Too hot? Don’t sweat it — there are solutions to excessive perspiration

Lauren La Rose, The Associated Press Jul 3, 2012 – 4:24 PM ET

Eric Miller / Reuters

Whether it’s stifling, humid conditions, vigorous exercise or plain old stress that’s the trigger, trickles or torrents of sweat streaming from the body will undoubtedly follow.

From cool beads dribbling from foreheads to the damp trails on chests, backs and underarms, the outbreak of patches of perspiration in response to anxiety, warm weather or workouts is inevitable. Yet some people cope with even more extreme amounts of sweat.

Primary hyperhidrosis may have a genetic or hereditary link and is typically characterized by excessive sweating of various regions of the body, including feet, hands, under breasts, the groin and armpits. When the cause of excessive sweating is correlated to another disorder — such as hyperthyroidism or menopause — it’s known as secondary hyperhidrosis.

“Basically, if your sweating is enough that it interferes with your daily activities of your life, you probably have hyperhidrosis,” Dr. Nowell Solish, a Toronto-based cosmetic dermatologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

“It’s not sweating when you exercise and work out — it’s sweating all the time. Even in the winter, even when you’re home watching TV.”

Those with hyperhidrosis may have to change shirts repeatedly within a day, avoid raising arms in public or steer clear of shaking people’s hands due to excessive sweating, Solish noted. He said the condition’s cause remains unknown.

“It’s probably something in the brain, we don’t know exactly for sure,” said Solish. “The glands are normal. It’s just they’re being signalled to sweat when they don’t need to be.

“We think it’s probably some signal from the brain coming down, or that the glands are too sensitive to the signal that they’re sweating more than they’re needed to maintain normal temperature and water control.”

One of the treatments for hyperhidrosis is Botox. When used for cosmetic or medical reasons — like smoothing fine lines in the face — Botox blocks the signal from the nerve to the muscle to move.

“If you put Botox around the sweat gland, even if the nerve is signalling it to sweat, the signal doesn’t reach the sweat gland, and you don’t sweat as much,” said Solish.

If the excessive sweating occurs in the underarms, Solish said the first line of treatment would be to try a clinical strength anti-perspirant, which doesn’t require a prescription but is available behind the counter at pharmacies. If proven ineffective, Botox is an option. But if the injections don’t work, Solish said those suffering can pursue surgery as a possibility to have sweat glands removed.

There are alternative treatments to address hyperhidrosis.

Elena Krasnov of Toronto Naturopathic Clinic said she has treated patients coping with excessive sweating with general detoxification. She uses a blend of different herbs that are somewhat diluted that patients can mix with water to sip throughout the day. The naturopathic doctor said this promotes cleansing of deep lymphatic tissues and said several patients she’s treated have seen improvements.

Licensed acupuncturist Ellice Yang of Acutoronto said many people come to her clinic in search of a non-invasive treatment approach to not just address sweating, but its core cause.

“An emotional issue like stress can trigger [it], anxiety can trigger [it] — especially if it’s a secondary hyperhidrosis. Somtimes it can be an autoimmune condition,” said Yang, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine.

“So all of these things acupuncture can help — not just the symptom of sweating, but addressing the root cause of the hyperhidrosis.”

But first, Yang advises patients to ensure their hyperhidrosis is diagnosed with their doctor. She also recommends they have bloodwork and testing conducted to rule out certain root causes, such as a thyroid hormone issue.

Yang said acupuncture can be beneficial by helping to balance overstimulated nerves and prevent them from being overactive. That, in turn, helps to reduce sweating and aid the body to regulate temperature, she added.

She typically recommends patients participate in eight to 10 acupuncture sessions that can be combined with intake of herbs in pill format or granular or powdered teas ingested once daily.

“The herbs work in the same way as acupuncture to bring balance to the body.”

As if the presence of perspiration wasn’t enough to contend with, there are instances where some people may emit a particularly pungent odour. But Solish said the scent is not correlated to the amount of sweat but rather a buildup of bacteria.

