Sweating

[erikainorlando]

I have noticed that in the early afternoon...pretty much as I am having to sit or lay down and am beginning to feel very ill I sweat. I don't really think it is even related that much to temperature. I think my body just gets so taxed from so little and I start to sweat and don't feel well at all. It is a lot like when I am sick with a flu type symptom. Not much sweating when I am more rested or have been laying down.

Anyone else? I know many of you don't sweat at all....not sure which is better.

Erika

[ramakentesh]

When you reach your limit and for one of various reason, blood flow to your heart and brain begins to wane your body shoots of bucket loads of epinephrine and more principally norepinephrine in a bid to reregulate this blood pooling/blood flow abnormality. Do you tremble when you sweat or feel jittery?

WHen Im bad I feel clammy, sweaty, my palms are wet and my throat gets hot.

[flop]

Abnormal sweating is a symptom of autonomic dysfunction. It varies from person to person - some don't sweat at all, some sweat loads, some sweat in different places to the average person.

It makes sense that when you are experiencing autonomic symptoms is when a sweating issue would show itself.

Durring my latest tilt test it was commented by the doctor that I was sweating profusely on my upper-lip, chin, neck and down the centre of my chest. I always seem to sweat in the midline front and back but not much on my limbs or sides!

Flop

[erikainorlando]

Well...then that is it. I am so grateful for the knowledge here. I do also feel jittery and sometimes shake when it is all to much...then I sweat...not profusely but I was always one to be cold and relly not sweat much at all. Even if i turn the ac on cooler I am just cold but still sweating in spots then...

Thanks for the help!

Erika

[toddm1960]

Well...then that is it. I am so grateful for the knowledge here. I do also feel jittery and sometimes shake when it is all to much...then I sweat...not profusely but I was always one to be cold and relly not sweat much at all. Even if i turn the ac on cooler I am just cold but still sweating in spots then...

Thanks for the help!

Erika

Hey Erika,

I get the exact same feeling, I always blamed it on hypoglycemia. I agree with you that it's nice to find others going through the same things as yourself.

[fire_lupine06]

The other evening it was 75 and i had to mow the yard...and i didnt sweat at all...odd huh?

[ramakentesh]

If you are sweating too much it much more likely to be an excessive norepinephrine/epinephrine response to standing than to autonomic function (which in most POTS patients is suggested to be either partial denervation which would equate to less sweating or patchy distal denervation - irregular sweating patterns).

Sweating is probably a poorer tool in determining the disfunctions present that blood pooling location.

I wouldnt assume it was hypoglycemia. Have you been diagnosed with that?? In POTS when blood flow to the heart and brain become sluggish the body shoots off norepinephrine/epinephrine to re-regulate it - and that will produce all of those symptoms.

[bjt22]

I basically don't sweat at all. But you want to hear something really odd? I often FEEL as if I was sweating or that I should sweat when nothing is there.

[toddm1960]

If you are sweating too much it much more likely to be an excessive norepinephrine/epinephrine response to standing than to autonomic function (which in most POTS patients is suggested to be either partial denervation which would equate to less sweating or patchy distal denervation - irregular sweating patterns).

Sweating is probably a poorer tool in determining the disfunctions present that blood pooling location.

I wouldnt assume it was hypoglycemia. Have you been diagnosed with that?? In POTS when blood flow to the heart and brain become sluggish the body shoots off norepinephrine/epinephrine to re-regulate it - and that will produce all of those symptoms.

Hey Ram,

I really do like reading your responses, I've learned alot about OI or at least have been pushed to look different things up online. I was tested for hypoglycemia, and was neg but boy that's what it feels like when I get the clammy sweats and minor internal tremors. I seem to fall into the normal flow POTS, because I have the cold hands, feet and nose but bad stomach bloating. I am also flush almost all the time, but doesn't seem to follow mast cell. So again thanks for the info, and Erica good luck finding what may be behind your sweats.

[flop]

Ramakentesh,

my understanding is that dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is what causes the problems with blood distribution. One of the body's ways to attempt to compensate for abnormal blood distribution is to release hormones such as norepinepherine/epinepherine to try to regulate the blood pressure.

Both the Cholinergic sweat glands (thermoregulatory) and the Adrenergic sweat glands (eg nervous sweating on palms) are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system (part of the ANS). The presence of Acetylcholine stimulates the Cholinergic sweat glands and Norepinepherine the Adrenergic sweat glands.

The increased sweating could be directly due to the presence of increased norepinepherine when upright (ie secondary to ANS dysfunction). BUT it could also be purely due to dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system.

Earlier I mentioned that I had pronounced abnormal facial / chest sweating durring a tilt test. That was the same TTT that I had my catecholamine levels measured - my norepinepherine level was normal.

Sorry if that has just muddied the waters - nothing is straightforwards in POTS!

Flop

[firewatcher]

During my ANS testing, I sweated only on my face, hands and feet...all of which were cold to the touch. Even during exercise, I usually only sweat in those places, it takes a lot of exercise to get anything else to perspire. If I do not take my BB, my hands shake, sweat profusely (dripping) and are ice cold.

[ramakentesh]

my understanding is that dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is what causes the problems with blood distribution. One of the body's ways to attempt to compensate for abnormal blood distribution is to release hormones such as norepinepherine/epinepherine to try to regulate the blood pressure.

The cause of the circulatory disfunction in POTS is still being debated and researched. There isnt concensus that POTS is caused by ANS disfunction itself and in fact in the majority of cases, other mechanisms have more recently been implicated.

In those who do seem to exhibit partial dysautonomia as a cause of POTS the ANS dysfunction isnt a complicated form of Dysautonomia. Its been assumed through the work of Dr.Grubb and Dr.Stewart and others to be a postviral autoimmune peripheral neuropathy - a partial or distal denervation of the legs that reduces the natural vasoconstrictive response.

More recent work on POTS has demonstrated that a substantial subset of POTS patients suffer symptoms because of elevated angiontensin II levels which reduces the bioavailability of one of the bodies main endothelial vasodilators - Nitric oxide.

Other causes such as increased nitric oxide and other inflammatory vasodilating peptides, faulty parasympathetic nervous system responses to orthostatic stress (leading to unopposed sympathetic activity) and NET deficiency are still being actively researched.

Therefore, arguments about the causes of sweating in POTS are based on assumptions about the causes of the condition itself.