Waking up overnight DRENCHED in sweat

[cinnamonrolls3]

Posting here in case anyone else has had this and knows what it is!

ive been struggling with really bad night sweats recently. All my life I’ve naturally been a cold person but for a few months now I’ve been feeling absolutely boiling hot at night. It usually starts about midnight or so, feels like I’m unbelievably hot and the sweat literally soaks my pjs and bedsheets and I’m dripping wet with it. If I’m up late then I’ll feel it start but if I’m in bed early then it’ll wake me up during the night when it starts . I’ve tried light bedding, no bedding, light pjs, no pjs, windows open (my bed is literally right beside it). I live in northern Scotland where it’s been baltic recently and my car is iced up every morning but I’m still waking up roasting. Heating thermostat is set to 15 overnight but I’ve tried even lower and it makes no difference. My room isn’t particularly warm or a heat trap, I’ve never had this issue before and I’m completely fine during the day. Does anyone know wtf this is and what I can do to stop it? Frankly I’m fed up having to wash my hair in the morning because it’s wet with sweat from during the night

i went to the gp who checked my thyroid and hormones and it was all normal. I even went privately for amother full hormone check so I could make sure the levels were normal and they were all completely fine. I’ve had a few full blood tests recently (for a completely separate thing) and I remember on once instance the doctor said my white blood cells were high, I think it was 15.5? Then another doctor said whilst it’s high it doesn’t matter because they’ve seen that for me in my other recent blood tests so that’s normal for me. Otherwise it was all fine

I’m just at a loss for what it is! I’m not menopausal, I’m 28, female, I’m not stressed, I exercise regularly and don’t drink or take drugs. Just at a bit of a loss! The doctor said not to worry about it and it’s just one of those things but it’s having a big impact on me

@cinnamonrolls3 It's the cumulative appearance of symptoms that I would want checked, and pronto. Others have pointed out the possibility of Hodgkins etc. I'm not saying that's what you might have, but please, demand that you get thoroughly checked for that before messing around with any other theories. The other possibilities are not seriously life threatening, but lymphoma can be if not caught on time and treated.

I can understand that (like most people) you may want to convince yourself that it is something more benign and attribute it to this or that. Understandable, but I wouldn't waste any more time speculating TBH.

If it turns out NOT to be Lymphoma, then you can get every other test under the sun to try and identify the cause. Please don't delay and self diagnose. I hope it is something simple enough to solve, but you have to rule out other causes before that.

Bless you. I was in denial myself about an illness, until someone kicked me up the backside and I am so glad they did now, but it took me a while to stop thinking it was something else entirely!

The sweats you've described are classic lymphoma, and you're a very typical age to get it.

My lymphoma was stage 4 before it was diagnosed, by that point my tumour had been growing for two years and was 10x10cm. I was only diagnosed because it broke through my sternum causing a small lump.

I always make a point of mentioning this on here when people mention lymphoma symptoms, because it so often goes undiagnosed. I didn't actually have any symptoms, some people don't, but they include:
Drenching night sweats
Itching all over
Loss of appetite and/or weight loss
Slightly raised temperature
Enlarged lymph nodes

Like I said though, often people have just one or even none of these symptoms.

If you have any others on the list, please do go back to the GP. Diagnosis would come through a full blood count, examination of lymph nodes, and maybe scans if they find anything. It's worth noting that blood tests can sometimes be normal even if you do have lymphoma.

Of course it's very possible it isn't lymphoma and I'm not trying to scare you, but it's better to be safe than sorry! I wish mine had been diagnosed earlier.

I don’t want to scare you but look into this further. I was 24-25 when I had drenching night sweats and a few years later I was diagnosed with Hodgekin’s Lymphoma, so the white blood cell count would concern me. The average age for this is 27 and later around early 60’s. The other symptoms I had early were teeth breaking off, very itchy skin, then later (two years) enlarged lymph nodes and spleen pain (pain in my side). I was diagnosed stage 3B with 4B being worst so I guess I’m telling you now that to not ignore this because if by some chance it is this you will have caught it early. Don’t wait like I did!

I made a full recovery, got married at 36, had ds at 38, and am now 62 and have been married almost 26 years. Get it checked!! All the best to you.

Peri- menopausal.
It can take years and years.
Nights sweats was my first weird symptom. It was 10 years ago. I still have regular periods LOL

Reading other comments, they mention lymphoma a lot. I did not know that.
Go back to the doctor and have it checked.

It is insanely unlikely that the OP is in perimenopause at 28.

Don't even give a thought to 'what the doctors might think of you'. Just go, and make sure you request to see a different doctor. And when you see them, don't minimise your symptoms or apologise. On the contrary. You need to be insistent to make sure you get seen to properly.

Just echoing pp's comments re lymphoma- night sweats was one of my mum's first symptoms and by the time it was picked up it was too late. Not trying to scare you and you've very much got age and health on your side but please do get checked out again

I went through this a few years ago. I was mid 30's. I thought it was to do with peri as I had previously been told I would have menopause early. I changed all of the bedding to high quality cotton and a down duvet and pillow and that did make a huge difference.

