Question
An eight-month-old child often sweats excessively and has trouble sleeping at night. Some say this is due to ‘heart fire,’ but I’m not sure if that’s the case. What methods can be used?
Answer
Excessive sweating in children can be categorized into two types: physiological and pathological. Physiological sweating usually has a clear cause, such as wearing too many clothes, intense exercise, or consuming spicy food, and the sweating will stop once these causes are eliminated. Children with this type of sweating are generally in good health without other diseases. Pathological sweating has more complex causes, resulting from the combined effects of various diseases, so it is necessary to diagnose the relevant diseases and find the root cause in order to effectively treat the condition. Parents can observe and distinguish the nature of sweating by considering the time when sweating occurs, the symptoms accompanying the sweating, and the location of the sweating. For example, excessive sweating in infants may indicate rickets, while in older children, it should be noted for tuberculosis, rheumatism, and parasitic infections. Based on this information, it can be inferred that the child’s excessive sweating may be physiological, but it could also be pathological, requiring further examination and diagnosis.