HOW I STOPPED SWEATING

The True Story About How I Got Over Hyperhidrosis

Remember: You should always seek a doctor with your excessive sweating!

I sought the doctor and fortunately there was no serious illness which caused my
sweating problem.
Unfortunately though, the doctors could not help me with my excessive
sweating.
Many of you might have had the same experience, and hopefully this book can
be of some help to you.
This is the true story about how I got over my sweating problem. Actually it isn't
really, but it is advice to get over excessive sweating, based on how I got over
excessive sweating. This advice have reduced my sweating to normal levels, and
all in all just made me a happy man. I sincerely hope to help people in the same
direction with this short writing.
The advice is based on my teenage life of sweating; on three years of daily
Internet research; mostly getting me nowhere. I wish I could have been reading
all this four years ago, because that would surely have saved me so much
suffering; bad self confidence, a bad insecure social life, despair and sadness.
Unfortunately I couldn't, and it took me about three painful years of heavy
Internet research and trial and error to discover what I have discovered. So what
I hopefully can do is to relieve other people's suffering then, and if I can help just
one person to get just a small percentage of the improvement I have had, this
has been more than worth writing, and I will be very happy.
So let us get to it!

I started sweating about four years ago, when I was 14. My sweating problem
was mainly in my armpit. I would sweat extremely much from my armpit and my
sweat spots were often the size of a small dish, and the odor was just terrible. I
would not always sweat however; for instance when I was completely relaxed I
did not sweat at all. But my sweating came if I got just the least excited; for
instance if I just spoke with someone, even a good friend, I could start sweating.
The amount of sweat was not constant and the more excited - positively or
negatively - I was, the worse I would sweat. I would also sweat a lot from my
hands and feet - so much that I could never get my hands totally dry. So it was
just bad, really bad.
Today I never sweat on my hands and my armpits are almost sweat free too.
The way I found a solution to my sweating problem was basically through
understanding its underlying causes. Understanding something is always what
enables you best to control that thing. Let us therefore take a look at the
physiology of sweating:
Human beings have two kinds of sweat glands; the apocrine sweat glands
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrine_sweat_glands) and the eccrine sweat
glands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccrine_sweat_gland). The apocrine glands
are those that are found in the armpit, and the reason sweat from the armpit
smells so bad, is that the apocrine glands excrete a fluid with a lot of hormones,
and it is the bacteria living in this fluid that causes the bad smell.
Sweat from the eccrine glands is very much just salt water, and that is the
reason that the sweat from your hands and feet doesn't smell bad, unless you
make a safe and warm environment for bacteria by putting on socks and shoes
on your feet or gloves on your hands.
What causes both these glands to excrete sweat then? The eccrine glands are
activated when one feels hot; either because it really is hot, or just because one
is nervous and therefore feels hot, which is why people sometimes also sweat all
over when they are nervous.
The apocrine sweat glands are also activated when the body is or feels hot, but
they can also excrete sweat when one is not hot - even when one is freezing,
which is really unpleasant. The reason for this is that the apocrine glands are
activated by adrenaline; the stress hormone which is released when we are
nervous or just excited in general.
You might have experienced sweating on your hands and perhaps other places
too when feeling nervous. This is because some eccrine sweat glands, for
instance those in your hands also can be activated by adrenaline:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j606606106757478/.
So the conclusion is that the excessive sweating most people experience; the
sweating that can also come when one is freezing, and for sure the excessive
sweating I had, is caused by adrenaline. This also fits the facts that people sweat
these places when they are nervous, because adrenaline is a stress hormone.1

But all people sweat when they are nervous right? Yes indeed, but the problem
is, at least my problem was, that the sweating doesn't just come when one is
really nervous, but even when one gets the least excited, and real nervousness
then releases extreme sweating.
So what causes this? As far as I can tell it must basically be that the sweat
glands are either overactive to the triggering of adrenaline, or that there is just
too much adrenaline in the body. I think both things might have been the case
for me.
No matter which of the two might be true, it should be true that sweating could
be diminished in both cases, if the level of adrenaline could be lowered.2
So how is adrenaline released in the body? As anything in the body the release of
adrenaline is rather complex, but basically we can simplify it to this; anxiety or
excitement is felt; which means there is a certain high activity in the amygdala,
which is a structure in the brain which we share with reptiles, birds and other
mammals. This activity leads to activity in hypothalamus, which is also located in
the brain, which then regulates the pituitary gland which is a small gland under
hypothalamus, and this gland sends signals to our adrenal glands, which is on
top of our kidneys. Our adrenal glands then excrete the adrenaline into our blood
flow.
This release of adrenaline is part of what is called the sympathetic nervous
system. You may have read many places that sweating is caused by an
overactive nervous system.
So what causes an overactive sympathetic nervous system? What makes there
be too much adrenaline in our bodies?
From the description I just gave, we could assume that each of the individual four
parts of the body that I just described could cause too much adrenaline and
thereby too much sweating. Indeed it can be, and when seeing a doctor with
excessive sweating, the doctor should examine - from a urine sample taken right
after you wake up in the morning - whether there could be tumor in your
hypothalamus, pituitary gland or adrenal gland.3
We can not really effect any of these three directly, because the activity in the
amygdala automatically and unconsciously leads to this cascade. We can
however try to diminish the activity in our amygdala.
This is done by avoiding excitement, or rather over-excitement, for instance felt
when one is nervous or just over the top excited about something one is going to
do. These feelings are only natural, so of course no one can or should avoid, at
least the positive excitement, for the rest of their lives. What we can do is
however to try and relax as often as possible, which most people surely could
and should do more often for their own best. For instance stop worrying so much
about things in the past and in the future, and take things more easily and in-themoment. Meditation can be very helpful to help you relax more.

