Night sweats- any advice please

[paula-moo]

I have been diagnosed with undifferentiated connective tissue disease. Blood tests have shown weakly positive ANA with cytoplasmic speckles and mildly positive anticardiolipin antibodies IGM at 36 (I’m not sure what that really means). I have been taking Hydroxychloroquine 200mg for a year now. I suffer from really bad night sweats and just wondered if anyone else experiences the same thing? I have to change my Pj’s approx. 5 times a night as the sweat is just running off of me. I am, however, really cold and not at all hot. I have had tests to check that I am not going through the change and the Drs say that I am not. These night time sweats have been going on for a few years now and are just getting worse.Any help or advice would be really appreciated as it is really getting me down and affected my sleep massively.Many thanks

[friz42]

Hi paula-moo-

I can sympathise with you as i too have these sweats, mine are all day also. The cold temperatures you refer to ring a bell too. I have checked my temperature and it is usually 34/35 only when having this sweat thing going on. I have no answers and am currently going through finding out myself. It makes you feel so unwell also. My disease has no name at the moment. For some reason i find that Day 1 of my fentanyl patch helps somewhat for a few hours only- then wears off and back to sweats- not sure why though.

I do hope someone else comes along and can help but your post relates closely to one of my problems also. Take care.

[paula-moo in reply to friz42]

Many thanks for your reply.It will be interesting to see if other people experience the same as us and have found a way forward.Take care.

[whisperit]

Hello paula-moo,

I gather that waking with night sweats is commonly reported by people

with thyroid problems - perhaps because the natural daily cycle means cortisol levels drop to a minimum during the

night. The immune system is also most active at this time.

I've been on hydroxy plus prednisilone for about 9 months now, and began having night sweats when I started reducing my prednisilone from 20mg to 15mg daily. My rheumy said it was not related to either my UCTD or my drugs, and I am now down to 7mg pred. Unfortunately, the episodes have continued, and in addition, I am constantly exhausted and sleepy.

For myself, I think it very likely that it's a symptom of dysregulated hormone production (perhaps due to my body getting completely confused by the varying levels of steroids). I am seeing my rheumy next week and will post here with his further thoughts.

Mike x

[paula-moo in reply to whisperit]

Many thanks for your reply.All the best for your appointment

[Hidden]

I get night sweats as you describe. I have Hypothyroidism and primary Sjogrens but I'm not sure which is the cause for me. Night sweats can be a sign of non Hodgkins Lymphoma but presumably they have checked out your lymph glands for swelling - if not it might be worth asking for this or a CT with contrast - especially if you have Sjogrens?

[paula-moo]

Thanks for your reply. I too have Hypothyroidism. I haven't had my lymph glands checked for swelling. I shall bring this up at my next rheum appointment. Thanks again

[Hidden]

I would be interested in roughly which age group you are in except, male posters. It's a very common symptom for post-menopausal women, not sure why, but it's probably low-functioning thyroid /or/and associated autoimmune thing.

[Ske22]

Curious for the replies here-how old is everyone? I have recently begun suffering from extreme night sweats without being hot, and it’s really taking a toll on my sleep. For me, not menopause related, I‘m only 29.

[Forgot2mention in reply to Ske22]

Morning, my comment wasn’t to imply that you were going through the menopause, it was merely to give tips on how to keep cool.

[Ske22 in reply to Forgot2mention]

Not a problem, it’s all great information for everyone to know! I’m just curious if anyone near my age is experiencing this as well.