Why do people with cystic fibrosis get night sweats and what does it mean? I am healthy right now with a clear cough and I am still getting the night sweats. I wake up and my legs and lower body are all wet along with my pillow. Any advice on getting it to stop? Its starting to drive me nuts! I remember a long time ago, having a sheet under the blanket helped. Maybe Ill try that again but please if you have any advice of getting rid of this, help me!
Night Sweats
- Thread starter kmhbeauty
- Start date
I wanted to add some things. I am not hot when I wake up, I feel like im at the perfect temp under the blankets. I am just sweaty. There is nothing wrong with my lungs right now either. Last week I just did a fast pace 8 mile hike. I have also only ever cultured staph but I normally get the night sweats when im sick. Any info would help!
Lost my first post so this is extra short. 
Circadian rhythms, immune system rampup and rest cycle, smaller-scale infections from refluxed bacteria in lungs. Low grade fever breaking. Some hormone influence too. More night sweats before period.
Hope that makes some sense.
Circadian rhythms, immune system rampup and rest cycle, smaller-scale infections from refluxed bacteria in lungs. Low grade fever breaking. Some hormone influence too. More night sweats before period.
Hope that makes some sense.
iefisherman
New member
I have started having night sweats for almost a year now. The odd thing is just my legs sweat from the knees don and they are soaked sometimes. I mentioned it to my doctor and he thought it was weird that it was my just my legs. I never found anything out about it, but i do get low grade fevers often. I'm interested to see what others have to say.
I started getting night sweats a year ago when I cultured MAC. Soon as I started the meds it all stopped and then started up again for a short while when I had to stop the meds. I am not convinced my night sweat are TOTALLY from the MAC though. I am perimenopausal and I get night sweats at different points in the month. I sneak the window open sometimes at night and I sleep beautifully.
Sistercf-- I just visited the "lady doctor" and she confirmed at the age of 40, I am perimenopausal.
Sistercf-- I just visited the "lady doctor" and she confirmed at the age of 40, I am perimenopausal.
maybe i am pre "man-apausal" because i get night sweats frequently too ( M, 43yo)
I get them frequently, I usually attribute it to blood sugars, but not consistently. So it is troublesome and not sure what is the cause except for it is the bodys reaction to infection and what not.
I get them frequently, I usually attribute it to blood sugars, but not consistently. So it is troublesome and not sure what is the cause except for it is the bodys reaction to infection and what not.
azdesertrat
New member
I suffer from night sweats pretty much every night. I've had a TX & since then, I haven't had any lung problems except when scar tissue forms. When that happens, I go for a bronchoscopy & get it cleaned out but even after that I STILL have night sweats!
I hate it.
None of my medical team seem to know what's causing it. As a result, I usually sleep with two towels under me (big beach towels= almost full coverage) & I wrap my pillow(s) in two towels. My Wife doesn't have time to change the sheets every day, its a whole lot easier to wash towels.
I hope these ramblings will be of some use to somebody.
Hope y'all have a good week, 'Pat'.
I hate it.
None of my medical team seem to know what's causing it. As a result, I usually sleep with two towels under me (big beach towels= almost full coverage) & I wrap my pillow(s) in two towels. My Wife doesn't have time to change the sheets every day, its a whole lot easier to wash towels.
I hope these ramblings will be of some use to somebody.
Hope y'all have a good week, 'Pat'.
J
jcool18
Guest
I have night sweats a lot. I can soak completely through a pillow and pretty much from head to toe through sheets and a blanket. My CF specialist tells me its your body pretty much telling you you have an infection somewhere that its trying to fight. I don't even know what to say, rarely have a fever at the time. I've had it happen in the summer time with no covers on and the air conditioner on full. I just chalk it up to another one of the things you have to deal with with this disease.
LittleLab4CF
Super Moderator
I can't remember a time when I didn't have night sweats. The severity and frequency shift around which seems to correlate with all the reasons suggested by Melissa75. Sweats effecting the extremities has about 20 potentil causes. Night sweats of the extremities can be reduced to about four issues and CF narrows down the probabilities.
The sympathetic nervous system, the vagus nerve and its many branches controls sweating. Nodules in the lungs along the bronchials and such can cause peripheral sweat attacks which could be hands/feet to entire limbs. The nodules could be reacting to infection, scarring or any number of stimuli treading upstream through the vagus nerve. Everything diabetes can cause localized sweats due to neuropathy, diabetic-metabolic issues and secondary endocrine problems.
My night sweats have become morning, noon and night sweats pointing at either an occult infection or an autoimmune hooha possibly. The subtle increase in dispersed infections, possibly several tiny colonies throughout the body can sneak up on a person. This is part projection because a couple days ago I woke up needing to rush to the ER. Half expecting to find an intestinal obstruction my wife and I went slack jawed when the doctor confirmed acute pneumonia. I may have been walking around with this a year or caught a wiff of somebody's infected exhale last week. The point is, I didn't know about this and neither did half a dozen doctors I had seen recently.
Something rather obvious that may have been overlooked, has anybody put winter bedding out? We can't make it through a night w/o pushing the covers back or a foot out. More practical right now is an old trick and that is a foot tent. That is, a tent structure that keeps the covers off the lower legs, usually made from a frame of sturdy wire, wood or plastic. Other uses include isolation of the feet/lower legs for diabetics w/sores, general bed sores for back sleepers etc. Once you have open air around the lower legs you can vent it more or less just by controlling any one or two openings created by folding back a little bedding.