So this is the first advice which we can give based on our understanding of the
underlying causes of sweating: RELAX!
It is of course an obvious one; do not stress and be relaxed, and that is probably
what you are trying to do most when the sweating is coming. Unfortunately it is
also what is hardest to do when the sweating is coming, because if anything is
not relaxing, it is to sweat. It often results in an evil circle where more sweat
causes more nervousness which causes more sweat etc.
My advice is to keep on relaxing when you are about to sweat, but as importantly
to relax totally when you are not sweating. It is extremely helpful to take it easy
and to become good at relaxing, because it really is a kind of skill you can
practice and get good at.
An important factor in being relaxed is to breath properly, which is a good thing
to learn:
http://john-richard-roberts.suite101.com/breathing-dysfunction-can-causeillhealth-a172692.
The good thing is that the return from sweating is a good circle, because when
you sweat less you will also become less stressed, I did at least, and then there
would be even less sweat etc.
Relaxing might seem an obvious advice to relieve sweating, but I have found
another thing apart from being too excited which can cause an overactive
sympathetic nervous system, which is not so commonly known, and that is too
many ejaculations:
http://www.ayurvediccure.com/over_masturbation.htm
http://www.prostate-massage-and-health. ... ation.html
As you can read in these links, too many ejaculations can cause an overactive
sympathetic nervous system. How many are too many? The recommendation
seems to be 2-3 times a week, but of course ejaculation is not dangerous in the
double or triple amounts. The problem is however that I once could do it ten
times more than recommended; I could easily ejaculate 20-30 times a week, and
doing that for a long time surely made my sweating a terrible problem, and
perhaps that was what made me sweat so badly in the first place. I do not know
to any detail how ejaculations cause the sympathetic nervous system to become
overactive; what it specifically changes physiologically, but the end message is
that it does.
So that is my second advice: CUT DOWN ON EJACULATIONS!
The reason I was able to ejaculate so much was mainly due to Internet
pornography. This made me able to keep on doing it in unnatural amounts, and
because it is not as satisfying as the real thing, one never quite gets satisfied.

Porn also seems to have been a major cause of my sweating. Porn surely makes
one excited, and therefore it makes the amygdala highly active, which we know
triggers our sweating. I know porn played a significant role in my sweating,
because I had a long period, where I did not watch porn, but where I still had
ejaculations quite often. Then I tried watching some porn, and the same day I
started sweating more than I had done for many months.
So my third advice is: CUT DOWN ON PORN!
See in the back for a link to a good youtube-video on porn and the brain and
other informative links.
Watching porn and social anxiety also seems to be related in many cases, and
that can also create an evil circle, where one is watching porn to relieve the
anxiety, which then just makes it worse.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cup ... g-too-much
I think porn has been a kind of drug for me, and that the abstinence from this
drug is what has helped me. I think this drug might have changed or ruined
some neurotransmitters, and these seemed to have recovered within the year
my recovery took. The following quote seems to back that up: "Some studies
have suggested that receptors for neurotransmitters may be repaired some 9 to
14 months after abstinence from the drug(s)". Quoted from:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles ... _diet.html.
Now I am not even suggesting that too many ejaculations or too much porn is
the cause of your excessive sweating, but just that these can cause an
overactive sympathetic nervous system. You probably have a good idea yourself
whether your problem is caused by this or not. If you do any of the two
excessively, you might want to try to cut back on them.
Even if this is in no way what causes your sweating, the lesson from this might
still be useful, because the more general lesson, at least from the porn, is that
one should avoid avoidable activity which is exciting one to high levels of
excitement. It is worth thinking about what could be too exciting, and try cutting
back on it.
This should make my fourth advice: CUT DOWN ON OVEREXCITING ACTIVITIES!
Another good advice is to remember to eat. This may seem like a quite basic bit
of advice, but you should want to be well sated and avoid being hungry, because
when we are hungry, we release adrenaline, and no matter what, it is just a good
idea to remember to eat, and eat to well.
That would be a fifth advice to remember: BE WELL SATED!
I have now presented all my advice to keep the sympathetic nervous system
more steady. There are however other good practices which have eased my
sweating problem. These are perhaps a bit basic, but I will give them anyway,
because I did not really follow them, and it is important to do that.

