Intolerance/sensitivity to heat, excessive sweating, overheating etc: what causes it?

J

Jelli B

New member
As long as I can remember, I've been very sensitive/intolerant to heat. In hot or humid conditions I'll notice that other people might fan their face or look slightly uncomfortable but with me it's always as if I had just run a marathon; sweat will be pouring down my face, my hair will be drenched and matted to my head, my face will be beet red and so on. Not only is it uncomfortable, it's embarrassing and causes me a great deal of anxiety standing out so much. Around the time I hit puberty I began to have panic attacks at school which would also result in the same excessive sweating and redness, even if the temperature inside the building was normal. I'm not overweight and there's nothing that I know of that is physically wrong with me, so I've never been able to figure out why this has happened. In the doctor's office the other day he put a pulse oximeter on my pinkie and noted that my oxygen saturation percentage was 100%, something he said he had never seen before. He told me the target percentage for that was around 98% and that it was only usually a problem if the number was low, not high. He also noted that my resting pulse was pretty high. He mentioned that having a reading of 100% is sometimes found in people with a condition that I can't remember the name of -- it involved having reddish skin and being very sensitive to heat.
I'll ask him about it the next time I see him, but until then, does anyone have any idea what this might be? Or better yet, what I can do about it? I always figured that the overheating, excessive sweating and redness I experience in high temperatures, humidities or anxiety-provoking situations was just an unfortunate odd thing I had to deal with, but it would be great if there was actually something I could do about it.
 
Hyperthyroidism (Grave's Disease) can cause heat intolerance/blushing, anxiety or "jumpy" feeling and high resting pulse - I'm not sure about the O2 sat.

Treatment consists of radioiodine therapy, antithyroid drugs, or thyroid surgery.

http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/graves/
 
Once your doc rules out thyroid, diabetes, etc. there's a good chance you suffer from hyperhidrosis, which is excessive sweating and/or blushing. It is estimated 3% of the population suffers from it. There are medications your doctor can prescribe such as anticholinergics. If you google hyperhidrosis, you will bring up dozens of sites offering ETS as a "cure". ETS is endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy where they destroy part of your nervous system. Defintely do not do this surgery unless you do extensive research and are fully aware of the potential side effects.

It is better to work with your doctor or a dermatologist and try medications. If the side effects are too severe, you can discontinue their use. Unlike ETS, once you have surgery, the side effects are something you will have to live with for the rest of your life.
 
You might want to give Oxybutynin a try, which seems to work wonders for people with excessive sweating problems.

I have a friend that experiences major facial and head sweating, and teh sweat just pours off his forehead, face, neck and hair. This seems to happen sometimes for no reason, but he always has a problem if the temperature or humidity becomes uncomfortable for him. A few years ago he started taking Oxybutynin extended release tablets (don't remember the brand but there are many) and he's no longer affected with excessive sweating. In fact, he's seems to have less problems than people without such a problem - he's as cool as a cucumber.
 
Back
Top