Excessive sweating is aproblem that is quite common, especially in the case of soles, armpits orpalms. It's very annoying and it can influence your life in a negative way. Forexample, something that sweats a lot might avoid contact with other people,because he might get embarrassed. The good news is that it can be treated.

What exactly is excessivesweating?

Usually, by sweating you keepthe temperature of your body at a normal level when the weather is hot, whenyou exercise or when you have a fever. Excessive sweating however is not normaland happens even when you're not exercising, anxious or hot.

There are two types ofexcessive sweating, either generalized or focal. Since there are differenttreatments for them, you first need to find out which one you have.

Excessive sweating that isfocal

Focal excessive sweatingmeans that it takes place in one or more places: soles of the feet, palms ofthe hands, scalp/face, armpits.

The rest of the body will sweatlike it should be, but those areas that I mentioned will sweat much more.Nobody knows what the exact cause of the focal sweating is, since it's notaccompanied by other problems. The problem seems to be caused by overactiveglands. In some cases it will be something that is inherited in the samefamily, so genetics might have something to do with it. Around 3% of all peopleare affected by this problem.

It can be of differentdegrees of severity, and it will not affect you all the time. Some things willtrigger the problem, such as spicy foods, emotion, heat and anxiety. If you'reanxious about sweating, this can trigger it as well. In most cases though, youwill have no idea what triggers it. It's usually a condition that takes a lotof time to improve.

There is no need to taketests if you have focal sweating. If you use an antiperspirant and it doesn'tdo its job, you can talk with the doctor to give you a treatment.

Excessive sweating that isgeneralized

Generalized sweat means thatyour entire body is affected, not just a few areas. It's not as common as thefocal one is. In most cases generalized sweating is caused by a medicalproblem. There are quite a few conditions that can cause sweating: heartproblems, drug side effects, anxiety disorders, spinal cord nerve damage,infections, hormone problems, some cancers, and so on. If you suffer fromgeneralized excessive sweating, you should talk to a doctor, to see what's theproblem that is causing it.

Focal excess sweating andsome complications that can appear

Even though it's not aserious problem, excessive sweating can be embarrassing and distressing. A goodexample is shaking hands with someone when you have sweaty hands, or workingwith documents and getting them wet. If you're sweating under your armpit, youwill feel bad about the wet patches under the arm and maybe even change clothesmore often.

There are some complicationsthat are not as common, like the skin becoming irritated, sore and infectionprone. You can even get eczemas.