Defining The Condition Hyperhidrosis

July 23rd, 2009

Everyone sweats. It is completely natural even necessary for the human body to sweat or perspire. The body sweats as a way of cooling it down when it grows too warm. If you’re an active person then you have a good idea about how much you sweat. You may be wondering what sweat has to do with this term, hyperhidrosis. It is actually a term used to describe excessive sweating. More specifically, it is a medical condition that causes a person to produce extremely high amounts of perspiration.

Hyperhidrosis patients can produce between four and five times the normal levels of sweat. Experts on hyperhidrosis have estimated that millions suffer from excessive sweating and struggling with the often disruptive and embarrassing effects. That means that about 3% of the global population suffers from excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis. Many who have hyperhidrosis do not even get it diagnosed-a fact that hinders further knowledge of the condition. Lack of diagnosis leaves many people dealing with the painful symptoms with little hope of relief. Unfortunately, these people do not get excessive sweating treatment.

Hyperhidrosis is disruptive and embarrassing for obvious reasons. It can have an influence of the quality of your relationships, your job, other social interactions, not to mention the emotional and psychological impact excessive sweating can cause. Thus, many people who have hyperhidrosis may experience depression and low self-esteem.

Hyperhidrosis can cause excessive sweating from the armpits, feet, face, palms, and other parts of the body. If excess perspiration affliction one or more of these areas, you may see terms like axillary, palmar, plantar, facial, and general applied to parts respectively.

Those who have hyperhidrosis but don’t get it checked by a physician may do so out of embarrassment. It may be that they feel that heavy sweating can’t be a serious enough problem to take to the doctor. This is wrong thinking. It should be understood that hyperhidrosis can be a very serious medical condition and that excessive sweating treatment is possible.

Those who have studied hyperhidrosis are not sure what causes it but they have made some links to factors like neurology and metabolism, even if there are no problems with health. Additionally, temperature changes and shifts in emotions can cause excessive sweating, but this is by no means a sure cause because some hyperhidrosis sufferers will sweat constantly no matter their emotional state or the temperature. You may even sweat when sleeping.

Should you believe that you suffer from this excessive sweating disorder, you should contact a physician to find out about excessive sweating treatment. Receiving treatment will help you achieve some level of comfort so you will be able to function on a social level and you’ll no longer have to be embarrassed about your sweating problem. Then you will have the opportunity to regain your life if you take the first step by talking about excessive sweating.

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