Extreme temperature worsens effects of condition marked by spontaneous, excessive sweating

Submitted by Nordia Epps on August 17, 2007 - 4:53pm. News

No doubt just thinking about heading outside these days makes you feel like breaking out in sweat. But did you know that spontaneous sweating for no reason is a reality for 3 percent of the population. They suffer from a condition called hyperhidrosis.

Surviving these sweltering temperatures calls for some serious sweating.

Ashley Smith, Hyperhidrosis Patient, "Horrible! I'd be wet from the time I got up in the morning till I go to bed."

But for some 7.8 million people like Ashley Smith, sweating is a serious problem. It started in the sixth grade.

Smith says, "It was very embarrassing. It was like that all the way through high school."

Ashley has hyperhidrosis. The condition happens when a nerve inside the chest doesn't work right causing excessive sweating at unusual times for no apparent reason.

Dr. Rob Headrick, a Thoracic Surgeon with Memorial Hospital says, "The most common areas are the hands, arm pits and feet. People will excessively sweat to the point where they have to change clothing two or three times a day particularly those who have the bad arm pit sweating."

While there's no cure there are plenty of treatments including creams, pills, botox injections and even surgery.

Dr. Headrick says, "It used to be a big operation. Now its done through two very small incisions in the arm pits. It's an outpatient procedure. We use cameras that are the size of a coffee stirrer and we go in and cut the nerve in the place where it's causing the problem."

He says the surgery provides immediate relief. It's 98 percent effective for sweaty hands and 70 percent for arm pits and feet.

Ashley, "It was a little uncomfortable for a day or so afterward. My chest was a little uncomfortable but it's well worth it."

Ashley had the surgery a year and a half ago. Now she needs lotion to relieve her dry hands.

You might have hyperhidrosis if you have visible and excessive sweating with no identifiable cause for at least six months that has two of the following characteristics: