Understanding Excessive Sweating: Causes and Symptoms

Sweating is your body's natural defense to cool down. But for some people, the sweating is excessive and an embarrassing problem. Fortunately, Ryan S. Owsley, MD of Comprehensive Dermatology of Idaho, serving Nampa, McCall, and Meridian, ID, and the nearby regions can help. But you may wonder what causes it as well as if the other symptoms you have are related to it.

Symptoms

With excessive sweating, medically known as hyperhidrosis, your body may produce more sweat than is needed to keep cool. Sometimes, the sweating has no apparent reason. For instance, you could break out in a sweat when you're at rest or even when the ambient temperature around you is low.

This most commonly happens in the underarms, back, genitals, soles of your feet, forehead, or cheeks.

With this condition, you may notice your skin is wet, and your clothing is damp. It often causes sweat on your cheeks and forehead, in particular. The sweat could cause body odor as it mixes with bacteria. 

Unfortunately, when it continues to occur, it could irritate your skin and cause it to become itchy or inflamed. Sometimes, the skin in that area will crack or peel, which is especially common in your feet.

Mentally, you may feel embarrassed to be in public because of the excessive sweating or potential body odor.

Causes 

As of right now, it's not always known why the condition occurs. However, certain factors can contribute to it, such as a medication. Other common causes of excessive sweating include albuterol, lisinopril, sertraline, insulin, and bupropion. 

Some conditions may lead to excessive sweating, including:

• Some types of cancer
• Hyperthyroidism
• Heart disease/heart failure
• Anxiety
• Diabetes
• Parkinson's

We'd like to note that heredity often plays a role in your condition.

How We Can Help

If you visit our office, serving Nampa, McCall, and Meridian, ID, for excessive sweating, we'll discuss the severity of your condition as well as when it occurs.

We may need to provide additional testing to assess your condition. For instance, a starch-iodine test can help us determine the severity and at which locations you experience the most sweating.

Blood tests and imaging can help determine the underlying cause. A prime example: we can assess your thyroid function to see if an overactive thyroid is the reason.

When you schedule an appointment at Comprehensive Dermatology of Idaho, serving Nampa, McCall, and Meridian, ID, and the neighboring communities, Dr. Owsley can provide a diagnosis and treatment to stop the embarrassment and frustration of excessive sweating.

Call us at 208-467-7546 today for an appointment.