I had this when I had a chest infection. It was sorted with antibiotics. My C reactive protein result was high

This isn't normal, it's not 'one of those things' and it needs to be looked at. Peri can happen early. Have you had a full blood count esp b lymphocytes, my Dad has blood cancer (CLL) and sweats was one of his symptoms. I'm not saying it's that at all but there are conditions that cause this, some relatively benign other not so much, so being fobbed off isn't acceptable.

The awareness of peri-menopause has gone OTT if people blithely put night sweats at age 28 down to that.
And if it was peri then it needs to be established and then looked into and it's not normal to have it so early.

I get bad night sweats sometimes, it was worst post partum with the hormone drop but still happens occasionally. Does it get worse at any particular time in your cycle? Have you started taking any new vitamins or supplements lately?

Can you get the actual numbers of your blood test results? What can be 'in range' can still cause symptoms if it isn't optimum for you. Especially thyroid, vitamin d, vitamin b and Ferritin levels. I was told my iron levels were fine as they were in range, but I was close to needing a transfusion and barely functioning. It's your body and your know yourself so please push for more tests to rule out something sinister.

I changed to all cotton bedding and a thin wool duvet (from IKEA) and my night sweats are now more manageable, but yours sounds extreme and like it could be medical. Hope you get an answer soon.

OP, on the NHS app you can see all your historic blood test results going back years and years.

It’s worth looking and checking your results and normal ranges.

In Scotland we can’t unfortunately 😢 no nhs app up here

but I’ll absolutely request the numbers and have a look at them. I’m not a doctor so it doesn’t mean much to me but it would be good to see how long the white blood cell thing has been high for

the only other thing that springs to mind is I’ve been told before I have higher than normal blood sugars sometimes but it’s not diabetes or anything to worry about. It’s only sometimes. I remember they did a blood test in a&e (for a totally separate thing) and it checked electrolytes and stuff and the glucose came back at 8. But I hadn’t eaten in around 10 hours by that point and had been vomitting all day, and they said the stress of being sick can cause it to spike. I’ve had it happen a few times in similar scenarios. It went back to normal and it doesn’t sit high all the time so they said it’s not an issue. I don’t think it’s at all related but that’s the only other thing I’ve ever had come back abnormal in the last few months apart from the white blood cells. The highest it went to was 11.5 I’m sure.

dont think its related but its the only other abnormal result in the blood tests, everything else was completely normal x

Have you had your thyroid tested? Excessive sweating can be a sign of overactive thyroid.

Yeah had my thyroid checked and it was fine. I was sure it would be something like that, or something hormonal, but it all came back well within normal.

I know a few folk have mentioned getting something serious like lymphoma ruled out- does anyone know how I would request that or do that? I was told that the white blood cell thing is only a little raised at 15.5 and if it were anything serious it would be much higher, and they told me the lump is fine on the x ray and with where it is it’s not a lymph node anyway (it’s literally right on my sternum/clavicle and it’s more boney) so they said that’s unrelated, and they said the extra periods are unrelated and just one of those things that sometimes happens and the fact my hormones are fine means there’s nothing wrong. Just not sure what I should be requesting or pushing for or the best way to get lymphoma specifically checked for? I don’t think it’s anything serious like that but I want to follow everyone’s advice and get it ruled out x

Blood tests of any kind can not definitely prove start of pre menopause, yes they can check hormone count etc but they can not say for definite it hasn't started. Doctors go by the signs and based on what your saying it certainly sounds like the start but could go on for years

I'm 46 and have been having terrible night sweats for the past 8 or so years. I wake up completely drenched, I actually have trickles of sweating running off me. It always seems to coincide with when I have a particularly vivid dream, but after reading this thread I'm a little worried......
No other signs of perimenopause yet either.

This is a classic symptom of low oestrogen. That’s why you sweat and run hot when postpartum or during peri menopause, because your oestrogen tanks to the floor! I know you said your hormone panel is normal, but unless you know a rough base level from before this started happening, you won’t know if your current oestrogen is lower than your personal ‘normal’ or not. Does it tend to happen more at the very start of your menstrual cycle when every woman’s oestrogen is naturally at its lowest? If so there’s your answer.

For what it’s worth, I’m typically a very cold, oestrogen-dominant person but overheat chronically for months post partum and also when I had a large ovarian cyst. Doesn’t have to automatically mean peri meno.

Do you usually have a large or late meal before going to bed? When the digestive system is still working at full speed overnight, it can raise your body temperature and lead to night sweats.

OP I use Isabel symptom checker often, it's very good. I put in your age group, raised white cell count, drenching night sweats, breakthrough bleeding and lump on chest (there was no dropdown for collarbone). Try it, it suggests all the illnesses it potentially could be. Leukemia is the first one listed but there are others, like endometriosis and so on. But be your own best advocate and don't be fobbed off, please. Wishing you all the best with this.

https://symptomchecker.isabelhealthcare.com/isabel-tool-page

A friend of mine had this and it turned out to be caused by high blood pressure. She was slim, fit and healthy but unfortunately for her high blood pressure at a relatively young age ran in her family. I think she was late 30s/early 40s at the time.
Once her BP was under control the night sweats stopped.

She had no other symptoms of high BP so it came as surprise to her.

I would strongly recommend going back to the GP as soon as you can and saying you are extremely concerned about possible lymphoma and want to be referred for proper testing. At 28 this is highly unlikely to be your hormones, and it could be extremely serious. You seem to be listing lots of symptoms of potential lymphoma here.