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Short answer When not sweating needs a doctor Common questions Related questions Sources**If you barely sweat or never sweat, it usually means your sweat glands are blocked, damaged, or not receiving the nerve signals that switch them on.**
The most common reversible causes are dehydration, skin that is blocked by heavy ointments or repeated heat rash, and medicines with anticholinergic effects, including some bladder drugs, older antihistamines, tricyclic antidepressants, and topiramate. Longer lasting causes include nerve damage from diabetes, thyroid problems, burns or radiation to the skin, and inherited conditions that affect sweat glands from birth. Where it happens matters: dry patches in one area point to local skin or nerve damage, while whole-body dryness is more likely to be medication or nerve related. Because sweat is how your body sheds heat, low sweating makes you more likely to overheat during exercise or hot weather, so cool down early, drink fluids, and use shade, fans, or a wet cloth on your skin. Tell a clinician if you feel hot, flushed, and dry when you would normally be sweating, or if the change started after a new prescription.
When not sweating needs a doctor
Common questions
why don’t i sweat
Sweat glands only fire when nerves tell them to, so low or absent sweating points to a problem with the glands, the skin over them, or those nerves. Frequent causes include dehydration, blocked pores from heavy creams or repeated heat rash, skin damage from burns or radiation, and medicines with anticholinergic effects such as some bladder drugs, older antihistamines, tricyclic antidepressants, and topiramate. Nerve damage from diabetes or thyroid disease and some inherited conditions can also reduce sweating. Sweating less over your whole body makes overheating more likely, so get checked if you stay hot and dry during exercise or heat.