If this is not going away soon enough, a doctor will be needed, the trick may be in who best to help. Infectious Disease Specialists (IDS) or virologists are infection detectives best paid by the job. The investigation could go over and over the same steps until a catch is made. If you are fighting a single big infection or many small ones that are the same bug a diurnal fever, one that exagerates your circadian rhythm could be at work. If night sweats are not with elevated temperature, an infection may not be the direct cause. So if your night sweat is at 3am and your normal temperature for that hour is up a degree or more, that's a fever. You also should have a higher than normal mid day temperature, maybe 100 to your normal 99 mid day high.
The dramatic sweats some people are describing may be resolved with some clever tenting and ducting. The classic muffin fan used for cooling electronics is quiet and easily rigged to provide quiet, focused air flow. In Korea, they have some interesting tools for keeping cool during their oppressive hot humid summers. A basket woven tube resembling a five foot hot dog with an open airy shape, placed next to a person providing excellent air flow. Koreans are beginning to use western pillows but many prefer a ceramic pillow, resting in a hard smooth cradle. The common pillow for others is a buckwheat pillow, some going to a ceramic bead pillow for maximum air flow and kilocalories of heat sink. In the back of my mind a memory of something that can be rubbed on the offending skin to prevent sweat outs. Anybody?
Wish I had something more useful,
LL
P.S. pillow freezer packs can last all night. Possibly the same thing can work at the feet. Aluminum chloride, an antiperspirant chemical is available for general skin application and some that are better.
The sympathetic nervous system, the vagus nerve and its many branches controls sweating. Nodules in the lungs along the bronchials and such can cause peripheral sweat attacks which could be hands/feet to entire limbs. The nodules could be reacting to infection, scarring or any number of stimuli treading upstream through the vagus nerve. Everything diabetes can cause localized sweats due to neuropathy, diabetic-metabolic issues and secondary endocrine problems.
My night sweats have become morning, noon and night sweats pointing at either an occult infection or an autoimmune hooha possibly. The subtle increase in dispersed infections, possibly several tiny colonies throughout the body can sneak up on a person. This is part projection because a couple days ago I woke up needing to rush to the ER. Half expecting to find an intestinal obstruction my wife and I went slack jawed when the doctor confirmed acute pneumonia. I may have been walking around with this a year or caught a wiff of somebody's infected exhale last week. The point is, I didn't know about this and neither did half a dozen doctors I had seen recently.
Something rather obvious that may have been overlooked, has anybody put winter bedding out? We can't make it through a night w/o pushing the covers back or a foot out. More practical right now is an old trick and that is a foot tent. That is, a tent structure that keeps the covers off the lower legs, usually made from a frame of sturdy wire, wood or plastic. Other uses include isolation of the feet/lower legs for diabetics w/sores, general bed sores for back sleepers etc. Once you have open air around the lower legs you can vent it more or less just by controlling any one or two openings created by folding back a little bedding.
If this is not going away soon enough, a doctor will be needed, the trick may be in who best to help. Infectious Disease Specialists (IDS) or virologists are infection detectives best paid by the job. The investigation could go over and over the same steps until a catch is made. If you are fighting a single big infection or many small ones that are the same bug a diurnal fever, one that exagerates your circadian rhythm could be at work. If night sweats are not with elevated temperature, an infection may not be the direct cause. So if your night sweat is at 3am and your normal temperature for that hour is up a degree or more, that's a fever. You also should have a higher than normal mid day temperature, maybe 100 to your normal 99 mid day high.
The dramatic sweats some people are describing may be resolved with some clever tenting and ducting. The classic muffin fan used for cooling electronics is quiet and easily rigged to provide quiet, focused air flow. In Korea, they have some interesting tools for keeping cool during their oppressive hot humid summers. A basket woven tube resembling a five foot hot dog with an open airy shape, placed next to a person providing excellent air flow. Koreans are beginning to use western pillows but many prefer a ceramic pillow, resting in a hard smooth cradle. The common pillow for others is a buckwheat pillow, some going to a ceramic bead pillow for maximum air flow and kilocalories of heat sink. In the back of my mind a memory of something that can be rubbed on the offending skin to prevent sweat outs. Anybody?
Wish I had something more useful,
LL
P.S. pillow freezer packs can last all night. Possibly the same thing can work at the feet. Aluminum chloride, an antiperspirant chemical is available for general skin application and some that are better.
Ok maybe there is something wrong in my lungs right now because I just coughed up blood before bed. This doesnt happen often to me. I had it happen about 4 months and before that it was years ago. Ugh!! Fml its always something. Dr appointment here I come. To change the subject, coughing up blood means infection in the lungs, right? In the past when I have coughed up blood it was a thin consistency. This time it was thick, like mucus blood. My back is hurting and feel tight. Any advice, I know it will be at least two weeks before I will be able to get in to see the doctor. I also got a TB teat done today for school. I dont think that would have anything to do with this but you never know
Hi.im glad i found this..I've had night sweat on and off for years.but the last few weeks has been hell.i woke this morning again to find everything wet.i looked like a drowned rat in the mirror.i don't go to my cf team..they told me I would be dead by 18.i'm 41 now.but can feel my self getting weaker..I would love some into to try and sort this if I can.tks