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Talk To Your Daughter About Excessive Sweating

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2008

Every mother knows that sweaty palms and underarms are hallmarks of nervousness. What they may not realize is they also could be signs of overactive sweat glands.

This Mother's Day, the International Hyperhidrosis Society is encouraging moms and daughters to take 10 minutes to discuss this little understood and often hereditary condition. It affects as much as 3 percent of the American population, according to the National Institutes for Health. People with hyperhidrosis produce up to five times the average amount of sweat, and although equal numbers of men and women are affected, social pressures lead women to more often seek treatment.

The Ten 4 Ten campaign aims to educate mothers who may not realize that girls near or in adolescence are not overreacting when they complain of the embarrassment of excessively wet hands and feet that stain clothes and ruin paperwork.

"All too often, children suffering from chronic or excessive sweating are told to 'just deal,' that 'everyone sweats' and that they're 'making a big deal about nothing,' " says Lisa J. Pieretti, director of the national support group. "Far too many of these kids get no sympathy or help as they struggle with a serious issue that adversely impacts their quality of life."

Fewer than 40 percent of the people with the condition, called primary focal hyperhidrosis, seek medical help. Temporary treatments for hyperhidrosis include aluminum chloride, botox and Iontophoresis.

The 10 questions recommended for mothers and daughters are available at www.sweathelp.org.

1. How many times per day do you think or worry about sweating?

2. How many times per day do you change clothes? Bathe?

3. Do you carry supplies (such as pads, extra clothes, napkins, powders, antiperspirants or towels) to manage your sweat?

4. Have you tried topical solutions (antiperspirants, powders or deodorants) designed to control sweating? If yes, how many types?

5. Do you ever change your social plans due to excessive sweating or fear of excessive sweating?

6. Have you damaged reading or writing material, artwork, paperwork, a musical instrument, or an electric or metallic device due to sweating?

7. Does excessive sweating affect your performance at school or extracurricular activities?

8. Have you experienced skin irritation or infections due to excessive sweating or your attempts to manage excessive sweating?

9. Does sweating in public cause you distress?

10. Have you lost friends due to excessive sweating?

A staff report

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