Sweating
 

I've read that one of the tests that can help with diagnosis is the QSART (I haven't had that done yet). My arms, legs, hands and feet never sweat, but my head, neck, and chest will get drenched if I get even slightly warm and have the nerve stinging. I read that this can be related to autonomic neuropathy and wondered if any of you have experienced excessive sweating in some areas with none in hands and feet.

I found this section on hyperhydrosis on a Medscape site and thought it was interesting:

"Hyperhidrosis frequently accompanies small-fiber peripheral neuropathies. Excessive sweating may occur as a compensatory phenomenon involving proximal regions, such as the head and trunk, that are spared in a dying-back neuropathy. In addition, patients with small-fiber peripheral neuropathies may have excessive distal sweating, presumably due to spontaneous firing of injured neurons."

Jan

I'm not sure if I have "excessive sweating" or not. I don't think I do--I mean, I sweat when it's hot outside, but I don't think it is excessive. However, I've had both the QSART test and the other sweat test (with the gold powder that turns purple when you sweat). My feet, especially the front half, don't sweat at all--and that is where the neuropathy and nerve damage is. Makes sense, I suppose. My results from the QSART came out normal--they did say that it would test for autonomic neuropathy. Do you plan to have this test done? Have you had the other sweat test (with the powder) done?

You are correct in that abnormal sweat patterns are an indication of autonomic neuropathy. Mayo Clinic in Rochester MA does a sweat test as part of their workup for neuropathy. I think your pattern would be considered abnormal. You strip down to a loin cloth, lie on a cart, then they cover your body with a yellow powder. They wheel you into a room that gets very warm from infrared lamps. They monitor your heartbeat and body temperature, as I recall. If you sweat, the yellow turns to purple. I was normal except for some small spots on my toes that did not sweat. My mother hardly sweat anywhere.
Electron