Excessive Sweating

The palms turn damp before you even enter the room. The underarms soak through the shirt, though the temperature is pleasant. The feet stick in the shoes. A fleeting thought is enough, a brief encounter, a glance from the side — and your body reacts as though you were standing in the sun of a foreign country. It is not warm in the room — it is warm inside you.

Medically this is called hyperhidrosis. Excessive sweat production, frequently on the hands, underarms, and feet, sometimes across the whole body. For some people this is a marginal note. For others it is a daily burden that colours everything: a handshake, a meeting, a date, a job interview, a restaurant visit. The body betrays something you actually wanted to conceal — and the fear that it will become visible intensifies precisely what you dread.