Also known as emotional hyperhidrosis or stress-induced hyperhidrosis, this condition causes excessive sweating of the palms, armpits, face and scalp triggered by an emotional response instead of an environmental one. And I have it.
This makes things like job interviews, parties, introductions, public speaking, etc. very difficult. I’ll be having a nice conversation with someone and then suddenly I’ll start to feel sweat dripping down my back and off my forehead. I also get shivers which is I think from the adrenaline my body decided to randomly let loose.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has done any treatment for this condition. Since I don’t have this condition all the time, I’m primarily interested in treatments (drugs?) that I could take a short time before an event where I think there might be a problem.
I’ve heard of a drug called Indural which supposedly can be taken a short time before a party or whatever and will block the condition. Anyone taken that?
I used to have continual armpit sweating and I used Drysol (a topical lotion) to stop that. It works great. I highly recommend it. Although it can sting a bit the first few times you use it.
Inderal, along with Tenormin, are in the Beta Blockers drug class and are possible treatment options for individuals suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder. These drugs work by reducing the body’s ability to produce adrenaline, are fast acting and not habit forming.
Would you happen to know what the connection, if any, is between Stress-Induced Hyperhidrosis and Generalized or Social Anxiety Disorders? Could other anti-anxiety medications possibly provide any relief?
I don’t know about the link to SAD. I don’t have this problem on a general basis. My day-to-day life is just fine. Usually the only anxiety I feel about going to gatherings is from worrying about if and when the sweats are going to start.
It seems most of the anti-anxiety medications I had seen were to be taken over a long period of time before results are seen. I was wondering if there was something which could be taken just before I was going into a situation where I knew it might be a problem.
I used to suffer from the sweating as a result of anxiety too - especially in interviews, confrontations, or uncomfortable situations. It got so bad I would tremble or shake and it made me terribly uncomfortable. My doctor put me on anti-anxiety medicine and after 4-6 weeks of taking it, I don’t sweat or have the anxiety even half as much. I don’t know if there’s anything you can take (unless it be a muscle relaxant) to take immediate effect. Any type of anxiety/depressioon medicine takes a while to kick in.
IANAD, but other than the Beta Blockers, the only other class I think may be a possibility are the Benzodiazepines. Many individuals with anxiety disorders are often prescribed benzos to take on an as-needed-basis when their regular anxiety medication (for everyday anxiety) is not enough. However, with this class including Valium, Xanax, Halcion, Temazepam, etc., it’s no surprise doctors are often wary of prescribing these due to their habit-forming tendencies.
My knowledge of your condition is very limited (in fact, your post was the first time I’d seen an actual name for that condition), so please bear with my ignorance, but this part of the OP confuses me:
So you just start sweating out of the blue, or do you feel anxiety and then start sweating, which then increases the anxiety, thereby increasing the sweating, etc. . . ? I assume it’s the latter, which is why I guess I keep going back to wondering what the differences are between this and SAD or GAD.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is everyday, excessive anxiety. But Social Anxiety Disorder is excessive anxiety only during certain, specific social situations (Public speaking is a common one, but I know one individual on anxiety treatment who experiences it only when she’s out in public and unexpectedly runs into someone she knows. She says she is fine in any other situation).