I know that they still don't have a complete answer as to what causes hyperhidrosis, but I don't understand why people sweat in certain areas like hands, feet, etc. I know it has something to do with excessive achetylcholine, but wouldn't that cause sweating in the entire body since there are sweat gland all over the entire body?
What causes hyperhidrosis?
- Thread starter jay77
- Start date
JohnnAY
Well-known member
Apparently mine is Poseidon.
I often think about this. It is so crazy to me that this is even a disorder. I've thought of lots of theories, but one thing that never makes sense to me is why it would effect different parts of the body. I always think it is interesting to see that it affects all people regardless of age, race, sex, or location. That has to mean something. It isn't affecting one type of person or "people" more than another. A lot of disorders and disabilities will often be more common in certain parts of the world, or more with men than women, etc. I think they are going to have to dig a little deeper to figure this one out...
It has to be psychological and not just physiological. Before I had ionto - there was one place I never ever even in 8-12 hour days experienced HH. My boat when I was fishing. Also once I got drunk enough - although please don't take that as a reason to drink irresponsibly.
If it was purely a physiological thing - then you'd think it would occur at all times.
Must be something related to stress too? Like the more you think about it the worse it gets.
If it was purely a physiological thing - then you'd think it would occur at all times.
Must be something related to stress too? Like the more you think about it the worse it gets.
Yeah, whenever I go to the beach I don't sweat as much.
Also, I always sweat very badly when I am casually lying in bed. It happens especially when I wake up. My hands and feet will start dripping when I am just lying there. Then when I get up and start walking around a little (especially when I walk outside) my hands start sweating way less.
Also, I always sweat very badly when I am casually lying in bed. It happens especially when I wake up. My hands and feet will start dripping when I am just lying there. Then when I get up and start walking around a little (especially when I walk outside) my hands start sweating way less.
@Charles N I also experience no sweating when I drink. I've really had to watch that because it is so nice. On the other hand, @jay77 I also sweat as soon as I wake up. My hands and feet will be dripping and I hate it. They only stop once I get in the shower. Usually, I have a 1-2 hour time frame for when I get out of the shower that I don't sweat. But its not a guarantee, and sometimes it will not happen. This has been a good thing though because I will use showers to do things that I would normally sweat extra for, ie. Job interviews, Dr. appts. I will schedule these at a time, when I know I can take a shower and go straight to them. It can be a pain sometimes.
tbanner523
Well-known member
Your hands may have less sweat on them when you walk around because it evaporates.
It makes sense that some people sweat less when they drink because drinking affects your central nervous system. When I drank, I would stop sweating unless it was opressively hot or humid outside. Unfortunately, having a few beers doesn't do the trick for me anymore as my HH as gotten worse as I have gotten older.
It makes sense that some people sweat less when they drink because drinking affects your central nervous system. When I drank, I would stop sweating unless it was opressively hot or humid outside. Unfortunately, having a few beers doesn't do the trick for me anymore as my HH as gotten worse as I have gotten older.
Englishman
Well-known member
I don't know what causes it, but I feel like it regulates my temperature when I sweat from my hands and feet. If they're not sweating my face is always red and flushed so I can't win.
@tbanner523, just wondering, how old were you when you noticed increased sweating? I noticed it when I hit puberty like a lot of other people, but did it get worse as you got older?
@laure15, I read that excessive sweating has nothing to do with the number of sweat glands because most people have a normal number of sweat glands. I read in medical journals that it has more to do with chemicals in your body constantly triggering the sweat glands to produce sweat even when you are not overheated.
@englishman, my face also gets more red when I take things to stop the sweat, but regardless, my face has always gotten red extremely easily. I think its because when you sweat a big part of it is because you sympathetic nervous system is overactivated so thats why your face gets red way more easily.
@laure15, I read that excessive sweating has nothing to do with the number of sweat glands because most people have a normal number of sweat glands. I read in medical journals that it has more to do with chemicals in your body constantly triggering the sweat glands to produce sweat even when you are not overheated.
@englishman, my face also gets more red when I take things to stop the sweat, but regardless, my face has always gotten red extremely easily. I think its because when you sweat a big part of it is because you sympathetic nervous system is overactivated so thats why your face gets red way more easily.
rosewood
Well-known member
I think I recall reading a study somewhere that people with anxiety disorders tend on the whole to perspire more because of the physiological response the anxiety creates in the body. Not sure if that means if one gets rid of the anxiety the rest of the physiological issues will evaporate as well.
HHDisturbed
Well-known member
All good points. However, my HH is not soley caused by anxiety. In addition to an embarrasing moment, stress or anxiety, my HH is also caused by high humidity levels, light physical activity, eating anything even mildly spicy or the smell of anything spicy. On occasion I have severe night sweats too...even during chilly weather. Beyond HH I am a pretty healthy person.
Usually I feel like my HH is for no reason at all especially when I am calm and relaxed. So given all that, I am at a total loss for why it happens.
Usually I feel like my HH is for no reason at all especially when I am calm and relaxed. So given all that, I am at a total loss for why it happens.
