Night Sweats

[tobagotwo]

What is it with this sweating at night? It's disgusting. I absolutely soak the sheets, top and bottom by two ayem every single night since the surgery.

There seems to be no corresponding oversweating during the day at all.

I can't even stand to be with myself at night.

I'm 16 days past surgery, on only Plavix and Atenolol. I'm not taking pain meds, as I haven't needed them for a while. I'm doing a lot of walking, but not getting overtired from it. I feel great in every other way, aside from my scar tightening up a bit lately (stretching gently seems to loosen it right back up).

Spillo mentioned something about this, but in conjunction with anaesthesia. Obviously, any chemicals from my anaesthesia are long gone by now.

Obviously, it's not a serious issue, but I sure would like to get past it.

Ideas? Info? Wet, wretched me-toos?

 

[Granbonny]

Bob

Bob

TOO, much SEX? Oh, no, I'm not getting off track. I never had that problem but have read of others who did. Maybe they will come along with an answer. Bonnie

 

[tobagotwo]

Impossible, Bonnie. There is no such thing as too much sex.

 

[Ross]

Bonnie that's Night Sweets not Sweats, well err, I guess it could be both.

I don't know why our bodies do that for so long after surgery, but sooner or later it'll stop. Not before you do a ton of laundry and take thousands of showers, but it will stop.

 

[Heather Fisher]

Maybe it's menopause!! Oops, sorry! Actually the anesthesia can stay in your system for a long time. That could actually be part of the problem. I'm usually cold but was plenty warm after surgery for at least a couple of months. Of course at my age it's difficult to say if what I felt and still do at times was from the surgery or other causes. Get a nice little fan and aim it at yourself at night. Get in plenty of liquids too! Good luck!

Heather

 

[epstns]

Ross, I'm not so sure -- I've had a similar problem (off and on) for many years. My cardio doesn't see any connection to my heart issues. I do, however, sweat heavily during exercise or exertion -- and have for the past several years. I think it came along as my stenosis got to some certain point in its progression, but none of the docs wand to connect it to anything. They just warn me to stay hydrated. . . no wonder people give me lots of room when I'm walking around the health club.

 

[Mb]

Hi!

My husband also suffered from night sweats. Sometimes, probably once a week or so, he still has them, 2-1/2 years later. They are NOT as bad now when they happen, as it was when he first came home ( a few weeks as I recall). He also was VERY miserable about it. What we did was lay down toweling under where he slept, so the sheets did not have to be changed in the middle of the night also. We also had a totally clean set of underclothing set out, so that he could change completely. I do not recall his having to shower often in the middle of the night, but frankly that may have been more of not wanting to get me up than not wanting to shower.

I recall it was not a joke at all. He would be totally drenched, head to foot.

Now, when I kiss him good bye in the morning, I can tell if he has had a problem during the night, as his undershirt will be damp....
I also believe this is something to do with his heart.
Marybeth

 

[tobagotwo]

I am grateful to hear there's an eventual end to it (the sweats, not the sweets, er, the sex...I mean, uh, well, you know...)

I was afraid my body had picked up a revolting, new bad habit, or it was a permanent byproduct of one of my drugs. I think I'll be off the Plavix by the end of the month - it was only a 30-day Rx, and I haven't repeated for a-fib since the hospital.

By the way, I can't seem to get a good bead on Plavix for side effects and contraindications. Some vague warnings about aspirin. Some mention of bleeding issues, but no formal document. I thought they were required to have that, anywhere they advertised it in readable media. It seems to have been a BMS product, moved to SyntheLabs (sp?), but the sites keep choking me off before I can get to a Things To Watch Out For list.

Other than that, it's all Canadian Pharmacies who want to sell it to me cheap over the web.

 

[Ross]

Here ya go
You may have to click the link at the very bottom of the page multiple times to get it to display the proper window. Don't know why, but it's acting up.
http://www.sanofi-synthelabo.us/live/us/en/layout.jsp?scat=84641DFC-ADBC-471A-9291-856E568A8C06#

 

[tobagotwo]

Oh, no! Did you say YEARS?

I liked Ross's answer so much better...

This has been a conundrum. I was feeling cold, almost to the point of shivering, but sweating like a pig (Hmmm...porcine valve...Naw, couldn't be...) Just to mention the other factor, I have not been running a fever, although my temp has been within the 98.7 F and 99.7 F range in the evenings.

I had the opposite effect as Heather for a while. Normally, I'm a radiator. I actually was cold at 68 degrees F for a week and a half after surgery. An old New England boy, I generally never bothered with a coat before unless it was below 40 degrees with a wind.

I was warned that alpha blockers can have that effect. However, I see my old resistance to cold temperatures has been coming back as I go along.

The flip side is that I'm a puddle when it's over 80. I almost passed out waiting for dinner in Kerowak Village in Tobago during our honeymoon (yes, wife and I are the "Tobago Two"). She half dragged me out to the rented car for air conditioning. I looked very grey at the time, and was mumbling incoherently.

 

[tobagotwo]

Beta blockers, not alpha blockers. Apparently sweated out a few brain cells last night. And I already edited that posing for some other errors I caught.

Time for my walk. I have a dental cleaning set up about two miles away for 10:30.

 

[tobagotwo]

Posting, not posing. Maybe I should double that Plavix...

