Sweating after childbirth

It happens that women start to complain about sweating after childbirth, although nothing like this has ever happened to them before. There is a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, because the hormonal system has undergone serious changes and it will take some time to return to normal. Sometimes, not only hormonal imbalance causes increased sweating (hyperhidrosis), but other alarming symptoms are also present that need to be addressed. [ 1 ]

Causes postpartum sweating

Pregnancy is accompanied by a sharp drop in the level of estrogen, the female sex hormone. After childbirth, there is a gradual return to the original state, which becomes the main cause of sweating. Restoring the hormonal background takes on average from several weeks to two months.

Another factor is the accumulation of fluid, which is typical during pregnancy. During labor, the bulk of the amniotic fluid is released, and the water-salt balance is restored. Sweating is one of the mechanisms for getting rid of what remains in the body.

After giving birth, women begin to produce milk, and at this time there is also a high level of the hormone prolactin, which promotes increased secretion of sweat glands. During the lactation period, this lasts longer than in non-nursing mothers. [ 2 ]

Risk factors

Factors that increase sweating include emotional stress associated with childbirth, heavy physical exertion required to care for the baby, chronic lack of sleep, and worry about the newborn.

Excess weight gained during pregnancy and depression often become risk factors for increased sweating.

Pathogenesis

Sweating is a natural process of body thermoregulation, in which the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system plays the main role. It secretes neuromoderators, which, when they reach the sweat glands, trigger certain biochemical processes and signals that ensure the secretion of fluid.

Our body, in order to maintain its various functions, must be within the temperature range of 36.6º-37ºС. Blood enters the human skin, passes through numerous capillaries, cools down and returns through the venous system to the vessels, the heart. This becomes possible due to sweating.

Symptoms postpartum sweating

After giving birth, a woman notices that she has started to sweat more during the day, not only her armpits, but also her feet and head. Sweating at night is especially alarming, she can wake up in completely wet pajamas. The first signs sometimes make themselves known with chills, a sudden wave of heat or cold rolls in.

Complications and consequences

Excessive sweating after childbirth usually goes away on its own when the organs and systems involved in childbirth return to their previous level. Hyperhidrosis can be a consequence and complication of infections, mastitis, uterine inflammation, and postpartum depression.

Diagnostics postpartum sweating

Usually, sweating after childbirth goes away on its own, but if the symptoms do not disappear after two months, you should consult a doctor. The presence of other symptoms, such as fever, bloody vaginal discharge, hardening and soreness of the breast, excessive fatigue, pain and burning during urination, dizziness, fainting.

In this case, you will have to undergo a general medical examination, take general urine and blood tests, blood biochemistry, a vaginal smear for culture from a gynecologist, and others, based on the doctor’s assumptions.

Instrumental methods help to make an accurate diagnosis; in case of malaise and sweating after childbirth, this may include ultrasound, MRI, CT, and X-rays of various internal organs.

Differential diagnostics are carried out between diagnoses related to the reproductive organ, mammary gland, urinary system, as well as the patient’s psyche.

Treatment postpartum sweating

There are no specific methods of treating hyperhidrosis with medications. Even those few drugs that can reduce sweating (sedatives, tranquilizers that reduce the activity of nerve fibers, botulinum toxin injections) are unacceptable for a nursing woman.

But what to do with excessive sweating after childbirth, how to cope with it? There are a number of rules that will help you survive this difficult period. They are as follows:

• maintain a cool microclimate in the room, control humidity, ventilate, this will benefit not only the mother, but also the child;
• wear cotton underwear and use the same bedding;
• do not try to lose weight by depriving yourself of adequate nutrition;
• eat at least 4-5 times a day, using dietary products and cooking methods in your diet;
• drink plenty of fluids (up to 2 liters per day) to restore water balance;
• walk more in the fresh air, avoid stress, rest and get enough sleep;
• perform regular hygiene.

Vitamins

The mother's diet in the postpartum period should include foods rich in various vitamins and minerals, and for a faster recovery, with the help of a doctor, select a vitamin complex that would contain vitamins A, E, C, D, group B. Vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid play a special role in normalizing the nervous system. The multivitamin complex Elevit Pronatal fully meets all the requirements for pregnant women and after childbirth.

Physiotherapy treatment

An effective physiotherapeutic method to combat sweating after childbirth is a contrast shower, used several times a day. Hardware methods include iontophoresis, the action of which is based on the effect of a weak electric current on the sweat glands.

Folk remedies

Traditional methods of treating excessive sweating can come to the aid of a woman, from which it is necessary to choose safe ones for external use, since when taken internally they get to the child with the mother's milk and can cause harm.

To wipe sweaty parts of the body use:

• soda solution;
• chamomile infusion with soda;
• oak bark decoction (a tablespoon of raw material is poured with a glass of boiling water and infused for half an hour);
• horsetail is combined with alcohol in a ratio of 1:10, placed in a dark place for several days. Before use, dilute in half with water;
• freshly brewed green tea;
• lemon (cut into slices).

Homeopathy

In the fight against sweating, homeopathy uses the method of influencing the sympathetic parts of the central nervous system, responsible for the body's thermoregulation, by normalizing its reaction. Extracts of herbs with a sedative, astringent effect are combined with mineral ingredients. Among them are Acidum fluoricum, Hepar-sulfur, Carbo anim, Pulsatilla, Silicia, Natrum muriaticum and others.

The prescription should be made by a homeopathic physician, taking into account many individual factors, forms and manifestations of hyperhidrosis, as well as breastfeeding, if any.

Surgical treatment

There is a surgical method for treating hyperhidrosis – sympathectomy. Its essence is that under general anesthesia, a puncture is made in the chest in the armpit area, where a tube with a video camera on the end is inserted. Through two other punctures, instruments are inserted, with the help of which the sympathetic trunk is crossed.

Other types of surgical treatment may be related to underlying medical conditions that result in excessive sweating.

Prevention

Moderate physical activity, plenty of air, positive emotions, good sleep, with the help of other family members, are the best preventive measures to help overcome the unpleasant postpartum symptom.

Forecast

In most cases, excessive sweating after childbirth disappears, the body's condition returns to its previous limits, stress decreases, and life becomes more systematized, unless there is a serious diagnosis.