Is there anything scientific about hyperhydrosis!!

[MMCFLY]

I just thought I let off some steam cause I feel there is nothing scientific about HH!! I'm an engineer and a very scientific minded person. I suffer from facial and scalp hh but its not a contast thing however get this: Today was 35 deg celcius down here in Melbourne Australia and I decided to take a walk to get some lunch, 5 min walk, into the jap rest (steamin hot inside), 5 min walk back all under the blazing sun (and u have not felt a hot sun till u been under the aussie sun) then back in the offcie: NOT A DROP OF SWEAT!!!

1 hour later while im in the office and under the AC, i do something for work which was not that physical and booooom!! my face starts dripping.
eve comes and time to go home and i take a ten min walk to my car, again temp still hovering around 35 and not a drop of sweat (our heat is dry here).

And this is what pisses me offfff so much about this sh*t thing called HH. There is no way of laying your finger on the trigger or the cause!!

PS: 2 days ago I put an order for Face Saver and Odaban and tonight im ordering SweatStop (or stopsweat) facial cream (or maybe the spray). This is gonna be my daily use or for normal non active occasions then il get Robinul as a back up (got ditropan in the fridge) and will use the oral med for occasions like weddings and ceremonies.

 

[Jezza]

Hmm...

I guess the closest to scientific explanation is "overactive sympathetic nervous system". When I first heard that I thought it was a bunch of BS...but apperently this is actually possible.

The sympathetic nervous system regulates sweating of the eccrine glands (directly) and of apocrine glands (indirectly, through stimulating the adrenals to create noradrenaline).

In fact, the problem is that eccrine sweating (main problem in HH) is regulated by acetylcholine, which is the typical neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system. It is the only thing regulated by the SNS through acetylcholine, all the other functions of the SNS are transmitted through noradrenalin.

So now, we have to take anticholinergic medication eventhough it messes with the PNS, instead of taking noradrenalin inhibitors that would have been a much focussed treatment.

Still though, there are some medications available that in the long term are known to lower sympathetic tone (like clonidine, moxonidine, guanabenz). Eventhough I had read about clonidine before I only recently found out that the purpose of these meds is actually what we want to achieve, namely slowing down the SNS. So I'm going to ask about that next time I see the doctor.

 

[MMCFLY]

Very interesting. let us know how it goes pal.

 

[Vanilla]

Hi MMCFLY, your HH symptoms sound like mine - worse in the cold. This is the opposite of what most people experience on this site from my reading...My hands and feet are definitely much better in the summer and in warm temperatures, or at home when I'm relaxed. I was starting to think maybe I don't have HH, but the way it affects me, it must be a variation of HH!

 

[hels]

If its that hot and dry maybe the sweat evaporates before you notice it on you skin. I only notice severe sweat in humid weather because the air is already saturated so the evaporation rate is much slower.

 

[Vanilla]

Perhaps. I've been in humid conditions without sweating as long as the temperature is warm. Conversely, air-conditioned rooms can be dry but I sweat as long as it's cool in there.