Anxiety, nervousness, fearfulness or worry affects everyone at some point in their lives. Anxiety occurs during times of stress, such as when taking an important test or when entering an unfamiliar location. In these situations anxiety increases awareness and can sharpen the senses, helping the body deal with the temporary situation. Sweating, the release of a salty liquid from sweat glands, often accompanies anxiety. Both psychological and physical disorders can cause continuous symptoms of anxiety and sweating.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder that affects approximately 6 million adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Patients with panic disorder experience sudden attacks of terror that produce a sense of unreality. Panic disorder triggers intense feelings of anxiety that produces physical symptoms such as sweating, feeling flushed or chilled, tingling of the hands, nausea, chest pain, dizziness and weakness.
If left untreated, panic disorder can become disabling. Patients will often avoid places a panic attack occurred which can lead to agoraphobia---the fear of open spaces. Approximately one-third of the patients with panic disorder become housebound, as reported by the National Institute of Mental Health.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, also classified as an anxiety disorder, causes the patient to feel anxious, stressed or frightened even though the patient is no longer in a dangerous situation. PTSD can affect those who experienced traumatic situations, such as war veterans, victims of abuse, victims of sexual assault, natural disaster survivors and accident victims, as described by the National Institute of Mental Health. It can also affect a friend or family member of a person who was injured in a dangerous situation.
PTSD causes symptoms of hyperarousal, which describes feelings of anxiety, or being on edge, causing the patient to feel easily startled. These feelings can interfere with daily activities such as sleeping, eating and concentrating. PTSD causes flashbacks, causing the patient to relive the trauma, which can produce physical symptoms such as a pounding or racing heart and sweating.
Pheochromocytoma
Pheochromocytoma describes a tumor of the adrenal gland that causes an increase in the production of epinephrine and norepinephrine, the stress hormones. Although pheochromocytoma is usually benign--fewer than 10 percent are cancerous, according to MedlinePlus--the increase in hormones causes a variety of symptoms: high blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, forceful heartbeat, profuse sweating, abdominal pain, sudden headaches, feelings of anxiety, pale skin and weight loss, according to MayoClinic.com. The pheochromocytoma can cause the adrenal glands to continually produce too much hormones, or release the hormones in bursts which would cause the symptoms to occur only from time to time.