Before you chastise me, I'm premedicating with 2 grams of Amoxicillin, and I checked with the surgical staff about it when I had my staples out.

 

[Raverlaw]

Bob,

I'm normally the warmest person in a room, and often go without a sweater or coat on chilly days.

After the surgery, I was chilled to the bone most of the time, even in the house, and had to have a blanket over me when I was resting in the recliner. Walking outside required the thickest, warmest sweatshirt I owned. And despite being so chillled, I had night sweats almost every night for the first three weeks. They tapered off after that, and now I can't remember for sure when the last one was. I'm positive that the sweats had something to do with getting the anaesthestic out of my system, and I'm sure that it can take several weeks to get rid of it.

Your meds may play into it somewhat - I've read that a chilled feeling is one possible side effect of coumadin, although I haven't been as chilled lately. But then, the weather has warmed up as well...

 

[Bryan B]

Bob,

I've had a few nights of mild night sweats since the surgery, but you can just call me Mr. Paranoid about endocarditis since that's ultimately what landed me here at VR.com . I had a low grade temp that was near normal in the morning and was 1-2 degrees above normal by evening. My night sweats were so bad that I had to change t-shirts in the middle of the night and keep a towel on my pillows. I lost close to 20lbs before they finally diagnosed it. BUT...I was always fatigued and generally felt bad all the time, and you don't sound like you're having these symptoms. I'm glad you're on the Amoxicillin as a precaution. I was on several different antibiotics and steroids before they finally found the endocarditis after a positive blood culture and subsequent echo. The antibiotics and steroids were just masking the problem. That is one of my biggest worries now, and I'll probably always worry about it since they never were able to pinpoint the cause.

 

[Nancy]

I believe that major surgery can throw off your hormones for quite a while, both men and women. It really puts your entire system in an uproar.

Joe had serious constant night sweats when his mitral valve was in trouble, we even had to buy all new pillows after his last heart surgery.

But that is not the case for you. You are feeling very well post surgery. So, I would bet on the hormone imbalance and some med side effects combined. Should correct itself in a couple of weeks.

 

[tobagotwo]

Bryan, the amoxi was just premed for my dental cleaning. It was 1.5 miles to the dentist, but I had to come all the way back after a half-mile, because I needed to use the blasted bathroom, so I did 2-1/2 miles. I was a half-hour early anyway.

Then I swung by the cardiologist on the walk back. I found my Prevacids in the cabinet. I hadn't been taking them for almost a week. I don't know how they got misplaced. I thought they were just for stomach issues, which I don't really have, but figured I should ask. The cardio techs said it was OK as long as my stomach was OK. She did't believe I actually had just had the AVR until she looked it up and I showed her the scar. Heh-heh. Attack AVRs. Aortic Punk'd. One woman asked if the AVR was successful (?!). I said, "No. Actually, you can put your hand right through me. I'm sort of an apparition." I don't know if she even got it.

My son called and picked me up down the street from the cardios and we went out for a Thai lunch. That was fun. I miss getting to spend time with him.

As my main "energy stores" came back sometime last weekend, I don't feel like I'm carrying any infections. I don't feel bad at night, just yucky wet when I wake up.

Other than that, I feel great. It's like I was carrying around an anchor for the last ten years, and now it's gone.

 

[Dee]

I had a few night sweats (no night sweets that early on) about 2 weeks post op, but mine were accompanied by chills too. My temp was only 99. something and I didn't feel all that bad. I finally went in to be checked and found out I had pnuemonia! That got me 3 days in the hospital! Just make sure you're covering everything, wouldn't want something to go untreated.

Wow, that's quite a walk for 16 days post op!! I felt good just making it from the car into cardiac rehab! Keep up the good work!!

~DeeDee~

 

[bvdr]

I had night sweats before and after surgery. Sometimes I would lay towels on my side of the bed and would end up removing them and my nightgown during the night since everything would be soaked. I don't remember when they stopped but they obviously did.

 

[Blanche]

Bob:
I don't have a formal document for you on Plavix and aspirin, but my husband's doctors had a conflict about them after his stroke. It seems that Plavix and aspirin are both platlet aggregation inhibitors. That is, both work to keep the platlets in the blood from sticking together, which causes blood clotting. That was the reason they gave for not using Plavix and aspirin together.
Blanche

 

[tobagotwo]

You're right, Blanche, about aspirin and Plavix. The link Ross posted above gets to a place where that is mentioned. It's good for people to be aware of that, as they frequently think of aspirin as being unimportant, because it is available OC (over-the-counter).

Plavix does not admit to causing night sweats.

I guess the Sweaty Takeaway goes something like this:

Probable causes: physical trauma, toxins (such as anaesthesia or meds)

Probable duration: usually 2-3 weeks, but may reappear on-and-off for several years

Warning level: without other symptoms, probably harmless. With recurrent temperature (even mild), chills, fluid, SOB, or increasing pain on lying down, may be a sign of active infection, such as pneumonia or endocarditis, or of pericardial effusion.


I am considering a system of canals and ditches to deal with this situation, similar to the Mayan ones I have been watching on the Discovery Channel this week.

Omigosh. Just drank root beer too fast and hiccupped. Not as bad as sneezing, but not pleasant. Have to gather my organs up off the floor, wash, and re-insert them again. So tedious...