Unstoppable pit sweat, or can antiperspirant's make you sweat more?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m sorry, but I need help about a gross topic: my sweating has changed and I can’t get a wrangle on things.

Long story short: 42 yo Male and my right side armpit seems like it sweats more if I use antiperspirants, I feel driest not wearing anything, and the stronger the ingredients, the more *I feel like * I am sweating.

I am not an excessively sweaty person, I don’t think–I’ve always been warm-natured, and I do sweat and run hot, but I’ve never been like embarrassed or gross socially–never been an issue.

During COVID lock-down, I found I was wearing deodorant and antipersps very infrequently–
I discovered my daily shower routine and activity level meant I could skip the chemical slathering under my arms.

It was nice to take a break from Alm. Gly., etc–and my black undershirts that had chalky pit accumulation started becoming more clean and soft. The wife made sure I wasn’t stinky–we determined I kept clean enough.

Last fall we went on a big trip and I really noticed issues with deo/antipersp: I felt like I was wetter all the time on my right side. On that trip, I would sometimes skip putting anything on. I would get a little stinky and would wash to deal with that (wash clothes and such).

Obviously the COVID times are over, and life moves on–and now that I have a daily routine out of the house, I cannot get comfortable. It’s a bit too warm to skip completely, and I woke up after a sweaty night sleep and found some odor, so I’m’ not looking to skip/go without in public.

But NOTHING keeps me dry. I got the prescription strength stuff, and my right side feels like a water-park, even when I’m sitting in front of a fan and not being physically active at all.

Everything I find online says antiperspirants DO NOT AND WILL NOT make you sweat more. But I mean…my life…?? It does! Or seems to.

Is my body chemistry off?

Around the wedding times, I started getting “cold feet,” as in cold, sweating feet even when I was chilly or comfortable.

Any advice??

I tried women’s deodorant once and I liked it better. I’m curious about body PH/chemistry and hormone changes that might make some deodorant better than another? That’s the other issue–is there any difference between brands when the Aluminum Gly % is the same? Does brand otherwise matter? Gillette makes Dove, Axe, or something along the lines of one company making the bulk, so I don’t know that swapping brands matters as much as the ingredients.

2

I think this is worth a trip to the doctor to find out. And be aware, they might not know.

A couple of years ago, I seem to picked up something that altered my feet to do the same thing. They now sweat like mad, to the point of sliding around in my anti-bacterial sandals after having the air conditioner blow on my feet in said sandals for 90 minutes. If I don’t stay on top of it, they stink like mad, too. I’ve tried lots of different topical cleaning products, and topical antibiotics but nothing works. My foot doc just claims I picked up some new bacteria (highly possible as I have been hoteling it a lot) but he had no real solution just a liquid anti-persperant for me to try. I wasn’t interested in that product as it seemed like a real pain to use on my feet.

I now wear closed shoes and absorbant socks that I switch out in the middle of the day if I am inside, with other folks. I use Lume deodorant which lets me sweat but keeps the odor down for a while. I recommend unscented flavor.

3

I also recommend a visit to the doctor. There’s a prescription antiperspirant called Drysol that I dispensed a few times over the years (it wasn’t very expensive and always covered by insurance anyway, that I saw) and it usually does the job.

4

Hyperhidrosis is a thing. I’d see a doctor.

5

Hyperhidrosis treatment usually helps. It often begins with antiperspirants. If these don’t help, you may need to try different medications and therapies. In severe cases, your health care provider may suggest surgery to remove the sweat glands or to disconnect the nerves related to producing too much sweat.

Checked the link. Yep, see a doctor.

6

I will say, I can definitely feel sweat more wearing antiperspirant, even if I’m not actually sweating more. I assume it has something to do with the hydrophobic quality causing whatever sweat does get by to bead up to where you can actually feel it. Versus no antiperspirant where you’re just consistently sweating all over, so it’s not as noticeable.

The real test would be doing a controlled experiment doing an activity, one with it on and one with it off, and see which clothes are wetter.

7

I was once involved with a project studying hydration and nutrition. Athletes were weighed on a very sentitive scale, then engaged in rigorous activity, then weighed again to determine, among other things, perspiration loss. Since some sweat is absorbed by the clothing, the weighing was logged while the subjects were nude.

