WHY PEOPLE GET HYPERHIDROSIS

1) Primary (Genetic)

For anywhere from 10-50 percent of patients depending on source, primary hyperidrosis is a genetic condition that has been passed on down the family tree. It seems like Asians and Jewish people have a much greater rate of prevalence for hyperhidrosis than other races.

2) Secondary

For some, the sweating is caused by secondary hyperhidrosis, which means that there is an underlying medical condition (or due to certain medications that a person is taking) that causes perspiration. Very often, secondary hyperhidrosis causes excessive sweating all over the body (generalized) rather than in localized regions such as the palms/feet/face/armpits. The most cited medical condition that can cause hyperhidrosis is hyperthyroidism. Other possibilities include hyperpituitarism, diabetes, cancer, neurological problems, menopause, spinal cord injury, gout, hypoglycemia, angina, heart attack or another cardiovascular problem, drug or alcohol withdrawal, and chronic infections like tuberculosis.

After reading paragraphs like the one above and messages in the forums, it is easy to become a hypochondriac. I myself stopped reading and posting on message boards a few years back (around 2002) due to people with ETS-related side effects blaming every possible medical condition on ETS which can affect you mentally as you start imagining things. One has to remember that both hyperhidrosis or facial blushing and ETS are relatively minor events in comparison to people who have cancer, AIDS, require a face transplant due to disfigurement and so on. There are many people who had open surgical sympathectomy many decades ago in which they had numerous ganglions removed along with major bleeding during surgery and other significant trauma -- And I have talked with a few such patients who are enjoying their life and old age despite the side effects they had to deal with all their lives. In the end, willpower can overcome most side effects. However, why go through all these problematic physical and mental side effects when alternative cures are successful for so many people, even if oftentimes tedious?

3) Others

For the rest, there is no known explanation as yet. I fall under this category it seems.

Surprisingly, localized hyperhidrosis (as most visiting this site probably suffer from) is not due to nervousness, excess heat and humidity, or obesity as would be expected. Those conditions can make the problem worse sometimes, but do not cause localized hyperhidrosis. People with palmar hyperhidrosis experience it for hours at a stretch even if they are skinny and in an air conditioned room by themselves with no reason to be nervous or stressed. Its just a very strange problem. Why do humans even have the majority of their sweat glands in the hands and feet?

It seems that hyperhidrosis is especially prevalent among Asians and Jewish people based on what a couple of surgeons told me some years ago. No wonder that Chien-Chi-Lin from Taiwan is responsible for so many of the innovations in ETS surgical technique in recent years.