What should I do if my hands and feet sweat a lot?

Sweating hands and feet may seem like a normal thing, but medically speaking it may also be a sign of disease. Especially in traditional Chinese medicine theory, sweating of hands and feet for no reason is often a sign of physical weakness, for men it is kidney deficiency, and for women it is yin deficiency. Moreover, excessive sweating of hands and feet has a great impact on life, and one may even be afraid to shake hands with others. So, what should you do when your hands and feet sweat a lot?

To cure sweaty hands and feet, we must first find out the cause and determine whether it is pathological hyperhidrosis. Pathological hyperhidrosis is caused by certain diseases. For example, patients with systemic diseases such as tuberculosis, rickets, some hyperthyroidism, diabetes and mental disorders may develop secondary hyperhidrosis of the hands. However, pathological hyperhidrosis is accompanied by other symptoms besides excessive sweating.

Excluding pathological diseases, the most effective way to cure sweaty hands and feet is mainly herbal Chinese medicine conditioning and surgical treatment. Other methods such as ionization therapy and antiperspirant lotion can only temporarily suppress excessive sweating but cannot fundamentally solve the problem of sweaty hands and feet. The current surgical method has been changed to thoracoscopic thoracic sympathectomy. Although it is effective quickly, patients often experience compensatory hyperhidrosis sequelae after surgery. Therefore, in unavoidable situations, it is more appropriate to give priority to herbal conditioning. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that excessive sweating of hands and feet is related to physical fitness, endocrine system, and organ dysfunction. It is generally caused by congenital deficiency (manifested as excessive sweating of hands and feet since childhood) or acquired malnutrition (no sweat before, but only in recent years). The patient has no disease basis. In such a situation, you should pay attention to quitting smoking and drinking, and eat less spicy and greasy food. For sweating caused by damp-heat in the spleen and stomach, Chinese medicine can use Sanren Decoction and Shenfu Baizhu Powder. It is recommended to eat more yam, coix seed, and white atractylodes. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, sweat is a metabolic product of body fluids, and blood and sweat have the same origin. Therefore, excessive sweating will consume energy, damage body fluids and harm heart blood. Although there are no symptoms that affect health, it should not be ignored.

1. Excessive sweating of hands and feet is medically known as "localized hyperhidrosis". You can take some anti-acetylcholine drugs such as atropine or propantheline appropriately. However, drugs such as tranquilizers and anti-acetylcholine have certain side effects and are not suitable for long-term use. Therefore, they are often used in conjunction with traditional Chinese medicine in clinical treatment.

2. According to traditional Chinese medicine, excessive sweating of hands and feet is caused by spleen and stomach dysfunction, which can be divided into the following two types: deficiency and excess:

1. People with weak spleen and stomach. The spleen and stomach have the function of transporting water and eliminating dampness. Once this function is weakened, dampness and heat will accumulate in the body. Dampness and heat tend to move downward, causing excessive sweating at the extremities, especially the feet, which is more common, accounting for 70% to 80%. For those with weak spleen and stomach, it is recommended to cook porridge with bitter gourd, coix seed, yam, red dates, lotus seeds and other ingredients that have spleen-strengthening effects. In addition, you should strengthen exercise. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that exercise can replenish yang energy and change physical weakness.

2. Patients with spleen and stomach excess syndrome. It is mostly caused by excessive drinking and overeating spicy, fatty and sweet foods, accompanied by symptoms such as bad breath, bitter mouth, constipation, yellow and turbid urine, and thick and greasy tongue coating. It is recommended to drink less alcohol and try not to eat spicy food.

3. Another method is surgical treatment. The sympathetic nerves that control the sweat glands in the hands are located in the second and third thoracic vertebrae, which are approximately located on the nipple line, and a little higher on both sides of the back spine. As long as the sympathetic nerves in these two sections are cut off, the purpose of stopping sweating in the hands can be achieved. Although surgical treatment for hand sweating is indeed effective, compensatory sweating often occurs after the hand sweating stops. Compensatory sweating means that after surgery, sweating in the upper body (above the nipples) almost stops, while the lower body is often wet. Except in extremely cold weather, compensatory sweating persists and does not decrease over time, but may increase instead. This is one of the most unbearable sequelae after surgery.