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What Causes Excessive Sweating In Thyroid Patient?
Question: I am 70yrs old. I have a number of health issues. A symptom that is very debilitating is that I sweat profusely with even minor exertion. I am hypothyroid.
Brief Answer:
Thyroid
Detailed Answer:
I am sorry to learn about your symptoms.
There can be various reason for sweating profusely.
I can offer some endocrine/hormonal possibilities because I practice endocrinology only.
1 Over treatment with armor
Armour thyroid is not the recommended treatment for hypothyroidism. It can potentially explain the excessive sweating you are experiencing. A blood test for TSH, free T4 and Total T3 is revelatory.
Levothyroxine alone suffices. Keeping the TSH in the range closer to 1 is preferable. However if you have osteoporosis or heart problems, then even a more lenient dosing is justified (such as aiming to keep the TSH around 4)
2 Pheochromocytoma
A rare, typically benign tumor can cause sweating, headache and shortness of breath episodically.A good screening blood test is 'Plasma Fractionated Metanephrines'
3 Menopausal symptoms
I know you are 70 but hot flashes can occur at anytime during menopause.
4 Acromegaly
Another rare tumor. It occurs in the pituitary and causes enlargement of hands and feet as one of it's manifestations. The recommended screening test is Serum IGF1 levels.
Thyroid
Detailed Answer:
I am sorry to learn about your symptoms.
There can be various reason for sweating profusely.
I can offer some endocrine/hormonal possibilities because I practice endocrinology only.
1 Over treatment with armor
Armour thyroid is not the recommended treatment for hypothyroidism. It can potentially explain the excessive sweating you are experiencing. A blood test for TSH, free T4 and Total T3 is revelatory.
Levothyroxine alone suffices. Keeping the TSH in the range closer to 1 is preferable. However if you have osteoporosis or heart problems, then even a more lenient dosing is justified (such as aiming to keep the TSH around 4)
2 Pheochromocytoma
A rare, typically benign tumor can cause sweating, headache and shortness of breath episodically.A good screening blood test is 'Plasma Fractionated Metanephrines'
3 Menopausal symptoms
I know you are 70 but hot flashes can occur at anytime during menopause.
4 Acromegaly
Another rare tumor. It occurs in the pituitary and causes enlargement of hands and feet as one of it's manifestations. The recommended screening test is Serum IGF1 levels.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank you. I have an appointment to see an endocrinologist and will print out your answers to take to my appointment.
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