Treating Focal Sweating Problems by Chinese Methods
Treatment options for focal sweating vary in therapeutic efficacy, duration of effect and side effects. Generally, aluminum chloride-based topical treatments are the first choice of underarm or palm sweating. Iontophoresis (an electrical procedure) can be the second line treatment for sweating on the palms and soles. Botox injection has been approved for severe underarm sweating. Surgery should be considered as the last option when conservative therapies give no satisfactory results.
In Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), physicians will link up the local pathologies with the affected organs or meridians, identify the disharmony pattern and then formulate an appropriate remedy. The remedies can provide a systemic as well as tropical therapy to address the focal sweating problem. TCM methods can be an alternative for those who do not want to undergo more obtrusive treatment methods.
Below are some focal sweating problems and their commonly seen disharmony patterns:Sweating locations | Suggested disharmonies |
---|---|
Head and face | Damp-heat steaming Heat stagnated in the upper part of the body Insufficient yang qi Blood stasis |
Underarms | Liver deficiency and damp-heat accumulation Heat in heart meridian |
Chest | Deficiency of heart and spleen Yin deficiency of heart and kidney |
Hands and feet | Damp-heat in the spleen and stomach Deficiency of spleen and stomach Yin deficiency |
Waist region | Kidney deficiency |
Groin region | Damp-heat in liver meridian Kidney deficiency |
One side of the body (can be seen in hypertension and stroke patients) | Deficiency of blood and qi Meridian blockage |