Help with my sudden case of HH!!

sweatty

Member
Hey everyone, first post here.

So much on my mind but will try to be concise.
36 year old male, pretty athletic and active. Have usually been healthy but last 7-8 years had on and off anxiety/depression issues, nothing that needed medication however.
Anyway, since teenage years had underarm sweating, more than most people, which would mainly be triggered by anxious moments. Things were like this until last year when I started noticing that certain situations caused an out of control full body sweating. For example, I have never had issues getting a haircut, however, spring of last year I went to a barber shop and as soon as the nylon cape was put on me I exploded in a sweaty mess, everywhere (front, back, arms, fingers, groin area, buttocks). This had never happened before, not even on hot summer days, which this wasn't. Roughly a week before that I went to a shopping mall and had to walk out after 15 minutes as my back and butt were getting soaking wet.
Sitting on a patio in summer, which used to be my favourite thing the previous summer was all of a sudden out of the question. It literally felt like I was melting when a year before that I was bone dry everywhere.
- The year in question (2015) started out with acid reflux issues for which I took mild meds that helped but aside from that I was fine.
- In March I got a good deal on laser hair removal (I'm a hairy guy lol) so I went for it. Got the full back and butt (this has and still does make me wonder if my sweating stems here while other body parts are sweating from anxiety due to back and butt sweating).
- My sweating is triggered by: nervous situations, exercise, having to go to the bathroom (my butt and groin area would be soaked which started roughly in June, literally over night after 35 years of not being there). If I take a walk downtown and walk in a restaurant where the air is still, game over! I'm dripping head to toe.
- I can't seem to set the temperature in my car, either I'm sweating or have cold shivers , it's like the internal thermostat is messed up.
- Can't wear jackets anymore, immediately get a wet back. Dress shirts are a no-no! As soon as I put it on it is front and back crazy sweating. Just months before all this had no such issues. Could walk in a crowded restaurant with a dress shirt and undershirt and be completely dry.
- When I exercise in the gym, everywhere I sit I leave a wet sweat stain as my groin is soaked minutes after starting a workout. Again, been going to the gym since college days and underwear was always bone dry.
- In summer I met a girl, we dated for a couple of months. During this time the sweating was there but not in full force. I could still be nervous and stay relatively dry, aside from pits, but felt that things were changing and instead of being dryer the more I got comfortable around her I started getting more sweaty.

This is where things got out of control. I developed a chronic prostate inflammation during the last couple of weeks I was dating her. I got on a strong antibiotic which is roughly when I stopped seeing her (got dumped). For some reason took this real hard, harder than previous relationships. Together with the realization of the start of a chronic condition (you can look up "prostatitis" - not fun) and not hanging out with a pretty cool chic was a character building period (yes I know some people go thru much worse but you know what I meant).
I am not gonna bore you with the rest as it doesn't pertain to my HH problems since by this point the sweating was in full swing.

Basically I can still go to social scenes and be relatively ok but can explode in sweat any second (feels anxiety related).
Wearing multiple layers of clothing is an instant sweat job as is exercising. Really miss the winter months when I could bundle up and go for a walk.

The sweating literally feels like it comes in waves and radiates out, almost like a hot flash.

I have done lots of tests as ordered by an internal medicine doctor. Hormones seem ok as do a lot of other things the doctor suspected.

Since the sweating started, last year, other things have been going on with the body which has been frustrating and more anxiety inducing. My doctor has simply said "it really seems like there is something going on with your sympathetic nervous system", but has left it at that. I also spoke with a dermatologist who was of no help.

My frustration with this whole thing: while reading on HH, I would classify my HH as secondary (could be wrong) as supposed to primary, in which case there should be an underlying medical issue.

Could all this be caused by anxiety alone?
I have a hard time with this as I still sweat equally when I go fishing deep in the woods with nobody around, no social phobia or any other external stimuli.

Sorry for long post but what does this sound like to you guys?
Is it worth pursuing further testing of hormone levels, seeing an endocrinologist?

Thanks for the read :)
 

Sprawling

Well-known member
Anxiety can play a major role. If you didn't have HH in your younger years most likely your HH is secondary. Obviously something is going on with your nervous system. If you are taking an SSRI for anxiety, sweating is a major side effect.
 

sweatty

Member
Thanks for your reply Sprawling!
I am not taking any SSRI's; tried it many years ago and gave up after a couple of weeks due to severe side effects.
My anxiety isn't that bad and I'm ok dealing with it by myself. I believe that I can deal with anything I've created myself in the first place, but that's another topic.
As I said, my anxiety doesn't feel any worse than it's been before, so to think that sweating has gone up ten fold all of a sudden due to anxiety is hard to substantiate in my head. Not to mention severe sweating happening with minimal exercise or away from any anxiety inducing situations.
I'll be seeing an endocrinologist in a couple of months and we'll see where that goes but yeah it's been a tiring 15 months or so dealing with this, however, I am hopeful I'll find some resolution or a better way of dealing with it.
 

Maciek

Member
Welcome to the world of pain mate. I also have full body HH. My is probably caused by taking anabolic steroids - but who rly know. I am on this condition in more then 10 years. Same as you i am exercising with same problems. Anyway try Avert/Robinul.
 
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sweatty

Member
Just wanted to update.

Saw the endocrinologist, wasn't too pleased with how it went. Doctor really rushed the appointment, wouldn't listen to anything I had to say but I guess the whole point was to check the hormone levels for any abnormalities which she did and everything was fine.

She didn't have much to offer in terms of solutions or further investigative direction, however, she did leave her keyboard for a minute and offered her opinion. She said that she is very suspicious of the laser hair removal I did as my main areas of sweating are back and butt, two places I had lasered basically right before the heavy sweating started.
As far as other places sweating a lot more than before could be due to anxiety created by back and butt sweating first and me thinking "here we go again."

Unfortunately, as many people here are aware, this creates social phobia if you know ahead of time that the slightest bit of stress in a social setting will result in heavy uncontrollable sweating.

If this is all in fact from laser hair removal than that's really unfortunate as my life has drastically changed since.

Below is the link to only actual evidence of laser hair removal and hyperhidrosis. However if true, really not sure how there aren't more complaints given how common of a procedure this is.
I guess it could be a rare but possible side effect?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19874331


Anyway, thanks for reading and good luck with your struggles :)
 

sweatty

Member
Thanks Brenda!
I haven't visited the forum for some time so didn't see your links.
Interesting that there actually appears to be a link b/w laser hair removal and hyperhidrosis and that it does go away over time although that still hasn't happened to me; it is the same as before.
Plus the fact that other areas of my body are sweating a lot too and those never received laser treatment.

Have an appointment with a dermatologist in a month so will see if the doc has any ideas/suggestions but the more time goes by the more it appears to be an anxiety issue except instead of just some armpit sweating like before it's become a whole body leakage lol
 
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