Health Tip: Excessive Sweating
-- Excessive sweating -- even when at rest -- is a medical condition called hyperhidrosis. It's caused by overactive sweat glands, which produce sweat for no reason, even when the body is cool. It most often causes excessive sweating in the feet, hands and armpits.
Here are suggestions on how to help control hyperhidrosis, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
- Strong antiperspirants containing 10 percent to 15 percent aluminum chloride hexahydrate.
- Anticholinergic drugs, which help reduce stimulation of the sweat glands. Beta-blockers or benzodiazepines may help reduce stress-induced sweating.
- A procedure (iontophoresis) that uses electricity to temporarily stop sweat glands from functioning.
- Botox injections in the underarm.
- Minimally invasive surgery to reduce excessive sweating in the palms.
Posted: August 2007