Causes of heavy sweating, treatment methods
Sweating is an important function of the body, thanks to which it can excrete metabolic products and control body temperature. During perspiration, a liquid secretion, i.e. sweat, is secreted in certain parts of the body through the sweat glands.
Usually, a person secretes a small amount of sweat on various parts of the body, and only during physical activity or in hot weather is there more sweat than usual.
You can often meet people with increased sweating. In this case, the palms are constantly wet, sweat runs down the face, back, or clothes are very wet in the armpits. With this specificity of the body, conventional antiperspirants are not able to solve the problem.
Sometimes an unpleasant odor develops in the area of increased sweating. This is due to the fact that bacteria that decompose sweat multiply in such places, which is the main reason for the smell of sweat.
Sweating increases with an increase in body temperature or with an increase in ambient temperature, due to intense sports, with nervous tension, with increased excitement. Is a natural reaction of the body.
Excessive sweating in some cases is an individual feature of the body. Hyperhidrosis does not pose any threat to health, but it can cause discomfort. Both women and men suffer from hyperhidrosis.
Sweat evaporates from the surface of the skin, thereby cooling the body. At the same time, sweating is not always a variant of the norm, sometimes hyperhidrosis develops against a background of various diseases. If a person has increased sweating throughout the body, then this may be a sign of a malfunction of the thyroid gland or a disorder of the nervous system, a decrease in blood sugar. Then you should see a doctor and have a blood test done.
Doctors do not have any specific diagnostic techniques that would accurately determine whether a person has excessive sweating or normal. Therefore, the diagnosis of "hyperhidrosis" is made on the basis of patient complaints, when sweating contributes to the deterioration of his quality of life.
Content:
- Causes of excessive sweating
- Treating profuse sweating
Causes of excessive sweating
There are several reasons that can trigger excessive sweating:
- Stress. With a highly excitable nervous system, certain parts of the body sweat a lot, for example, feet, palms, armpits, and the nasolabial triangle. This happens against the background of fear, with increased excitement, or when stress factors are exerted on the body. Sometimes a person's palms sweat a lot, even at the thought that he will have a handshake. To cope with the problem, you need to see a neurologist or psychotherapist. The doctor will ask the patient exactly when he has bouts of sweating, what situations can provoke this. Then the doctor will prescribe to the patient sedative herbs, or drugs. Sometimes psychotherapeutic treatment helps to cope with the problem. At the local level, the hands or feet are treated with special drying lotions or liquid talcum powder.
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Excess weight. Obese people sweat more than normal weight people. A large body generates a lot of heat, and fat does not allow it to go away. Therefore, the only way for the body to cool down is to start sweating. You can cope with the problem if you get rid of excess weight. While there is a struggle with kilograms, you need to take a shower more often. This must be done 2 times a day. You should also use antiperspirants. Methods of traditional medicine can come to the rescue: a decoction of oak bark or alum.
- Hormonal surges during menopause or during adolescence. During hormonal changes that occur in puberty and during menopause, sweating always increases. The brain transmits the wrong signal about the ambient temperature, so the body, even during the heat, dilates blood vessels and tries to keep warm. During menopause, you need to take medications that can reduce its manifestations. What kind of drug to choose - the doctor should advise. Sweating in adolescence will not be able to cope with any drugs. You just need to go through this stage, carefully observing the rules of personal hygiene.
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Hyperfunction of the thyroid gland. If the thyroid gland produces an excess amount of hormones, then doctors talk about such a disease as thyrotoxicosis. The main symptom of the disease is severe sweating, which follows a person even in cool weather. In addition, the patient suffers from increased weakness, increased irritability, insomnia and other symptoms. To cope with the disease, you need to go to an appointment with an endocrinologist. The doctor will prescribe medications to a person that can fight thyrotoxicosis.
- Vegetovascular dystonia. With this violation, the autonomic nervous system works with disorders, from which other internal organs suffer: the digestive tract, respiratory organs. Also, failures occur in the processes of thermoregulation. To cope with the disease, you need to consult with a neurologist. Fitness classes are useful. It is important to exclude from the menu products that contribute to increased sweating: spicy foods, drinks containing caffeine, spices, alcoholic beverages, honey.
- Taking antibacterial drugs Antibiotic treatment leads to changes in the intestinal microflora, which causes increased sweating. To normalize the intestinal flora, you need to drink fermented milk drinks, take probiotics and prebiotics, as well as vitamins.
- Pregnancy. Pregnancy is accompanied by hormonal changes, so women notice that they start sweating more. As a rule, hyperhidrosis worries in the first trimester of pregnancy, and declines in the second and third trimesters. Although sweating will still remain elevated, as the volume of circulating blood in the body increases. To cope with sweating during pregnancy, it is necessary to regularly perform hygiene procedures. You can also wipe down heavily sweating areas with a solution of vinegar and salt. For half a liter of boiled water, you will need a tablespoon of vinegar (acid concentration 9%) and the same amount of salt. The solution can be stored in the refrigerator.
Treating profuse sweating
When hyperhidrosis is an individual feature of the body, and not the result of a serious illness, it will not be difficult to cope with the problem.
Modern medicine offers people with excessive sweating such methods of influencing the body as:
- Taking medications. Bellataminal, Bellaspon, Belloid, which contain belladonna alkaloids. They reduce the production of sweat by the sweat glands. Local therapy is reduced to the treatment of sweating areas with Formagel or Formidron.
- Antiperspirant use: Odaban, which lasts up to 10 days, Maxim (one bottle is enough for a year), Dry Dry (one bottle is enough for 6 months).
- Sedatives herbal remedies: belladonna or valerian extracts, motherwort tincture. We can recommend to patients yoga classes, meditation, hypnosis.
- Affirmations. This is a set of phrases that you need to say every day. They help calm the nervous system and help you to endure stress more easily.
- Physiotherapy treatment with coniferous salt baths, iontophoresis. Electrosleep, electrophoresis with drugs has a good effect.
- Laser treatment. The sweat glands, which are located in the armpits, are treated with a laser. They are destroyed and the person stops sweating.
- Botox injections, Dysport. The introduction of drugs blocks the nerve endings of the sweat glands, which helps to reduce sweating.
Laser treatment or Botox injections are used in extreme cases, when other measures to combat hyperhidrosis are ineffective. It is important to take into account that they have serious contraindications and side effects. Sweating is a natural process that helps cleanse the body of harmful substances, so it is not recommended to prevent it. In the future, this can negatively affect human health.
Excessive sweating can be the result of many diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to treat the cause, not the effect. Sometimes, with sweating of the face, arms, neck, preganglionic sympathectomy is performed (resection of the sympathetic nerve trunk, its nodes or branches).
You can use sea baths or four-chamber baths. For various diseases, you need to contact the appropriate doctors, for example, a neurologist, psychiatrist, dermatologist.
The author of the article: Kuzmina Vera Valerievna | Endocrinologist, nutritionist
Education: Diploma of the Russian State Medical University named after NI Pirogov with a degree in General Medicine (2004). Residency at Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, diploma in Endocrinology (2006).
