Hyperhidrosis, perspiration or excessive and abnormal sweating Bilateral Sympothectomy

Hyperhidrosis or excessive and abnormal sweating can be localized to specific parts of the body. Hands, feet, armpits, and the groin area are among the most active regions of perspiration due to the relatively high concentration of sweat glands. When excessive sweating is localized (e.g. palms, soles, face, underarms, scalp) it is referred to as primary or focal hyperhidrosis. Generalized or secondary hyperhidrosis usually involves the body as a whole and is the result of an underlying condition. Primary must be distinguished from secondary hyperhidrosis, which can start at any point in life. The latter form may be due to a disorder of the thyroid or pituitary glands, diabetes mellitus, tumors, gout, menopause, certain drugs, or mercury poisoning. Other conditions might be related to people with:
a past history of spinal cord injuries
Autonomic dysreflexia
Orthostatic hypotension
Posttraumatic syringomyelia
Associated with peripheral neuropathies
Associated with probable brain lesions
Associated with intrathoracic neoplasms or lesions
Associated with systemic medical problems
Familial dysautonomia (Riley-Day syndrome)
Congenital autonomic dysfunction with universal pain loss
Exposure to cold, notably associated with cold-induced sweating syndrome
Episodic with hypothermia (Hines and Bannick syndrome)
Episodic without hypothermia
Pheochromocytoma
Parkinson’s disease
Thyrotoxicosis
Diabetes mellitus
Congestive heart failure
Olfactory
Anxiety
Menopausal state
Night sweats

Surgery treatments include Bilateral Sympothectomy, which problem was demonstrated by a significant number of patients who underwent sympathectomy at the same level for hand sweating, but who then presented a reduction or elimination of feet sweating, in contrast to others who were not effected in this way. No reliable operation exists for foot sweating per se.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are extremely successful in the treatment of sweating. In fact, how one sweats is a key factor in identifying disharmony within the body. Sweat is considered a fundamental substance in Chinese medical text and is studied in-depth. Treatment of sweating has to be differentiated into underlining disharmony or unbalance. Therefore, either acupuncture and herbal therapy need to address sweating, and most important the underling conditions.