Jezza
Well-known member
This.
Some anxiety is invloved, but I've always felt that it was more cause by HH than vice versa. I don't discount the possibility that one may be in denial of their anxiety but still endures the physical response but I've thought about that too and a few things make me think that's no what's going on.
1) I have had 24h catecholamines tested (metabolites of adrenaline/noradrenaline/dopamine) and they were in normal reach
2) Same with cortisol (the 'stress hormone') and while not all test were completely whithin the normal range it was pretty close to it (to the point that the doc said it was ok)
3) Regardless I've tried both beta and alpha blockers just to try if it'd help any and found it made no difference whatsoever (and particularly the beta bockers I took in a decent amount). I didn't try benzo's just because of the addiction factor but I aside from the occassional case report there's also no clear indication they could ease the HH.
4) Anxiety isn't the only thing that triggers HH for me either; it's also heat and excersize
5) And finally there is also the reverse argument; if anxiety would cause HH, why are so many people with all kinds of anxieties not afflicted by HH. Some people I know are way more anxious/nervous than me yet they don't have HH, even in times of stress for them.
Therefore and because I've read so many stories on this an other fora that often describe in detail the almost exact same HH experience that I have myself it's clear to me that something is 'not right' physically with HH sufferers and it's (not completely but pretty much) uniform. It would be great if there was some initiative to gather up a bunch of HH people and just start testing every potential blood values, anatomical details that may be shared between all HH sufferers, all of that stuff you can test and that might just find the cause. Sadly the study by Karaca is the only one of this kind to date that I know of (and it immediately found some differences!...yet there is no follow up :thumbdown::kickingmyself
.I've read 100s of studies on sweating and HH when I had access via uni (not medical student but @university you have access to all those sweet databases like wileyscience and pubmed etc), went to Germany to get a full body MRI done, bloodtests etc, had botox shots in hands feet and axillae, tried about a dozen of different meds but I'm still sweaty mcsweatsweat. But I'm kinda optimistic that they'll find something in the future cause one thing I did learn most of all is that they really don't even knew how regular sweating actually works and only in the last 2 decades or so are finding out that other substances in the body work as a mediator with acetylcholine to make one sweat. The story of Symphathetic nervous system-acetylcholine-sweat is kinda like saying you need to go really fast to win a race, it's being touted as 'we know how it works' but really it's a simplification of epic proportions. They just need to map the whole cascade of what is involved to make a person sweat and then ideally find the station at which the train takes a wrong turn in HH sufferers or alternatively take one station out to stop the sweattrain from reaching it's destination -wet skin- that is less draconian (and has less side effects) than cutting the nerve or use meds that shut down a big part of the entire grid.
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Like Jezza, I've pored over much of the medical literature on the subject. The literature on sweating seems to be put together by groups that rarely speak to each other - surgeons, dermatologists and physiologists (and often exercise physiologists) - and that are writing with very different purposes. I find much of this literature frustrating because of the limitations you find in so much medical literature - small sample sizes, inadequate follow-up, obvious conflicts of interest with funding organizations, statistical manipulation (beware of a sudden shift from means to medians), confusion of cause and effect, bogus hypotheses from evolutionary psychology ("in the hunter-gatherer days, sweaty bodies may have helped fend off predators by making humans too difficult to catch and turning them into slippery eels.")
My hypothesis is that you'll find several dozen genes involved in the pathogenesis of hyperhidrosis - and the really interesting part is when one starts to find the mechanisms that switch on or off these genes. It's also rare when a disorder this complex is caused by one defect on one single gene. When you think about, there are so many secondary conditions causing hyperhidrosis, ranging from endocrine imbalances to neurological problems to diabetes, lymphoma, etc. Each one would have its own unique path to excessive sweating. Why couldn't "primary idiopathic hyperhidrosis" be similar, especially since we all seem to suffer from it differently.
One factor I find interesting (and the literature is contradictory on this point): it seems that one genetic alteration leads some humans to have significantly more sweat glands than others. Could that be one factor why some cases of hyperhidrosis are more severe than others, while others remain more moderate?
I too hope that in ten years we know a lot more about the underlying mechanisms of hyperhidrosis than we do now.
My hypothesis is that you'll find several dozen genes involved in the pathogenesis of hyperhidrosis - and the really interesting part is when one starts to find the mechanisms that switch on or off these genes. It's also rare when a disorder this complex is caused by one defect on one single gene. When you think about, there are so many secondary conditions causing hyperhidrosis, ranging from endocrine imbalances to neurological problems to diabetes, lymphoma, etc. Each one would have its own unique path to excessive sweating. Why couldn't "primary idiopathic hyperhidrosis" be similar, especially since we all seem to suffer from it differently.
One factor I find interesting (and the literature is contradictory on this point): it seems that one genetic alteration leads some humans to have significantly more sweat glands than others. Could that be one factor why some cases of hyperhidrosis are more severe than others, while others remain more moderate?
I too hope that in ten years we know a lot more about the underlying mechanisms of hyperhidrosis than we do now.