Night Sweats / Flushes Destroying Sleep - Any Answers

[E246]

Hi,

Haven't been on for ages as i have been feeling so much better after a long holiday and I feel guilty about that as this site has been my absolute support and I want other to know you can get better or a bit better and i will post about it soon. But for now - exercise and relaxation have been the only thing that could have brought this relief and am now off the fludrocortisone too.

My problem now is my pots seems worse at night in bed. I wake continuously with hot flushes and probably this causes some tachycardia. If I am lucky I go back off until it happens again, but i lose a lot of sleep. It leaves me feeling off all day just when the day time pots symptoms are lots better.

Has anyone found anything that helps.

Thanks

[Relax86]

I would say most recently - in the past 2 weeks - my POTs has switched from a daytime issue to night. Since January flare I have usually been able to get a good nights sleep with the occasional tachy episode, or waking too many times to pee. I feel like I might by 85-90% better during the day and I'm incredibly grateful. But at night I feel like blood is rushing threw my carotid artery one way or another, I get very tachy, lie awake, awake many times t/o the night, sleep very lightly, usually feel like I have to pee. I have R ear pain and R sided shooting head pain.

So I guess I didn't offer any answer but as I travel through this flare and I am hoping to be coming out of it, my symptoms have switched in their timing. I was on hydrocortisone (recently weaned), I suspected adrenal fatigue. I also recently had autoimmune bloodwork come back positive. So still putting pieces of the puzzle together. Good luck with your night time symptoms.

[Batik]

Any chance you're hypoglycaemic at night? There's a good page about that on Dr Sarah Myhill's website. Try eating a decently sustaining snack before bed and let us know if that helps.

[arizona girl]

em, sounds like you need to do a little investigating. Nite sweats can be caused by several things. The first two things I would check would be my bp/hr as soon as your awakened by these spells. Stay laying down, don't get up before taking it. Then as batik suggested check your blood glucose. Hopefully you have an automatic bp cuff, maybe you can borrow someones glucose meter if you don't have one.

Also if you are anywhere near perimene or menopause they can be happening from that. My own nites sweats were being triggered by an undiagnosed infection and hypotension and bradycardia when sleeping. Which then triggers an adrenaline surge to get you back up.

So do a little sluthing for a few days and let us know what you find out.

[E246]

Thank,

Yes i have been through the menopause so dont think it is that now.

I think it could be a slow hr that causes it - but dont know how i prove this as i wake when i flush and dfinitely have an increased hr.

I will try my blood sugar- does anyone know what the normal levels are - the monitor i have does not give out this info.

Also wonder if it is a MCA as flushing is a big part of that but not sure why it is happening randomly during the night without obvious triggers.

[Batik]

I believe that Dr Myhill doesn't talk about testing your glucose levels, just about treating the problem by how and when you eat. Read more here.

[friday7]

I don't know if I'd count out hormones. I have also been through Menopause. I had my ovaries removed five years ago I got baad hot flashes at first , got on Hrt due to not being able to sleep because of the hot flashes and mood swings It got better after that for almost two years then it started coming back .Mostly the moods. So they took me off HRT and that helped that.

Haven't had hot flashes in years. All of a sudden a few weeks ago I started getting hot flashes again. I have also been getting mood swings and breast pain (something that was always a signal that my period was coming). So I'm thinking maybe my hormones are unbalanced . It's been like five years since i went through Menopause. But I am definately going the gyno to find out what they think.

[issie]

I have recently learned that there is a major mast cell response around the 2:00 to 4:00 am. It could be a mast cell response and having to pee can be caused by this too. The mast cells will cause fluid to leak out of the veins into the tissues and the kidneys have to uptake this fluid and eliminate it. It could be that taking an antihistamine at night would help with sleep and the mast cell reslease ---if that's it.

Issie

[jknh9]

I have these symptoms too, and my doctor brushed them off, saying they were just likely part of the whole POTS thing. I have night sweats more nights than not, and I have to get up to pee 1-3 times each night, usually only once these days but sometimes it spikes. This has been happening for nearly 3 years. At the time of my diagnosis, I know there were no issues with glucose levels. I haven't been tested since. I think it's safe to rule out menopause in my case because I'm mid-twenties.

It's so frustrating that my doctor just tells me not to worry about it. I have no obvious triggers either. I've tried lifting weights before bed, taking ibuprofen, doing stress-relieving things before bed, but nothing. I have always had extremely vivid dreams that make me feel as though I'm not getting enough sleep, but it is so much worse with the sweating. It's weird though, because like Emma246, recently my symptoms are fairly controlled through exercise and in my case medication.

I don't know anything about the possibility of mast cell issues. My doctor just hands me SSRIs and tells me to basically deal with everything else :/ I've tried to look for other doctors but we all know how frustrating that is...

[Batik]

I should probably mention that Sarah Myhill is, well, rather controversial, and personally I'm not too keen on her. But I think she has a point about hunger/low blood sugar interfering with sleep, and it's easy enough to try a late-night snack and see what happens.