Night sweats

[Symphony]

not yet, soon hopefully doctors again next week,

 

[Emootje]

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0301/p1019.pdf

 

[EMilo]

Symphony, I'm a bit late on this thread, but I wanted to add my experience. Night sweats were my number one symptom for a year. The night I got sick with ME was the first time in my life I had soaked the sheets and it felt VERY viral. After having it happen repeatedly, I was tested for malaria (it came back positive and then they decided this couldn't be so tested me again and it was negative). I suffered with sickly, shaky horrible, DRENCHING night sweats every night for over a year and I thought I would die from it. It is not an easy thing to deal with. Doctors have always completely ignored this symptom, only offering drugs to stop sweating. Yeah, right. I stopped taking all drugs, I became housebound, I progressively got worse ME-wise, but my sweats stopped for about 6 months... until last night. I am 80% sure they have to do with overexertion, but I'm not sure why they started up again last night. I sympathise with you!!

 

[Questus]

Night sweats can be a symptom of CFIDS, but they're a very common symptom with hyperadrenergic POTS. If you have POTS, ask your doctor to order catecholamine testing to determine if your norepinephrine levels are elevated. If they are you have hyperadrenergic POTS, and will experience extreme night sweats.

Good luck.
Questus

 

[Firestormm]

Elizabeth Milo I am the same. One of my most notable and visible symptoms in the beginning when I was fighting an infection was the sweats and this continues 13 or so years later - though I will say that they are less regular and not every night.

That chart of possibilities from Emootje above just goes to show what possibilities are out there - doesn't it? Although an over-active autonomic nervous system is perhaps most relevant to ME?

Relating it to myself I would suggest that as I have become more attuned to ME so my over-active system has calmed somewhat. The sweats tend to occur now with - as you said - a particular day of overdoing things; or the external temperature; or night terrors... and also for reasons I cannot seem to attach.

I now sleep within easy reach of a towel. And have a mattress protector for this reason. It is very unpleasant though and even worse when sleeping with someone else: worse for both parties.

 

[EMilo]

Hi Symphony,

I often had really bad night sweats during the first 4-5 (?) years that I was sick. I first got sick in 1990, at age 29, and lay people (not doctors, thankfully) would often suggest menopause when I mentioned this symptom. But that's because it's the only thing they know about that can cause night sweats. They don't realize how many other things can cause this symptom.

I suppose it is possible that it might be menopause (you could talk with your doctor, look at lists of other menopause symptoms, maybe have your hormones levels tested, etc.) but it's not very likely. As you can see just by the few people responding in this thread, night sweats are a common symptom of ME.

I'm almost 52 and I still have a very regular period. I'm not even in peri-menopause yet. So, it's pretty obvious that my night sweats had nothing to do with menopause. Like Tammy, my night sweats were always worse when I was feeling worse.

After being sick for 23 years I rarely have night sweats now. One factor that seemed to reduce them for me was treating my orthostatic intolerance. My diagnosis is Neurally Mediated Hypotension, which means my biggest problem seems to be dropping blood pressure, and only a bit of increased heart rate, but I might also have some POTS now after so many years.

While I no longer have night sweats all the time, I do get them every once in a while-- maybe 3-4 times a year? I wake up with my hair damp, and my t-shirt drenched, with sweat mostly around my neck and chest area but not under my arms. I have to change both the pillow case and my t-shirt when this happens. And it seems to smell worse than sweat that's caused by heat or exertion (but maybe that's my imagination).

In my case it has nothing to do with the room temperature, or type of sheets, or anything like that. It's somehow related to overexertion from the previous day or two and then the subsequent crash from PEM/PENE. But not all my crashes cause this symptom. I have never figured out exactly what triggers this problem. I'm just happy that it's rare now compared to those first few years when it seemed to happen at least twice a week.

I have no idea whether your night sweats are anything like mine at all. But I'm sharing my experience just in case it might help you. Good luck in figuring out what is causing your night sweats.

Thank you for this post, Ahimsa. My night sweats are back and I'm so ill and feel like I'm fighting to survive. You've given me hope that this too shall pass.

 

[Mij]

I became ill in 1991 at age 29 and had several night sweats over the years. Now that I've entered peri-menopause I can tell you that the night sweats I've been experiencing lately seem a little different than back 20yrs ago. Back then I would break out into a sweat and wake up without feeling hot, now with the sweats I feel HOT. So they are different.

 

[EMilo]

I became ill in 1991 at age 29 and had several night sweats over the years. Now that I've entered peri-menopause I can tell you that the night sweats I've been experiencing lately seem a little different than back 20yrs ago. Back then I would break out into a sweat and wake up without feeling hot, now with the sweats I feel HOT. So they are different.

Yes! With my night sweats, I am drenched, but cold. My room was 63degrees last night!