Dear doctor;

Whenever I hold anything in my hands, my palms always get wet. I also sweat a lot at night. Could I be having a problem that I’m not aware of?

Teopistar 40

Dear Teopistar,

One can have excess sweating causing wet palms due to a wide variety of causes. It is a medical condition affecting about 1.2% of people world over. Excess sweating causing wet palms occurs due to heightened activity of the sympathetic nervous system and can occur in response to stress or anxiety. This can occur occasionally in situations that make one anxious. Some people sweat excessively for no apparent reason but it stops when they fall asleep. Low blood sugar levels particularly at night can also cause sweating. Women can experience excess sweating around menopause as part of menopausal syndrome.

Obese people tend to sweat more and have wet palms. Diabetes, hyperthyroidism and some cancers can also cause excess sweating as one of the manifestations. Any high fever can cause excess sweating, when it comes down. Presence of any infection in the body can have excess sweating as one of the manifestations.

Someone suffering from TB may as well sweat in the night besides other symptoms such as fever and anorexia. One can also sweat if they have coronary heart disease while certain drugs used for hypertension, depression can also cause excess sweating.

The likely underlying cause for excess sweating in your case depends on how long or whether you have any associated problems like diabetes, chest pain, fever and loss of appetite. Learn to relax and be stress free. All conditions causing excess sweating are treatable.

Dr Rachna Pande is a specialist in internal medicine at Ruhengeri Hospital