My husband suffers from sweating profusely just about every night. He needed to put on extra layers to bed, wear cotton sleeping clothes and lies on a big towel. We consulted our family doctor regarding his excessive night sweating and it was found out that his night sweats occur for genetic reasons and may be relatively harmless. Our bedroom is fully air conditioned, while I was fully wrapped by a blanket my husband on the contrary needs to get up in the middle of the night to change his damped clothes and beach towel that he lies on. It really causes him discomfort, so we are still looking for solutions to determine its cause and eliminate it.
I browse the web to look for probable answers on his dilemma. Night sweats according to Wikipedia is Sleep hyperhidrosis. It is the episode of excessive sweating during sleep and commonly seen in adults. It is not an automatic sign of an underlying disease, however there are possibilities and different causes of its occurrence. It is very important to distinguish why it happens, it may occur simply because the sleep environment is too warm, a rubberized bed that warms up after hours of lying on bed, men who drinks alcohol before sleeping, certain foods like red meat, onion, garlic based food and highly spicy food may trigger it or it may be due to medical condition which are not related to environment.
Several known conditions that can cause night sweats are:
- Idiopathic hyperhidrosis – is the condition that my husband suffers, in which his body chronically produces too much sweat without any identifiable medical cause.
- Infections – one of the most common infections that exhibits night sweating is tuberculosis, others are endocarditis (inflammation of the heart valves), osteomyelitis (inflammation within the bones) and abscesses which are bacterial infections may also produce night sweats.
- Cancer – the most common type of cancer associated with night sweats is lymphoma. It is also an early symptom of some cancers.
- Menopause – Women who are in the menopausal stage may also experience it as the hot flashes that accompany the menopausal transition can occur at night that cause sweating.
- Hypoglycemia – diabetics with low blood sugar levels can cause sweating, especially those who are taking insulin.
- Medications – People taking some medications can lead to night sweats being its side effect. Examples are anti-depressant drugs and medicines taken to lower fever.
- Hormonal disorders – night sweats can be related with some hormone disorders such as carcinoid syndrome and hyperthyroidism.
Night sweats are annoying, persons experiencing unexplainable and uncomfortable sleep perspiration are best recommended to seek medical care to know its underlying cause.
Referrence: www.emedicinehealth.com and www.webmd.com