8

Entirely anecdotal, but I had a similar experience, for what it’s worth, right down to the right pit being the major offender. The major difference for me is it’s only anti-perspirants; deodorant is no problem.

I was really self-conscious about it in my teens, to the point where I was putting the awful prescription strength stuff on the night before and basically nuking my armpits to try to sweat less. I assumed, you know, it’s perspiration, I don’t want to perspire, I need the strongest antiperspirant they got. I read about hyperhidrosis, tried to figure out if there was some kind of laser they could blast me with, all that.

At some point I switched for a day to a deodorant, and was really worried it was going to be way worse, but was actually much better. I never switched back. It’s weird thinking back on it because it was such an abrupt permanent solution to something that was a real problem at the time. I have no explanation and I can’t say whether it was actually some difference in evaporation vs. fabric absorption or something, and I was objectively sweating a different amount than I felt like I was, but it is definitely my unambiguous experience.

9

I’m wearing my wife’s zero aluminum whatever the brand is today–

Thought I’d go the opposite–instead of the strongest I can find, the weakest in the house!

I legit feel less clammy and more comfortable, at the least.

Feeling comfortable is the most important thing. I cannot tell you how quickly a normal “bad day” can build up when you have to do “normal, run-of-the-mill” bad-day shit with a soaked right side. It’s a miserating* experience.

*dad-ism

10

  1. Nothing can stop you from sweating. Real testing by Consumer Reports, etc. show this.

  2. The idea that sweating is a social flaw is a product of the advertising industry. Over the years, it is a huge victory for them, and entire ad-writing careers are built on it.

  3. For me, personally, my sweat smells worse with deodorant than without it. I no longer use it. I bathe daily, and that’s enough.

11

Not a laser, but botox can be used to stop hyperhidrosis for up to 6 months. It works by blocking the nerves which activate the sweat glands:

12

I had this happen to me (putting antiperspirant on one of my armpits made it feel like sweat was constantly trickling down).

I switched antiperspirants (I think I went from using a ball roll-on antiperspirant to a stick) and it went away over time. It sounds like your case is more serious, though.

13

I feel compelled to update:

I’ve traced this down to a period of sustained stress/trauma, and–long story short–I think I gave myself a sweating disorder–a hyper stress response.

I have been so annoyed with this issue that I started logging stuff–time of day, outdoor temps, indoor temps, and as much as I could, my body temp and blood pressure.

I got particularly annoyed once the weather turned very cold, and I’m shivering, sweating. Or my frigid hands, sweating.

It all clicked when I was working on a two-stack of scaffolding without any guards on the side–I had to step off of a second-floor landing onto the scaffolding and brace myself with one hand against the ceiling to deal with a very hard to reach project. I noticed my hands would start sweating immediately.

I’ve never been a sweaty hands guy. I realize it was 100% a stress response.
Further clarification came later: It was a cool day and I was over-dressed because I get so cold sitting at a desk in the afternoons, so I had a sweater overshirt and cap.Running a few errands before my desk duty, it was sweltering in the stores I was in–and CROWDED. STUFFY.

I got so hot I had to take my hat off.
I wasn’t miserably sweaty–not sweaty in the annoying way.

BECAUSE THERE WAS NO STRESS.

So I have collected all this data and I am taking it to my doctor next month. I hope I can figure out a way to address it. I suspect she’s just going to refer me to a dermatologist.

Is there a sweat less pill??

"If someone develops a heightened sensitivity to stress or experiences chronic stress, it can lead to ongoing changes in the body’s stress response, including sweating. This may result in a person being more prone to sweating even in non-threatening or less stressful situations. The connection between psychological stress and physiological responses, like changes in sweating patterns, is complex and varies from person to person.

If you find that stress has a significant impact on your sweating patterns, it’s essential to consider stress management techniques and, if necessary, seek support from mental health professionals who can provide coping strategies and interventions."

14

Anticholinergics will reduce sweat, but you wouldn’t want to use them for this purpose because a dose that would make you sweat less would also do really fun things like make you unable to urinate.

Like I said earlier, there are prescription antiperspirants out there, and you do not need to see a dermatologist to get one.

15

Social flaw, schmocial schmlaw. Being sweaty just feels gross.

16

Well, the odor of sweat can offend. In social situations.
But actual sweat doesn’t have to. Unless you’re uncomfortable and cold like the OP. To me, being damp is not a terribly bad thing.
But, if it is a health issue, physical or stress related, a doctor visit is important.

