March 22, 2004
Other
Question from Pasadena, Maryland USA:
My 19 year old son just told me the other day that some of the food he eats make him sweat. He sweats on his face only and it last for minutes, not a real long time and this is while he is eating or drinking. He sweats when he eats green apples, grapes, and barbecue sauce, or when he drinks orange juice. This just started recently. He never had problems before now. Now that I think about it, before he was complaining about his eye sight being blurry and sometimes he would like blink to try and correct his vision. He has maybe complained about that about six times within a year. I thought it was stress. He is that type of child with school.
Answer:
This type of sweating is called gustatory sweating and is a well-described entity. This type of sweating has been associated with diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Cheese seems to be a common food to provoke this. Sweating usually begins on the forehead and then envelopes the rest of the head and can spread to the neck and chest. There are medications that can be used prior to eating that can serve to decrease these symptoms.
JTL
