I have been having bouts of night sweats since end of January. Coincidentally, I was also dealing with a respiratory virus that was lingering (cough, sinus pain, low-grade fevers) so I attributed the night sweats to the virus. My PCP ordered an X-ray and CBC with Differential/Platelet to make sure nothing was awry - thankfully, all was normal. I have historically been cold at night so this is definitely new and bothersome.
Clearly, I will follow-up with my PCP but looking for any insight, advice, experiences that may help. A friend is convinced I am having post-menopausal issues although I am 61.5 and it has been almost 10 years since my last period! I never did get hot flashes or night sweats but have dealt with other hormonal issues in past.
Not to be an alarmist, but I started getting night sweats at the age of 44. Had bloodwork done and all came back normal. My skin then started to get itchy and a rash appeared on my lower back. This was over a six month period. I was tired during the day, but it was attributed to interrupted sleep at night. Turns out I had breast cancer, which was found on a scheduled mammogram. I had surgery and within a week all the symptoms disappeared.
This does alarm me a bit. I did get an itchy rash on my chest last week which my derm saw and wasn’t concerned. She gave me a steroid cream and it is better now. I did have a mammogram recently and it was fine. Unsure what to think about it all.
My doctor has always told me that the patient knows her body best. If something is suddenly very different, the cause needs to be investigated. I would encourage you to go back to your doctor and push for more tests. Hopefully, it will be something simple - but if it is something more serious, you’ll be had you pushed for an answer.
On the other hand, I’ve had them for the last 10 years! Several MD’s suggested it might be just “normal” (for me). While I don’t usually like that answer, since I’ve had no other known symptoms, and have no clue what other tests to request, I’ve been living with it. Gyn. prescribed an off-label use for Gabapentin, to see if that helped, but I didn’t like what I read, so never tried.
Thyroid levels were checked and are fine. I did know that night sweats can be a symptom of both lymphoma and leukemia. I assume that is why she ran the CBC with Differential/Platelet to rule out those. I will double check with her tomorrow.
I used gabapentin for a year when I was waking up multiple times/night drenched in sweat and wasn’t getting any sleep. It was a game changer for me and it was the lowest dose and I had no side effects and no issues coming off. I stopped when I hit menopause and found that I didn’t need it anymore.
Are you getting cold sweat or hot sweat? Cold sweat is more concerning because supposedly it comes from your nervous system.
I also sweat at night, but it’s because I am too hot with the comforter.
I had a mammogram that had some calcifications that they wanted to keep an eye on and I had a follow up mammogram 6 months later. It was during that six month period that I started with the sweats and rash etc. When I went back for the follow up is when they saw the cancer - 3 tumors, 2 different types of breast cancer. One was a rare aggressive tumor. I’d push for some more testing just to be safe. Most likely it’s nothing serious, but better to be safe
Since you are all a wealth of info, I should have mentioned that I am also dealing with lots of stress/anxiety. My elderly mother’s cancer has taken a bad, unfortunate turn and that comes with lots of scans, biopsies, appointments, etc, all of which I navigate for her. Another close family member has also recently been diagnosed with cancer and a host of other life issues are also raining down this year. It has been hard. These added new symptoms I feel do add to my anxiety, which I know, is not good. (I will also address all of this with my PCP tomorrow)
