Hyperhidrosis Support Group
Primary hyperhidrosis is the condition characterized by abnormally increased perspiration, in excess of that required for regulation of body temperature. Some patients afflicted with the condition experience a distinct reduction in the quality of life. Sufferers feel at a loss of control because perspiration takes place independent of temperature and emotional state.
You guys!! I've had hyperhidrosis since I was about 6, I'm 27 now, and I think I've actually figured out what's wrong!! I was hugely deficient in potassium! Sodium and potassium act very similarly in the body, but sodium is delicious and potassium is... not so much. It's not awful though, and it's made an absolutely incredible difference for me. We are supposed to get about 700mg of sodium daily and 3000mg of potassium daily. I guarantee unless you're taking a potassium supplement that adds up to 3 grams, or eating a TON of fruits and vegetables, you're not getting enough potassium. The body gets rid of extra sodium by urinating and... you guessed it.... SWEATING!!! I've been chronically thirsty for my whole life too, and have learned to ignore it. Drinking lots of water makes me pee a lot. Eating table salt with the water retains it a little better, but I'm still thirsty. I switched my table salt to potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride, and have started eating it in rather large quantities. It tastes really nasty at first, but as your levels normalize, it begins to taste fine. If we need 3000mg of potassium; that's about SIX teaspoons of potassium chloride salt every day. It might be easiest to take potassium chloride pills, don't bother with potassium gluconate; you'll be taking 20 pills a day to get your 100% DRV. Hope this helps, my hands and feet have been almost totally dry for the first time EVER for the last three days!!!
PS. Western medical doctors don't know anything about nutritional deficiencies, so in my opinion, it's not helpful to ask your doctor.
PS. Western medical doctors don't know anything about nutritional deficiencies, so in my opinion, it's not helpful to ask your doctor.
The FDA comes up with its DRV numbers by giving someone just enough of a nutrient so that their deficiency symptoms go away. For example it takes 50 mg of vitamin C to prevent scurvy. But a goat makes 14000mg of vitamin C every day. Humans lost their ability to make vit C from sugar, and we are the only mammals that suffer from arteriosclerosis. So probably it's safe and a good idea to take extra C. Linus Pauling, the biochemist, took 10000mg of C a day, and lived to be 94. So, after reading that the FDA thinks we need 3000mg of potassium a day, I guessed I wasn't getting that much, and experimented with eating a bunch of potassium salt, and my hyperhidrosis stopped by the end of the day.
Oh and by the way, I goofed on the volume of salt, it would be more like one teaspoon to get 3000 mg of potassium. Sorry. :)
Fabinblacklisa134: yes I'm sure I need more potassium because I sweat so much. The body doesn't do logical things when it is unbalanced. Deficient potassium = more sweating = more deficient in potassium. Bummer. :)
Gardavid: no, buffered salt tablets are sodium salts.
Kristen4487: yes I'm still doing it, and yes it's still working!! The key to health in general is to give your body enough of everything it needs, and in this case with HH, it's water, sodium, and potassium. If the body has an excess of all three, it will balance the levels in the kidneys via peeing, so too much isn't as much of a problem as not enough (within reason). If you're deficient in one of the three, and you tend towards HH, your body will try to balance its levels (ineffectively) by sweating. Once it's levels are balanced, it will stop, but since you're starting with a deficiency of one thing, having less of the other two, and thusly becoming deficient in all three, doesn't solve your problem.
Now that my sodium and potassium intake is sufficient, I just need to be sure to drink enough water so my body has a way to get rid of excess amounts of the two salts. For the last few days I haven't been drinking enough water, and sure enough, the sweating came back (BAD!) even though I was taking potassium. I had to drink a BUNCH of water, like over a gallon in a day, and peed about 20 times (as my kidneys normalized my sodium and potassium levels) and by the end of the day, the sweating had stopped again. Hands are dry now as I type this. ;-)
So, for the folks who want to try this, expect to go through about a gallon or two of water in the first day or so as your salt levels normalize. You can work your way up to the 3g daily of potassium over a few days (I didn't and I'm fine) with supplements if you want, eat as much sodium table salt as tastes appealing (trust your body), and drink TONS of water. The amount of drinking and peeing will feel ridiculous while your levels are normalizing, but it stopped for me after about a day or so. Maybe dedicate a weekend at home to hanging out by the bathroom. :)
PS: I have a sense that someone is going to ask "Isn't drinking too much water dangerous?" Yes it is, if you are not also taking salt.
PPS: Nature's Way 'Alive!' tablets (3 a day) is the best quality, highest potency, least expensive multivitamin I have found. It doesn't have your necessary potassium, but it's got lots of the other goodies that your body uses to do its other stuff. It didn't make a difference with the HH, but in general, IMHO, it's a REALLY REALLY good idea.
PPPS: The potassium supplement I use is by NOW (orange label), potassium chloride powder. I'm pretty supplement crazy so I make my own capsules with a pill maker and empty pill cases from the same company. I don't know where else to get potassium chloride pills, but I haven't looked that closely since this works for me. I'm sure you can find something online. Making your own pills makes things way cheaper.
I take approximately a half teaspoon of this salt every day in pill form, but the product I mentioned comes as a powder, so I have to make my own pills.
abby: For your dance unit, eat potatoes, bananas, and tomatoes and other stuff found on this list:
http://www.thepotassiumrichfoods.com/
and drink plenty of water, and eat as much regular table salt as tastes good to you. Expect to pee a lot while your levels balance, and like my last post says, it can't hurt to take a multivitamin too. I don't know if you'll be able to find potassium chloride in a drug store or health food store, ask the sales person to show you which potassium supplement is the highest potency per pill they have. Check the DRV %, it will probably be like 9% per pill for chelated potassium, so you can take a bunch of them even tho it says to take 1. No one will buy a product if the bottle says "take ten" so the reason the DRV is so low per pill is a sales thing.
By the way how did you know your deficient in potassium.
Thank you.
1. I am 22 y.o . whats is the best dosage of potassium powder for me?
2. How many for a day?
3. amount of water that I should take daily?
4. Right food and what to avoid?
5. What is the name of the drug?
Thank you very much. I've been suffering from hyperhidrosis for 6 years . I hope you could help me ... :((((((((((((((((
Princeton, Christine. (2011). High Levels of Potassium & Sweating. Livestrong.com. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/299071-high-levels-of-potassium-sweating/