Just Wanted To Say Thank You

[rach73]

Hi,

I have been a member of the forum for a few months now and I have found it to be interesting and compassionate. I just wanted to say a big thank you as due to this forum and the advice offered on it I think (fingers crossed) I may have found a "cure" for my night sweats.

I have been suffering with these night sweats for about 4 years. I have had several blood tests to check hormone levels etc but at 37 years old no one could provide me with a reason to why they were happening or how to stop them.

After going through two weeks of the worst sweats ever, waking up with sheets and duvet cover so wet you could wring them out and constant waking from the sweats, I decided to search on the forum for answers. I can't remember the thread or whose suggestion it was but some said about taking Ibuprofen before going to sleep.

I will admit I was a little sceptical at first, but I gave it a try. I've been doing this for five nights and last night I had no sweats at all for the first time in years! Initially the sweats were still there but much less than normal and slowly over the last few nights they have completely disappeared. For the first time in years I didn't drink 2 lts of water overnight due to being dehydrated because of my night sweats.

I am amazed and so thankful to whoever it was that suggested this and I would also like to thank every single forum member that posts and shares their personal experiences in the hope to help others or just provide comfort.

So from one very satisfied customer ! LOL Thank you very much.

Rach

[juliegee]

Hi Rach-

I'm not the one who recommended the ibuprofen, but so happy it helps . I am a fellow night sweater and I have found a nightly Alleve to help as well. My question is WHY? What mechanism causes the sweating in the 1st place? Why does a pain reliever/fever reducer help?

I have an impaired immune system (low IgG) and wonder if it's somehow related, i.e, HIV patients ( a different immune dysfunction) often suffer from night sweats.

Thanks-

Julie

[sue1234]

I'm glad you found something to help the symptom, but now you need to know, like Julie said, WHY the ibuprofen helps. I don't say this to scare you, but there are some infections/diseases that have night sweating as a symptom. So, please do discuss this with your doctor so that he/she can eliminate some causes. My first thought was that maybe you were having low blood sugar in the middle of the night, but can't see how ibuprofen would help that!

[houswoea]

I remember I said this on that thread and I will say it again!

When I discovered ibprofen, it was a gift from the Lord. It made everything better! But be careful. Even one year of long term use can screw up your stomach!

That said, Yayyyyy! I am happy you're finding relief.

[rach73]

Hi,

thanks for the replies.

I have taken my body temp when I have woken up from these sweats and its 36.3 - I have a low body temperature normally. Ive had a tonne of blood tests checking hormones, inflamation, white cell's etc and nothing has ever shown. Had the ANA test all negative. My sister suffers with the same thing and her endocronologist believed it was autonomic dysfunction caused by REM sleep. But whether he was just clutching at straws for an answer I dont know. The stupid thing is Im always so cold during the day!

I seem to go through phases where I may have a six week period of no sweats and then they are back with a vengence. So I think after a month I may stop the Ibuprofen and see what happens. But your right its weird that an anti inflammatory stops the sweats. I have to be careful with my stomach as I have a hiatus hernia, reflux and possibly gastroparesis, so I am very cautious using ibuprofen and make sure I have something on my stomach before taking it.

Has anyone tried paracetamol for the sweats and does it have the same effect? That would be better for my sensitive tum!

Thanks again

Rach

[dianne.fraser]

Rach

I'm so glad that the ibuprofen helped your night sweats! Its something I recommend every chance I get.

I'd had night sweats for almost 20 years when, in my late 30's, I started seeing an immunologist about my undiagnosable, mystery illness. At one consultation I was beyond exhausted, and I told him I hadn't slept properly in weeks. I still remember him turning to me with a look of incredible kindness and saying 'would you like me to give you something to help you sleep?' to which I snapped 'NO. I want you to stop my heart from racing at bedtime - it's keeping me awake. AND I want you to stop my night sweats - they wake me at 2am and I don't get back to sleep afterwards.'

I immediately regretted snapping at him, and I felt as though I had asked for the impossible, but he took action right away to stop my heart from racing at bedtime (he stopped my evening steroids) and to stop my night sweats (with a small dose of infant ibuprofen). I started sleeping better and I felt much better physically and emotionally, because I was more rested and I wasn't overheating. Overheating is actually really, really bad for your health. The outcome was that, although I still didn't know the name of my illness, it was better managed overall.

I had been referred to him because of my mystery illness, which was characterised by a range of odd symptoms, including an odd anaemia that only resolved with bedrest, and that was aggravated by iron supplements. He saw this anaemia a lot in people with autoimmune inflammatory disease - he said that it was just an indication that inflammation was present (and, in fact, this type of anaemia is common in people with any kind of chronic disease that is is out of control). Even if he couldn't source it, it could be eased by anti-inflammatories. Therefore, I guess he saw my nightsweats as yet another sign of inflammation.

I was only able to take one type of ibuprofen (infant ibuprofen) - I tried another type, but it made me feel quite unwell. My immunologist also recommended that I take zantac with the ibuprofen to avoid gut problems.

Periodically I would stop the ibuprofen to check whether I still needed it. I took it up again for a short while recently, but basically my night sweats stopped a couple of years ago. I think my sweats stopped because I was managing my illness better overall and, maybe, because my sweating overall was slowing down.

I support the inflammation theory of night sweats - every disease must have an inflammatory component and sweating is one of the body's key cooling mechanisms. Ideally, we treat the underlying disease to reduce inflammation, but sometimes we can't identify the underlying disease, and sometimes our treatment options are poor or unknown.

Good luck and best wishes

Dianne

[pat57]

cool (pun intended)

[jem15]

Yea, like others said, I think it has something to do with the night sweats being related to inflammation. And yea the cause of the inflammation is what's hard to pinpoint, can be a variety of things and I dont know if they'll ever know. I have night sweats too for about the past 2 years. I got them the year before i was diagnosed with lymphoma so thought they were related to that.(ha, not to scare you but if you have any swollen nodes, or itchiness, etc, just get it checked out). Anyway,now that I'm supposedly in "remission", I'm not supposed to have them anymore so the oncologist says they're from something else.

One dr said to take a trial of steroids, and if they go away, you know the night sweats are from inflammation, but again, doesnt tell us the specific condition. So when Dianne mentioned the advil, that made sense to me being anti-inflammatory, so I tried it for 2 days, and didnt have the sweats those days either. I didnt want to stay on the advil long term, cause i'm on another drug that youre not really supposed to take much of the advils/aspirins with cause of stomach bleeding risk. But i found it very interesting and plan to tell that doctor when I see him this week. If I find out anything interesting i'll let you guys know.

Glad you got some relief:-)