Sarah....

Yes, you can count me in on the devestating sweating...I have never been a person to "sweat" nor mind the heat.... but I do go thru blocks of time ie.. months of profuse untimeable sweating...Just as I woke up from having my SCS implant put in I began sweating and at that time it lasted for a few months on and off. I asked my doctor many times if possibly it be my age... I'll tell you..I am 47 yrs. old... she said it is the RSD without a doubt.. as I had a hysterectomy years ago. Iam not having this issue of sweating at this time but I have had it come and go several times having it last for manoths at a time...Hang in there.. I know it is troublesome.. but just another bonus of having RSD.

KS

I think, if you have rsd, you have by definition, sweating issues. "Changes" are what seem to set it off. Change in your mood, the temperature, the wind, the humidity, the barometric pressure, your blood pressure, someone looks at you funny, someone says somethiing that annoys you, someone says something that delights you.

Anything that "changes" something that your body or, SNS, responds to, seems to set it off. It's like the odd hair / nail changes, just more instantaneous.

As I'm getting more severe, I find great difficulty drying off after a shower.
I hafto take a real cool shower at least at the end, to try to close up my pores, sometimes it works, sometimes no luck.

I'm sure there's another prescription that can be tried, I'm just so sick of pills....

One trick I do use, is I spray myself with anti perspirant, on places where it gets bad, for me.

Good luck,

Pete

Hi Sarah,

You're not alone!! I had a horrible time with sweating for a few months, especially round my head and face, but it's gone again. It seems to come and go. We're not known for our hot weather in Scotland, so I can't blame it on that.

I also get the nail changes which Pete mentioned, rapid growth for a few weeks, then nothing. I don't mind that so much, I've always had short nails so it's nice to have them long for a change. Unfortunately, it's only on my RSD hand so I look a bit odd.

Hope you're ok, I'm sorry that doesn't help much. Take care.

Oh man! I've felt like I've been going through "the changes" for the last ten years. I cannot regulate my body temperature. I get all hot and sweaty out of nowhere. When I'm like this I can't stand being touched. Normally I love curling up with my boyfriend, and at first he used to take it personally that I didn't want to be touched. Now he knows that it has nothing to do with him, and we have a little code. If he goes to grab my hand or hug me and I am too hot, I just say "I'm icky" and he leaves me alone. And then when I cool down I make sure that I am affectionate toward him, because I really don't want his feelings hurt.

It's hard sometimes navigating a relationship with this stuff. I am just very very thankful that my boy is so kind and patient. I think it makes me be kinder to myself sometimes.

Pete- I totally get the shower thing! Sometimes I have to go lay down after showering because I get so overheated and sweaty after a hot shower. Just imagine if you had really long hair and then had to go blow dry it! I usually shower at night to avoid that quandary. The blow dryer can turn me into a little inferno!

Lynns

Hiya Lynns,
I DID have long hair, ( I sent 3 pony tails to locks of love ), no more of that!

Still, even with it short, I can get completely dry, and I'll get sweaty from ear to ear around the bottom of my hair. So, as soon as I get dry, I spray with anti perspirant there.
(Ever see those AXE kids commercials for applying the stuff on a skateboard?) I feel like that sometimes, quick get it on while I'm dry!~

But besides that, you raised a new issue for a new thread. Dealing with Relationships, with rsd!

We all have little tricks, and, need some new ones!

Be well, and try to stay dry!
(I just came in from 20 degree weather, and I'm sweating.) Figure?

Pete

In addition to all of the great advice above, you may want to talk to your doc about a TB test and see if that makes sense. Night sweats are a predominant symptom.

The biggest help I have found is a hairdryer at walmart that blows continuous cool air. I have had rsd for 21 yrs and the sweating definitely goes in cycles and it doesn't matter if its summer or winter. Hope it down cycles for you soon.

Hi Sarah and Welcome-the sweating goes with RSD because it's an autonomic disorder. Our sympathetic nervous system controls body temperature, circulation and and the immune system. So I try to build my immune system up with eating healthy foods. Exercise, stretching to keep the circulation going. Swimming is one of the best-water needs to be 86 degrees. I live in Arizona, which gets to 110 and higher in the summer. That's a huge challenge, but the winters are mild and that's a blessing. We have company 2-3 times a year in the winter of friends wanting abreak from cold, rain, snow country, and I'm going to try and take a break or two from our outrageous hot summers and visit Oregon Coast and Washington State. We love our friends visiting and enjoy going back'home' during the summer here.
Again, welcome to this wonderful group of friends. Hope you find comfort and knowledge here like I did. It's been 15 years for me and full body. Take care and please stay with us. Your friend, loretta with soft hugs

Hi Guys

As with so many aspects of RSD, it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one dealing with this symptom, but I wish no one else had to deal with it at all. And weirdly enough, I just opened Neurotalk to chat about this exact problem!

My sweating issue is out of control. For me, it mainly affects my face, head, neck and upper body. It can happen at any time. We're in the middle of a hot Australian summer at the moment but in a way that's irrelevant as I get just as sweater when it's cold and the house is cold, than I do when it's hot.

My body temperature regulator has also gone out of control in the past few months (I'm always sweating when everyone else is cold, and vice versa), and my fingernails on my RSD hand have also changed- breaking constantly (often with the top layer of the nail breaking, not always all the way through), vertical ridges down my nails, etc etc.

It seems that after I hit my 9 year RSD anniversary in November this year, my body/rsd has decided to step it up and notch and take me into a whole new phase of my RSD progression. I've always been kinda relieved when I've read other RSDers talk about their sweating symptoms that I didn't have that to worry about. Now that's all changed

The sweating issue has made me so cranky at my body. I can't put on make-up or do my hair without having to do it a zillion times. As soon as I apply my foundation, I sweat it off.

Although I have one daughter with ringlets and two with dead straight hair, my hair is in the middle- with some parts going wavy, some straight and all of it frizzy and boofy, lol. But if I try to dry my hair with the hairdryer, I have to have a hand towel next to me to wipe the sweat from my face, hairline and neck as I go, so I may as well not bother or get in the shower again!

If I'm going out, I use a straightener for my hair but as soon as my hair is straight, I start sweating again and then my hair frizzes up all curly and looks crazy!

I'm SO over the sweating!

I'll ask this here but I might also start a spin-off thread so more people can answer, but can anyone recommend a good foundation (liquid or powder) that can handle a bit of sweat and not come off as soon as you put it on?

I know this all sounds really vain and it's a small problem I have in the big scheme of things, but I'm in my early thirties and my medications give me really bad skin as it is, so I just want to look nice and feel good about how I look, even if my body is far from normal in other ways... that's not too much to ask, is it?!

I've just bought a small hand-held fan (as I'm always having to wave a magazine/piece of paper in front of my face to cool me off) and that's helping, but has anyone got any other tips for dealing with the chronic sweating?

And if anyone could recommend a good foundation that stays on well I would really appreciate it, I don't mind how much it costs- I'm spending a fortune on foundation now because I have to keep re-applying it all day!

x Kate

I can't add to your make-up inquiry as my sweatng is mainly my whole body..back and frontal when it happens not my face area..but I want ot ask..why?? the sweating does it happen so profusely then not at all?? I ma not having those episodes at this time but I have had the sweating episodes in the past..they've lasted for months then stopped... I realize our nervious system is in charge but what is it that is happening differently then..is it progression or what????