Question:

Is there a relationship between heart disease and perspiration?

I have a nervous perspiration problem. Whenever I get nervous my body starts to sweat like anything. I came to know that it is due to my heart problem. To maintain the same temperature outside and inside, body starts to sweat. Please help me asap.

Submitted by Ritesh from Chennai, India on 08/25/2014

Dear Ritesh,
Sweating (diaphoresis) can be triggered by several conditions unrelated to the ambient temperature. Slow heart rates, low blood sugar, and anxiety are a few examples. There is a condition known as ‘gustatory sweating’ that occurs while eating, often triggered by spicy foods. The pattern of sweating may change with the cause. For example, gustatory sweating may only involve the scalp. Peculiar sweating patterns may occur in any disorder that affects the autonomic nervous system. Diabetes and stroke are examples.
The short answer is that sweating is a non specific reaction to many different stimuli and is not specific for heart disease.