contains a higher percent of the drying agent.
Iontophoresis
Iontophoresis could also be useful against excess sweating. Using torch battery electricity, it switches off the sweat glands.
Learn to Manage Stress
The most important is to avoid stress and no to be nervous, as nervousness makes us sweat very often. You can read about some tips in “Tips How to Manage Stress”.
Botox Injections
A more radical solution are Botox injections. They can paralyze sweat glands for six months to a year. It’s not cheap – it would costs about $800 to $1,500. This procedure needs a qualified doctor and you should be informed about all possible side effects of the injection. It should be noted, that compared to the surgical treatment, Botox injections don’t have widespread side effects, as they are applied locally. They have become quite popular.
Surgical Treatment of Excessive Sweating
Surgical treatment is considered as very effective against heavy sweating for most people and includes surgical removal of sweat glands or removing the sweat nerves near the spine in the upper chest, which is called sympathectomy. Like all surgical procedures, surgical treatment of hyperhidrosis involves some risk, for example, scarring in the underarms after the removal of sweat glands or rebound sweating in previously unaffected areas. Please, make sure to be informed about all the procedures before doing them.
thanks for the tips, this is a very shameful problem.
Yes, this is a sensitive issue, but what is to be ashaimed of here?! Everybody sweats, especially sportsmen. Should famous boxers be ashaimed of their sweating in public and stop boxing, for example?
Meggy you say so because you’ve never had such problems. That’s why you’re not ashamed of it. It’s egoistic.
I think if sm1 suffers from excess sweating they have to do smthing about it because its disgusting and stinks.
Dirtyboy, when one suffers from excessive sweating, it doesn’t mean, that they smell. Besides, there are deodorants, which eliminate the smell.
it looks disgusting anyway such people should work at particular offices. why do I have to endure it? I can’t work when sm1 next to me is constantly sweating ugh!
Dirtyboy you’r disgusting yourself. I hope people who work with you think it too.
I’ve heard of botox injections before. Do they really help? Has someone tried them? I want to try it, but I’m afraid.
Dirtyboy is just looking to stir people up. I’m guessing he is about 13 or 14 years old and if he’s older, then he is just an idiot.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has tried Acupuncture or some herbal/natural type meathod that has actually worked for them????
I have tried a couple of things…
tea tree oil – no good
crystals – no good
I am going to going to give drysol a go but i honestly would be to scared to get th botox…
I get it realy bad and have had blood tests and talked to the doctor heaps but no luck yet
Its not fun
I would also like tro know if the botox works as well. I tried a herbal mixture that tasted awful and didn’t help. I NEED a cure for this awful problem. I haven’t worn a fitted t-shirt in years. Even if it’s cold I’ll still sweat. If anyone has something that they used and it worked please let me know
Hi all, yes I have tried Botox only lasts about 3 months and then the sweating becomes worse and now I sweat on my back. It is so hard to put up with this condition, especially when you work in health and you have to wear a uniform that show.s the sweat, armpits, back.
Hi, like you guys i have sweating problems. I need to know if Soft&Dri Dermastripe works. I need to get rid of this problem.
I can’t say anything about the product. Has anyone tried it?
I have heard alot about Certain Dri, and I have ordered it from the states, but guess what, It did not work either.i will keep using it and if it did not control the seating, i’m gonna try DrySol .
girls try “Certain dri” u can buy it in Walmart and Walgreens it works absolutely great i recommended it for all my girlfriends w the same problem and it helped them all! And ive tried many different things before and it didnt work!
Hi all!! Im a 11 year old girl and i sweat. Im embarresed because i play netball and i have to put my arms up to catch the ball but i dont like to because u can then see my sweat. please help i try so many deoderants but it doesnt seem to work. I think maybe because at my age girls go through puberty but im not sure please help me thanks
Excess Sweating?
I used to sweat really badly from my armpits.
I used antiperspirants but my skin got irritated so I had to refrain from using them.
I was even considering surgery but I found another easy soloution:
Go and see a skin specialist.
Ask him to prescribe you a higher dose of Antiperspirant which has a higher content of Aluminium Chlorohydrate mine was 15g.
Use this at night only and put it on before you go to bed and shower it off in the morning.
You should see results within the first week. After about 3 weeks you should have virtually no sweating. From then on you can use the Antiperspirant once or twice a week, I have gone back to a regular Deodorant now and its working fine.
If you can’t get a prescribed one just get one off the shelf with the maximum Aluminium content. Aluminium clogs the sweat pores.
Also your skin is probably thinned out from using Cortisone and other creams. I had a Zinc based cream prescribed which helped build the skin back up. I used this during the day or on nights where I didn’t use the Antiperspirant. I also had another cream prescribed which didn’t contain Cortisone but I haven’t needed it lately.
This should also be applicable to other areas on the body.
In some cases you may sweat more from other areas but this hasn’t happened for me either.
Hope it goes well for you!