OP have you ever tried perspiration pads? Dress pads is what my granny called them. I assume they absorbed the wetness. I’m not sure I’ve even seen them in about 40years or something. Might look into it.

ETA…they are available on Amazon

17

There are anti-anxiety and beta blocking drugs that can help with stress-induced sweating, but they have so many side effects that you probably wouldn’t want to be on them all the time. But if you know you are going to be in a situation where sweating would be a problem–like public speaking or a social engagement–then you could consider taking something on an as-needed basis. If your sweating is mostly limited to your underarms, hands, and feet, then topical treatments or botox can pretty much eliminate the problem.

18

They do nothing to reduce the amount of sweat that breaks through. I have done everything I know as a layperson, short of using maxipads under my arms. I have changed to weaker brands; I’ve tried lady’s brands. I tried the no-aluminum thing. On a trip to the Yosemite Valley, I went without anything for a few days–I’d wash at the sink with a washcloth between changing shirts during the day–with a shower in the morning and before bed. I changed soaps–tried a more anti-bacterial thing.

For a while, I was completely confounded as to what was going on, so I experimented with the possibility the “really strong” Degree type EXTREME antiperspirants had messed up my pores or something–so I wanted to give myself a chance to see how things were “naturally.”

Eventually I realized it was a stress response. Since then, I’m trying the strongest stuff I can get my hands on.

I have been using several Rx strength brands and different applications (spray, roll-on and normal) and the saturation is not reduced, but I have found sweat further down my arm nearer to my elbow!! Like it’s rerouting around my armpit!

I know that’s not the physiological case, but its SO. UNCOMFORTABLE. “Not only is my pit wet, it goes down the inside of my bicep!”

I can’t find the pic now–I saw it on reddit–but there’s a big buff stylish dude on the subway in a TIGHT white shirt with panty-liners under his arms…

Adjacent to your suggestion, it appears there are special kinds of undershirts.

I guess I need to commit to this being “my life” and consider getting some…

Doctress Colossus (my wife) gleefully grins at the idea of me getting botox…

It is indeed limited to normal areas–
It’s one of the reasons my doctor “isn’t too worried”–I’m not displaying anything that indicates a gland/pressure/growth problem–that is, she doesn’t see anything immediately that raises any eyebrows the first time we discussed it (last month, more on this in a bit).

I had thought I had some kind of weird bi-lateral/one sided/uneven sweating on my right side, but, with my careful observations and note-taking, I realize it’s just more noticeable on my dominant side, but not exclusive.

The good thing about the “medical” aspect of this is I have to check in with my doctor every few months due to my ADHD medication being so tightly regulated–

I just started with a new PCP after being on the COVID wait-list for over a year. So she’s in the loop after our first visit–nothing alarming, but something we can work on next visit.

Another potentially meaningful bit of info: I haven’t ever had any luck on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs–I was on, I think it was Lexapro, and I got off it earlier this year. I’m currently not on anything at all–just take an ADHD pill.

The one blessing in all this is I am not smelly, and I’m paranoid about it, so I keep the kind of people around who will gently remind me if they DO smell anything.

So far, it’s mostly been a major, major discomfort issue–especially in the colder months/climates.

Being a little damp is one thing, but having your underarm saturate through your t-shirt, through your flannel shirt, and into your cable-knit cardigan–while you’re just trying to stay warm on a car ride! It’s simply something I HAVE to get a handle on.

And that’s just the physical feeling being intolerable–it doesn’t begin to speak to the social aspects. I’m already bald, and beads of sweat on my hairless head when I’m hot or “busy” or stressed has already been socially embarrassing before this hyper activity started–the Mrs will see me walking around with my arms out like a weird duck and know what’s going on.

It’d be hilarious if it weren’t me!

19

I’m so sorry this is happening to you.
Getting that stress under control seems your best bet.

Good luck.

20

Does anyone remember the Discovery Channel (or similar format) program “The Operation” from the mid 1990s? One of the surgeries involved removing part of a nerve ganglion from someone whose sweaty hands caused big problems in his life, and also had not responded to less drastic treatments. I have no idea if this procedure is still performed.

I have also heard of doctors using Botox in extreme cases, although that would definitely need to be done by a sub-specialist.