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No matter what's on the menu, do you sweat profusely when you eat? Or when you simply think about a meal? You may have a unique and distinct form of excessive sweating called gustatory hyperhidrosis or Frey's syndrome. This food-related sweating can be extremely embarrassing, but treatments are available. In fact, Botox injections have been used to provide up to two years of relief from gustatory sweating!

Having trouble getting a good night’s sleep?  Gaining an extra hour of daylight is a fine beacon of spring, but it’s just another obstacle to getting a solid 8 hours. For millions of us who experience nighttime excessive sweating, the middle-of-the-night awakenings with soaked sheets and sopping pajamas only further detracts from the restorative experience of sleep. What to do?

This morning, I just barely got my daughter to school on time. As I chivvied her to eat her breakfast, brush her teeth, and get dressed, I kept thinking about the letter I’d received from the principal regarding our repeated tardiness. Pretty soon, despite the chill in the spring morning air, I was sweating. When I finally arrived at my own school, where I am a nursing student, I walked into lab to perform an intricate procedure on a mannequin in front of my instructor and classmates and, you guessed it, I was sweating again. Concerned that my classmates would see or worse – smell – my sweat, I got increasingly worked up and sweated some more. Up and down throughout the day the vicious cycle continued. As if life weren’t nerve-wracking enough, my stress-sweat and stress-odor was making me more stressed!

As if stress sweat alone weren’t bad enough, there are many in our community who suffer from stress, depression, and excessive sweating. In fact, excessive sweating is a rather common side-effect of antidepressant medication. So, let’s tackle the pharmaceutical perspiration problem.

Medical expenses are a real concern to so many Americans today. Tax season is a good time to examine the possible savings and deductions available to taxpayers with out-of-pocket medical costs, including those who have excessive sweating. Elliot Braunstein, a Certified Public Accountant at Braunstein & Company, LLC in Philadelphia and long-time auditor of the International Hyperhidrosis Society’s books, generously volunteered to pass along some tax-saving suggestions to people who have high medical costs.

On Mother’s Day, you might thank your mom for passing down her lovely brown eyes and winning smile…So many of our traits can be traced not just to mom (and dad), but back through generations of family members. If you have hyperhidrosis, chances are good that you share that trait with someone else in your family.