Excessive Sweat Sufferers Are Prisoners

July 8, 2004 -- Wendy Burke lives with an embarrassing secret that has made her terrified of first dates, job interviews and parties.

Burke, a 30-year-old schoolteacher, has spent every waking moment of her life in fear that she will break out into an uncontrollable sweat. Her attacks come on quickly and often, sometimes for days at a time.

"Ever since I was in elementary school, I'd say probably second grade, I remember being in class and my hands just sweating as I worked, having my hand on a paper, and the paper being saturated from my hands sweating so much. So, I mean it's really been something I've lived with almost all my life," Burke said on ABC News' Good Morning America.

For years, her condition was a mystery — both to her and her doctors.

"I said, 'Wow, my hands are really sweaty, my feet are really sweaty, is there a name for this condition?' And the doctor laughed me off," Burke said. They said, 'Oh, you're just clammy.' Everybody blew me off."

Finally, while being treated for an unrelated condition, she found a doctor who didn't dismiss her complaints.

"It wasn't until recently, when I had foot surgery, that my podiatrist said, 'You have a condition called hyperhidrosis,' " she said. "And I was just so relieved that there's an actual name behind the condition."

She says she finds solace in the fact that she is not alone.

‘A True Physical Disease’

Dr. David Pariser, president of the International Hyperhidrosis Society, says most people with hyperhidrosis don't seek help because they're humiliated.

"It's quite socially embarrassing and it's a true physical disease," Pariser said. "About 3 percent of Americans are thought to have excessive sweating, and many of these people suffer in silence. They don't even know that it's a disorder. They don't even know that there's help for this."

No one knows what causes people with hyperhidrosis to sweat so much, but Pariser says the condition leaves his patients socially crippled.