19 Year Old Having Hot Flashes, Sweating Profusely. Not Stressed Or Worried. Cause?

Posted on Fri, 30 Aug 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 Answered on

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : My 19 year old son called from college and said he seems to be having hot flashes. He described it as "sweating profusely for a few minutes as if he was playing soccer". He is not playing soccer, but rather sitting in a class room. He said he is not stressed or worried about a test because it's the first week of class. He has never had such an issue.
Healthy, athletic, and no previous symptoms (6'2" / 190 lbs.).

Answered by Dr. Jose Ignacio Artero Munoz (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Profuse sweating.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Delighted to be able to help.

There are different physical and psychic pathologies that can cause profuse sweating.On the psychic causes , stress-anxiety is the most frequent cause.

If you say that he is not stressed ,is necessary to consider physical causes.
On the physical causes ,must be ruled out pathologies such as overactive
thyroid or side effects of some drugs.He should go to your doctor for request
thyroid hormones levels in blood.

If he does not take any medication and thyroid hormone levels are normal,
He suffers primary profuse sweating.In this pathology, the person has profuse sweating by a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic).

Botulinum toxin injected is the most commonly used drug for this condition.
Please consult your local dermatologist for a prescription.

I Hope I have answered your query. If you have any further questions I will be happy to help.

If you do not have any clarifications, please don’t forget to evaluate my answer.

I wish your son good health.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T