MS PERSPECTIVES: Do You Perspire?

By Ed Lash

Multiple sclerosis (MS) poses many baffling questions. For example, why is it that some people with MS are affected by heat to such a great degree that they will be in a state of fatigue from the normal slight rise in body temperature which occurs in all of us each afternoon, while others with MS are not inconvenienced by this or other heat situations at all?

One clue might lie in understanding how the body controls its own temperature. According to The World Book Encyclopedia, “The hypothalamus (part of the brain which has the body’s heat-regulating center) keeps body temperature relatively constant. It receives impulses from warm blood and from heat receptors in the skin, and sends signals by way of the nerves to the sweat glands, which then produce sweat. Nervous tension and excitement also activate the sweat glands, especially in the hands and armpits.”

A U.S. Government publication says: “Cool baths or showers provide relief from the heat because water removes extra body heat 25 times faster than cool air.” That’s’ probably why the body uses perspiration to keep its body temperature normal.

It is not the sweating that cools off the body, but as sweat evaporates it cools the skin and the blood vessels near the skin surface, which, due primarily to blood circulation, causes internal body temperature to lower. High humidity, however, has a tendency to limit this evaporation; therefore creating another problem. We normally perspire at night as well as during the day; during winter as well as summer. The quantity of sweat excreted varies from a negligible amount to as much as a quart in a single hour.

The sweat glands are almost of no importance in ridding the body of waste material. When the water of perspiration evaporates, however, certain solids (urea and salts) are left on the skin. Frequent bathing and/or washing will keep these solids from accumulating, clogging the pores, and interfering with perspiration.

In humans, body temperature does not remain entirely constant. It changes slightly throughout the day, even without strenuous activity. In a healthy person, for example, body temperature is lowest in the early morning, gradually rises until late afternoon, then falls again during sleep at night. It’s the afternoon rise in body temperature that often causes problems for many people with or without MS, especially those that are heat sensitive, and often contributes significantly to fatigue.

I originally became interested in the subject of perspiration when a friend with MS mentioned to me that she does not perspire at all. Since I had never read or heard of this as a symptom of MS, I felt that it was not connected to MS. An abnormally low production of sweat also occurs in certain congenital skin diseases, including ichthyosis (a condition in which the skin is dry and scaly, resembling fish skin) and atopic dermatosis (a condition of the skin due to an allergic reaction).

A few months later, however, at one of my MS support groups, another person with MS told me he was managing the summer quite well because the previous year he had not been perspiring at all, and this year he was. At this point, whenever anyone with MS mentioned that they were sensitive to heat, I would ask, “Do you perspire?” and I was amazed at the answers I received, then we spoke about ways to manage the problem.

To be continued in the next issue of Action.

Note: Self-help is not intended to replace medical treatment. It should be used
together with the help of appropriate professionals in a team effort.

Ed Lash is a United Spinal member who lives in Trumbull, Connecticut. He can be contacted by e-mail at edlash.ms.selfhelp@juno.com, or by phone at 203-445-0118.