Night sweats?

[anne casey]

Our son is complaining of night sweats the last 3 nights and not being able to sleep. He's not voicing any other symptoms. Can this be a symptom of his AVS? He is on the severe borderline. Just can't think of why else he's having night sweats.

 

[knotguilty]

I would talk to a doctor. I don't think it is a symptom, but it could be any number of things. In my opinion, I would talk to a doctor. I think anyones guess is as good as yours and you can google it in the mean time to find what it could be.

 

[Midpack]

Night sweats?

Imo, and talking from my personal experience, googling about health issues is usually not a good idea. Almost anything seems serious when you surf the net. Dr. google never calms you down, specially if you have, as me, some degree of hypochondria...

 

[newmitral]

Hello Anne,

I had night sweats and also a persistent cough, with no other symptoms, and it turned out to be endocarditis. I did not have the fever that frequently accompanies it. I don't wish to be alarmist, but if your son has a known heart issue and has developed night sweats, I would see your doctor ASAP and have some blood tests done to at least rule out endocarditis. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics. In my case, it was not diagnosed in time and resulted in my having my valve replaced.

I would recommend having it checked out by your doctor.

 

[dornole]

Three nights in a row, sudden onset, he is complaining, he can't sleep . . . get a medical opinion tomorrow and float the endocarditis balloon in addition to whatever else. The worst that happens is they say it's nothing, in that case ask them what else to watch for. The best is he gets diagnosed and treated for whatever it is.

Newmitral, I had the persistent dry cough (esp when lying down) and not much else too, but more from congestive heart failure due to the mitral stenosis. It took awhile for me to complain heartily enough for them to figure it out.

 

[ski girl]

Almost anything seems serious when you surf the net. ...

Unless you diagnose acute endocarditis as the flu and sit at home for three days with a fever of 104F until you get rigors and shooting pains down your arm . . . .

Whichever way you lean (hypochondriac tendencies or 100% faith that you are invincible), I'd be on to the doctor about this!!

 

[ManiSham]

Night sweats could be an indication of endocarditis, I'm saying this through my own experience. Please take him to see a doctor.

 

[Midpack]

Unless you diagnose acute endocarditis as the flu and sit at home for three days with a fever of 104F until you get rigors and shooting pains down your arm . . . .

Whichever way you lean (hypochondriac tendencies or 100% faith that you are invincible), I'd be on to the doctor about this!!

I agree. You should NEVER self diagnose using internet. Only a doctor can give you an accurate diagnosis, no doubt about this.
But many of us, in addition to doctor consultation, also look for MORE information on the web. And this is where it is easily to become obsessed (and scared).
For instance:
Are you a little tired TODAY? Dr. Google will tell you that in can be nothing, but it can also be a cancer symptom. If you are hypochondriac enough, among the hundreds of reasons that can make you feel tired one day, you will retain the cancer one (that is, of course, the most remote possibility by far...).

 

[clay_from_nj]

Have you taken his temperature? Night sweats caused by fever could very well indicate some kind of infection.

 

[Bryan B]

I had sub-acute endocarditis so it was a gradual thing with me. But when the night sweats hit they were sheet and pillow soaking events. I had to lay a couple of towels on top of the sheets and pillow just to make it through the night without changing them. I would have to change my t-shirt a couple of times a night as well.

As for fever, most mornings it was normal and as the day went on it would rise to a low grade temp around 99.5-100 and then back to normal by the next morning.

I've always been prone to night sweats, so that alone with no other symptoms doesn't necessarily mean endocarditis. Over a 3 month period I had a plethora of different symptoms that my doctor kept chasing with cough syrup (this all started with a nasty case of chronic bronchitis), several rounds of antibiotics, two different visits ending with Depo-Medrol injections, 2 different courses of Medrol Dosepacks and various other vain attempts of throwing medications at me. Then my hands and feet started hurting and swelling towards the end of the day. I finally talked my doctor into running come cultures while I was not on any antibiotics. He took them on a Friday and he called me at home on Sunday morning to tell me they had come back positive. That Tuesday they did an echo that detected vegetation on my aortic leaflets and I was admitted.

I would check his temperature in the morning and evening to see if he is running a low grade temperature every day (low grade is common for sub-acute endocarditis which is what I had). If he is running a low grade temp every day and his night sweats continue or get worse I would alert his cardio and see if he thinks taking some blood cultures would be in order.

Now having said all that, I was born with a congenital defect (large VSD) and I have been a night sweater most of my life. There could be some benign explanation for his night sweats, but I think anytime someone with valve disease starts having unusual night sweats it's better to get the blood tests to rule out infection.

The old VR motto "If in doubt check it out" would seem to fit this situation.