“If you think of a pond and a stream, a running stream doesn’t smell. But, around a pond where the water is more stagnant, it tends to smell a little bit more because bacteria and moss and things can grow around that stagnant water,” said Solish.

“So the same thing is in the underarms. If there’s a lot of flowing water, people sweating a lot, it tends not to be odour. But, if they’re sweating a little bit and it’s bacteria growing under there, then they can have a little bit of odour associated with it.”

Solish said it doesn’t have to take a long time for bacteria to grow — some people are just more prone to it. By controlling the sweating, the odour tends to disappear, he added.

For those looking to keep bacteria and bad odours at bay, they may consider opting for an herbal astringent, said Krasnov, a member of the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors.

She recommends placing a couple of drops of an essential oil into a spray bottle with filtered water. The concoction can be used as a body splash following a shower or bath or throughout the day as needed, she noted. Both rosemary and tea tree oils have antifungal and antibacterial properties, as does Calendula flower extract.

“I don’t think it will necessarily keep you drier — but it will keep you fresher,” said Krasnov.

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Acupuncture Prevent Heart Attacks? - New Research

04 July 2012

New research concludes that acupuncture improves heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is the variation in time between heart beats and is an index of the body’s ability to maintain control of the heart beat rate and rhythm through vagus nerve activity. Reduced HRV is linked to mortality after myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and diabetic neuropathy. Based on the HRV evidence, the researchers state that acupuncture may synchronize the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) - the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. 

In related current research from the University of California, acupuncture has been shown to reduce high blood pressure (hypertension), protect heart tissue from damage and to reduce arrhythmias. Investigators from the University of California in both Irvine and Los Angeles “have shown that electroacupuncture stimulation activates neurons” in specific brain regions thereby reducing hypertension. The researchers successfully mapped the brain network stimulated by acupuncture and demonstrated that acupuncture reduces high blood pressure (HBP) by downregulating pathological excesses emitted by the sympathetic nervous system. The acupuncture points in the study proven to have this effect are located on the arm: P5, P6, LI10 and LI11.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. These findings demonstrate that acupuncture is a successful tool in benefitting the heart. Acupuncture has been proven to prevent heart tissue damage, reduce arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and acupuncture has been shown to reduce high blood pressure.

References: 

Acupuncture and heart rate variability: a systems level approach to understanding mechanism. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 12 (Suppl 1), P302. B Anderson, A Nielsen, B Kligler, and D McKee.

Kurono Y, Minagawa M, Ishigami T, Yamada A, Kakamu T, Hayano J. Auton Neurosci. Acupuncture to Danzhong but not to Zhongting increases the cardiac vagal component of heart rate variability. 2011 Apr 26;161(1-2):116-20. Epub 2011 Jan 7.

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 878673, 9 pages. doi:10.1155/2012/878673. Neuroendocrine Mechanisms of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Hypertension. Wei Zhou and John C. Longhurst. Department of Anesthesiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA. Department of Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA.

Acupuncture Help For Fertility

WEBWIRE – Wednesday, July 04, 2012

A natural way to help couples with low fertility has been promoted in a new ebook written by acupuncturist Alan Rouse and published with Amazon Kindle.    He says that many of these people are often not infertile but just unhealthy and unable to conceive.

“Many older couples in their late thirties and early forties find that they are unable to conceive but they often forget that their bodies have had a hard life,” he says.  “As we get older years of poor circulation resulting in a partial blockage of vital tubes makes conceiving virtually impossible.”

He says that a general poor lifestyle takes the body away from the ideal conceiving age of the early twenties.  This applies to both men and women but particularly to women,  who spend years suppressing their systems with the pill, often blocking the body’s cries for help.

“These people have little or no chance to conceive using expensive artificial aids like IVF, IUI and ICSI,” he says.   “They pay for expensive courses of fertility stimulation without attempting to assess what is wrong with their body systems, expecting a damaged body to produce a baby if they throw money at it.”