The first advice is one about clothing. You should always wear clothes that make
you feel comfortable. Picking clothes that allows your sweaty places to breath
will decrease your sweating and the odor. As I mentioned about smelly feet; this
only comes when you have socks on. If you want to get over that, you should
remember to let them breath. The same thing applies to your armpits. It is a
good idea to wear a big loose t-shirt and avoid too tight shirts, because these
just get clear and terrible sweat spots, which is embarrassing, which is then
again sweat promoting. Secondly they make a great environment for bacteria
creating a bad odor.
So another advice is: LET YOUR SWEAT SPOTS BREATHE!
Walk barefooted as much as you can and wear loose cloth, as long as it is
comfortable of course.
Another good advice is to hide your sweat spots. I continued wearing semi-tight
t-shirts for a long while even though I was sweating a lot. It was a bit like I denied
to give up; I could not accept my sweating problem. It was stupid, because it
embarrassed me a lot every time. I have found it is just better to hide it, and I
have found a great way to do this. Apart from just wearing loose white or black
shirts I often wear a loosely fitting shirt outside on a loosely fitting t-shirt. This
keeps me confident and unworried about sweating, because no one can tell if I
am sweating. That helps a lot, because the reduced stress leads to reduced
sweating. An open shirt has therefore just become sort of my style.
This advice could be called: HIDE YOUR SWEAT SPOTS
Another good advice is to wash often and thoroughly. It really helps to wash daily
and to wash the armpits extremely well. I mean soaping them in, washing the
soap away, and soaping them in again and washing that away. This really does
work wonders, and especially if one stays at it and makes it a routine.
So remember to: WASH OFTEN AND THOROUGLY!
Finally I advice you to shave your armpits. I usually considered myself too macho
to shave my armpits, but when I tried it and experienced a small reduction in the
amount of sweat, and an enormous reduction in smell, I had no doubt that it was
a good thing to do. It is really the most hygienic thing to do, and I have also
found out that it is not so uncommon for males to shave their armpits.
My ninth and last advice is then to: SHAVE YOUR ARMPITS!
There are a lot of treatment options out there that I have not mentioned,
because I got over my problem without them. The only common treatment
option I have tried is deodorants with high amounts of aluminum-chloride, and I
can not recommend them from my own experience. I tried one with 20 % and it
burned my armpits and it was just an extremely painful experience. It might help
on you, but please be careful. Use very little the first time, and see how you
react. If it hurts you a bit, I would stop using it, because the second time it will be
so much worse.

There are also more drastic methods, which you perhaps know of. There is the
option of surgery, which you should of course be careful with. I have no
experience with any of it myself, but I have read of something called a sweat
gland suction, which should be a pretty safe way to remove the sweat glands in
the armpit, but be sure to be well-considered and speak with somebody about it
before doing any thing.
There is also the option of iontophoresis, which should be pretty safe. I once
considered to buy such an apparatus, but never did, so I have no experience with
it.
There are also drugs and botox injections as commonly mentioned options, but I
would be very careful with both of them.
I am happy I got over sweating without any of these means and hopefully you
can too, but if not, you might want to consider some of these; I surely would if
my problem had not gotten better, but consider it well, and let it be a last option.
In conclusion I just want to recapture all the advice I have given, which helped
away my problem of excessive sweating:
RELAX!
CUT DOWN ON EJACULATIONS!
CUT DOWN ON PORN!
CUT DOWN ON OVEREXCITING ACTIVITIES!
BE WELL SATED!
LET YOUR SWEAT SPOTS BREATHE!
HIDE YOUR SWEAT SPOTS!
WASH OFTEN AND THOROUGLY!
SHAVE YOUR ARMPITS!
All this have made me go from sweating excessively to normally. It has changed
excessive sweating from being my biggest personal problem to a bad memory. I
never thought I should say that, but I am so happy to be able to. Honestly the
main reason that things got better were cutting down on ejaculations and porn,
and it was when I stopped doing this excessively that I stopped sweating
excessively.
This did not happen quickly and easily. The improvements were very slow to
discover and a lot of patience was required, but over time the improvements
have been huge and just indescribable. I can only recommend you to keep at it,
because there is hope, and it is possible to improve your sweating problem.

I hope that you can overcome your excessive sweating and experience the same
improvement, which I have been so fortunate to experience.
I wish you good luck and all the best :)
Links
In my experience it has been really hard to find a good source of information for
excessive sweating, and that is one of the reasons I wrote this, but there are
some that are pretty helpful. Unfortunately there also seems to be a lot of bogus
that takes advantage of how desperate people are to get over this problem. My
advice is that you should not believe any promises of an easy solution, because if
there was one, we would probably have heard of it.
Here are some links I have found helpful and informative during my quest to stop
sweating:
Generally about excessive sweating:
http://www.sweaty-palms.com/sympt.html
www.hyperhidrosis.org/
http://www.excessive-sweating.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperhidrosis
About the sympathetic nervous system:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_system
The consequences of pornography:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKDFsLi2oBk (Six parts. Follow links to see all
of them)
http://bigthink.com/ideas/24030
http://www.wired.com/science/discoverie ... 4/11/65772
http://www.netnanny.com/blog/entry/id/29
http://social-masters.com/blog/porn-cau ... al-anxiety
http://www.reuniting.info/science/three ... about_porn
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/disco ... n-anxiety/
Notes