Primary and Secondary hyperhidrosis: Medical Causes of Excessive Sweating
Hyperhidrosis, the medical term for excessive sweating, can be caused by other medical conditions or can itself be the condition. These two different types of hyperhidrosis are called primary hyperhidrosis and secondary hyperhidrosis.
Primary hyperhidrosis is the medical condition of excessive sweating while secondary hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating that is caused by a different medical condition or
medication (external forces that cause the excessive sweating).
Two Types of Hyperhidrosis, Two Different Sets of Symptoms
Generally, someone suffering from primary hyperhidrosis will experience very localized sweating, such as heavy armpit sweat, sweaty palms, sweaty feet, or sweating on other specific, sometimes seemingly random, parts of the body. Everybody knows that everybody sweats and that it is the body’s way of cooling down, but sufferers of primary hyperhidrosis sweat even in the absence of heat or physical activity. If you experience constant sweating in the face, thighs, armpits, palms, or feet, you may be suffering from primary hyperhidrosis.
People suffering from secondary hyperhidrosis usually experience a less localized, whole-body type of sweating that may occur only at night – a symptom less common with primary hyperhidrosis. The following conditions may contribute to secondary hyperhidrosis:
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hyperthyroidism
infection
low blood sugar
diabetes
gout
drugs and medication
alcoholism
obesity
pregnancy
menopause
heart failure
diabetes
Parkinson’s disease
rheumatoid arthritis
chronic arsenic intoxification
withdrawl from a chemical substance
There are myriad conditions and medications that can cause secondary hyperhidrosis, so it is important to discuss your health history with a doctor if you are suffering from secondary hyperhidrosis.
Different Treatments for Primary and Secondary Hyperhidrosis
Sufferers of primary hyperhidrosis may have lived with it a long time, or excessive sweating may start suddenly, with no clear catalyst. People with primary hyperhidrosis generally find no relief for their heavy sweating from over the counter or popular antiperspirants. They have to find antiperspirants that are made for excessive sweating or primary hyperhidrosis. Furthermore, the type of sweating a person suffering from hyperhidrosis experiences is not just a small nuisance, but an intolerable amount of sweat! However, specialty and prescription antiperspirants can be effective and many people with hyperhidrosis find varying levels of relief with these products.
The symptoms of secondary hyperhidrosis can be treated similarly in the short term, but further investigation with a doctor is needed to determine how to correct the underlying problem.
There IS hope for people suffering from hyperhidrosis, both secondary and primary and one needs to gather as much information from trusted sources as possible to attack the sweating problem.
Comments(17)
This is a well-written and accurate article. I enjoyed reading it.
But one thing I felt it was missing was the effect of stress, anxiety, and other emotional issues on excessive sweating.
Because you’re absolutely right, there are people that may not be stressed that develop primary hyperhidrosis. The main cause of hyperhidrosis–whether primary or secondary–is always an imbalance of some type (this is actually the cause of any dis-ease).
But once the situation develops, the presence of stress, anxiety, or emotional resistance perpetuates the disorder. It becomes somewhat of a negative feedback loop; a self-fullfilling prophecy.
Because you sweat, you get stressed. Your stress brings on more sweat. Your sweat brings on more stress, you see?
So you need to focus on either 1. eliminating the sweat, or 2. eliminating the stress.
Most of us are feverishly working on #1 with external products like drionics, drysol, rubinol, hydrosal gel, etc., and paying little or no attention to #2.
Let me tell you, working on #2 is infinitely more effective and rewarding than working on #1.
Why?
Because working on #1 costs money. Plus, there are a lot of chemicals involved. Chemicals typically aren’t good for us. And finally, it’s sorta an up-hill battle.
Stress relief and emotional modification are an extremely effective–not to mention under-rated–treatment/cure for excessive sweating.
I happent to know this for a fact.
Me and my brother used such techniques to cure our own excessive sweating problems about two years ago.
You can check out our website at bye-bye-excessive-armpit-sweat.com
P.S. Another addition to the article–heredity can be a main underlying factor in primary hyperhidrosis (look at me and my brother).
Chris Mechanic
Hello Chris Mechanic,
We have written about stress and excessive sweating, but thank you for your lengthy comment and we hope to do a full article on stress and sweating in the future…
Hey! What happened to my link?
Hello Chris Mechanic,
You know, we just don’t except outgoing links from just anyone, what do you think, that we’re some kind of internet sluts? All links are endorsements and we just don’t know your product that well… We absolutley don’t mean to offend… We’re just a sweating blog trying to send information out there, to help people help themselves.
I doesn’t make you internet sluts to share relevant links with ur users. It makes you internet pimps, internet kings.
That’s good. You’re trying to send the information out there. Our goals are aligned. You should put my link back up. Put it on your blogroll even. Why not? There’s a lot of good stuff on my site, with more coming.
I know you guys aren’t sluts. I’m not asking for a link to a penile enlargement page. Or a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s good, relevant stuff.
What do you think?
Chris Mechanic
P.S. I thought it was kinda standard business to have your URL included in the signature of a blog post. I thought it was fair play. No?
Do you know of any new drugs that are being researched by the pharmaceutical companies that show promise? I’m wondering if there is something new I’ve overlooked. Thanks!
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i was wondreing if anyone who suffers from hyperhidrosis and excessive sweating is it triggered by anxiety? I get anxiety attacks, because im worried about people seeing me sweat. It seems like i cant get out of this anxiety circle, sweating because i have anxiety, and i have anxiety cause im sweating. does anyone else eperience this same loop of anxiety and sweating? i came across a neat website called http://stopsweating-startliving.com and it seems like the webmaster has had this issue and has corrected it
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From what I have read and researched there is no known cause of hyperhidrosis. At least this is what I have gathered from various websites and the Merck Manual itself on Excessive Sweating.
What Causes Hyperhidrosis?
From what I have read and researched there is no known cause of hyperhidrosis. At least this is what I have gathered from various websites and the Merck Manual itself on Excessive Sweating.
What Is Hyperhidrosis?
Thanks for this article, I have many of the symptoms described here and while researching on the Internet I found your site. I will talk to my doctor about this.
I suffered from primary hyperhidrosis. After many attempts to cure the problem I was lead to iontophoresis. After only a week I had positive results. I recommend anyone looking for a cure to give it a chance.
I suffer from primary hyperhidrosis, and it took doc’s over 7 years to dx me, but i have unbelieveable sweating with my palms. now that the weather has changed it is worse. is there someone out there that knows of any remedies, because living like this is sooooo hard, i can’t even go to job interviews because of the sweating with my hands. if there is any remedy please let me know
please help!!!!!!!!
The cause of hyperhidrosis is hormonal imbalances(at least primary hyperhidrosis). Think only of menopause, puberty, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism..etc. Only by eliminating the cause, the problem will be no more. Drugs and topic treatments mask the problem temporarily, ETS causes compensatory sweating in all cases (it is a scam). I believe the way one can get rid of hyperhidrosis is by inducing a balance of hormones. In some cases the liver or the kidney may not be functioning properly. There are some ebooks on the internet that talk about eliminating certain sugars from the diet..so you sweat less; refined (unnatural) sugar for example produces an immediate high flow of insulin, destabilizing other hormones.And i can confirm that an all natural raw diet does lessen hyperhidrosis, but it is hard. I am not a doctor. I am however a hyperhidrosis sufferer from birth (now 24)that has read a lot about it and trying to come up with a cure. THIS IS MY 2 CENTS.
Nice post, very interesting. Rgds. Kenton Bruice MD