In his short book “How Acupuncture Can Help Fertility” this English practitioner says that a detailed examination by a fully-trained Traditional Chinese Acupuncturist will soon uncover what the problem is.   Acupuncture had the ability to put things right and get things working properly again.  

Acupuncture is able to clear the system and stimulate sluggish organs, he says.   It is one of the few natural treatments that is able to change the inside organs and get them working efficiently.   And for people who are planning to have IVF, he says that a three-month course of acupuncture beforehand will make conception that much more certain.
 
His book has chapters to help both men and women with fertility problems.   The book is studded with helpful facts and includes published statistics that prove the effectiveness of acupuncture.

Acupuncture may help some people with COPD: study

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Three months of acupuncture improved breathing problems in people with chronic lung disease, in a new study from Japan.

According to one researcher, the benefits seen with the alternative treatment were on par with, or better than, what's been shown for conventional drugs and exercises used to treat the disease. But the study was small, he added, and more research will be needed to convince doctors and policymakers of acupuncture's usefulness.

"We don't know if this is going to extend life, but the study suggests it improves quality of life," said Dr. George Lewith, from the University of Southampton in England.

"If I had enough money and I was the patient, I would give acupuncture a try."

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is irreversible impairment of lung function, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, often caused by smoking. One large national health survey suggested 24 million Americans have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shortness of breath is one of the main symptoms of COPD. Typical treatment includes steroids and bronchodilators, as well as breathing exercises.

Because of that, it's not totally surprising that an alternative therapy known to promote relaxation would help patients with breathing problems, according to Lewith.

"What acupuncture does is it seems to relax all the muscles around the chest wall," said Lewith, who wrote a commentary published with the new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"It's absolutely consistent with what we're trying to do conventionally, which is help with their breathing exercises and their relaxation techniques."

STUDY INCLUDED ‘FAKE' ACUPUNCTURE

The new findings are based on 68 patients treated with real or fake acupuncture. More robust studies will be needed before health insurance companies and programs like Medicare, for example, start funding acupuncture for this group, Lewith said.

For this study, researchers led by Masao Suzuki from Kyoto University in Japan randomly spilt patients with COPD and trouble breathing into two groups.

Half of them had weekly acupuncture sessions, with needles placed at points on the arms, stomach, back, chest and legs that have been tied to asthma and other lung problems. Participants in the comparison group went through similar sessions but with sham acupuncture treatment -- when practitioners use needles that don't actually pierce the skin.

All patients were allowed to stay on whatever medications they were already taking.

Before starting treatment and at the end of the 12 weeks, patients did a standard six-minute walking test when researchers measured how far they got in that time and how much breathing trouble they had doing it.

Breathlessness was assessed on a standard 10-point scale, with 10 representing the most difficulty breathing.

In the real acupuncture group, shortness of breath was initially rated at 5.5 out of 10 after walking. After 12 weeks of treatment, that fell to 1.9. The average distance those patients were able to walk in six minutes also improved, from about 370 meters to 440 meters.

In the comparison group, breathlessness scores held steady -- at 4.2 before treatment and 4.6 after -- and there was no improvement in patients' walk distance.

"In a disease like COPD, we need to expand our thinking and come up with varying strategies to improve quality of life and relieve breathlessness," said Dr. Ravi Kalhan, head of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine's asthma and COPD program in Chicago.

Some patients respond better to conventional medications than others, he said -- and it's promising that people in the new study seemed to benefit from acupuncture over and above the effect of those drugs.

Costs of acupuncture vary widely by location and practitioner, but a single session can run for about $100 and is often not covered by insurance. That may not be feasible for typical COPD patients, according to Lewith, who are often older and working class.

But for people who can spare the cost, the researchers agreed there's nothing stopping them from trying out the alternative therapy.

"For me, as long as the therapy is safe and someone wants to try it and it might help and won't hurt, I absolutely encourage it," Kalhan, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

"I don't think we have enough of a data base to recommend it and say: ‘This is going to help you,'" he said. "I would always prioritize traditional medicine over this right now."

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