Night sweats

[ANA4]

How to tell the difference between night sweats and hot flashes

[GMa27]

Hot flashes last 15-30 seconds. Some get a chill before the heat feeling. Day or Night. Burning sensation in chest for some. Neck and some hair feels sweaty.

Night sweats are powerful drenching feeling. It's like you woke up floating in a pool. Your night clothes are drenched and sometimes your sheets. Hair can feel like you just washed it- wet.

Important to know the difference. It helps in staging CLL. I told my hematologist for few months that I was having night sweats. But after she explained the difference- I realized it was my hot flashes.

I only had one night sweat. I will never forget that. I thought I was in my pool. I woke up and changed my night gown. My hair was drenched. It was a very weird feeling.

[tonyfrench in reply to GMa27]

My night sweats were so bad that I wound up buying 5 sets of sheets, I still have night sweats once or twice a week

[GMa27 in reply to tonyfrench]

Oh my!

[ANA4 in reply to GMa27]

Thank you so much

[Big_Dee]

Hello Ami4

I have had both and could not write off hot flashes as menopause being a man. My hot flashes would last about 1-2 minutes. Some times they would be intense with heavy sweating but short duration. My night sweats on the other hand occurred almost every night for 3-4 months with 3-4 month break, then started up for 3-4 months right before treatment. Night sweats stopped after first month of treatment. Night sweats were so bad I was laying in water at night that I could hear swooshing when I rolled over. I estimated that I was sweating about 4-6 fluid oz of water a night. Night sweats did not prompt me to start treatment as they were inconvenient, but not unbearable. Blessings.

[ANA4 in reply to Big_Dee]

Thank you Big_Dee

[marcyh]

When it comes to night sweats, I can only say when I've had them they felt like thick sweat, not like normal sweating. I had to wipe myself off but not change sheets.

But when it comes to hot flashes, I'm a veteran of 30 years. Mine come anytime, but at night they are feverishly hot. They start in the chest and go head to toe. They vary from brief and mild to really bad ones that hit with a vengeance - needle-like pricks or even stings all over my skin. I've been on the floor with them, weak, because they literally suck the life out of me. They last anywhere from 5-15 minutes or more. They vault me out of deep sleeps and get me out of every night - I heat the bed so hot it's unbearable. I'm not much of a sweat-er so I don't tend to cool off. The best relief for me is an ice pack around the back of my neck.

Yours may be much milder. I could probably win a prize with mine.

marcyh