Night Sweats in NON-Menopausal Women

[prescottchels]

Anyone here have experience/knowledge about night sweats?-what causes them, alternative treatment-as in herbs and such, rather than pills.
I'm only 32 for pete's sake. I'm hardly menopausal. perimenopausal-MAYBE. Even that seems like a stretch, but every link on google about night sweats seems to be related to hot flashes and menopause. ugh. I don't wake up hot, just soaked.
Periods have always been very regular....
Last night I woke up about 4am ish and had completely soaked the sheets, and I was just dripping wet like I just got out of the shower, and/but it only seems to come from a band around my torso, mostly in the front, from about pit level to the bottom of the ribs. Seems to happen about once a month, but not always...? I haven't paid close enough attention to when it happens to know what part of my cycle it occurs in, but AF is due any day now, in regard to this most recent episode. Also it doesn't seem related to having awoken from a scary dream or anything like that. I think I just wake up cuz I'm uncomfortable swimming in my own bodily fluids when I should be warm and dry
Anyone?
TIA
Chelsie

[~savah~]

Hi there, my first thought is your bedding. I used to have night sweats quite frequently until I switched my bedding from down to wool. Right before we had DD we got a wool mattress protector and a wool comforter. I hadn't really realized that my night sweats were gone until my sister mentioned that hers were gone after she switched to wool. I guess wool naturally regulates heat. Another thing is I'm not sure what type of bedding you are using, but I notice that I perspire a lot more when I'm wearing synthetic clothing, is it possible you could be having a similar reaction to your bedding? Hth

[prescottchels]

Hmmm bedding is an interesting theory...
At home I have cotton sheets, a thin wool blanket and then a down comforter. For the past month I've been living at my friend's house while I remodel my new house and have a different conglomeration of sheets/blankets and have night sweats either way... I don't sleep in pj's very often but when I do they're cotton (and have had sweats in both scenarios) and I never feel overheated in bed...

[columbusmomma]

Hmmmmm, I get night sweats at times too, will need to put on new sleeping shirt and a towel down on the sheet so I don't continue to lie on a soaked bed. I wonder what it is?! I'm 38.

[KarlaC]

Off the wall question but could you borrow a meter & check your blood sugar at that time?

[journeymom]

I'm 41, but I've been getting them since my early 30s. It comes and goes. Yes, you might be too young for official 'peri menopause' but that doesn't mean that your hormones aren't fluctuating. I got a crazy bout of night sweats when I started a particular medication: nightly, drenched in sweat. I took to keeping a hand towel at the foot of the bed. I'd wake up, tear off my night shirt and towel off. It was ridiculous. My body got used to the medication and the night sweats almost completely went away. What a relief!

It's good to have comfortable sheets and blankets that breath (wool is great, works even when it's wet!), but that isn't what causes night sweats. It's fluctuations in hormones.

And I'll just add that I suspect that peri menopause simply starts younger and lasts longer than the experts have discovered yet. At 30 y.o. a woman's last period might not be for another 20 years, but that doesn't mean that her fertility isn't winding down already. I think the process is very gradual.

[prescottchels]

hormone fluctuations-ugh. I was afraid of that. I can't seem to keep mine balanced to save myself

Columbusmomma-you're in the perimenopause age bracket, late 30's...

[tanyalynn]

Traditional Chinese Medicine links night sweats with liver stress, not sure if it can be a symptom of other imbalances as well. If you went to an acupuncturist who practices TCM, they'd have some ideas on herbs and dietary choices and they could stick needles in you.

[prescottchels]

Thanks for the TCM link-up, love that stuff!! I used to have an amazing 5-elements practitioner, but he moved away... sigh.
It's all coming together... I'm already aware of a liver imbalance, that's a chronic thing along w/my hormones being whackadoodle...
Staying at my friend's house is hard cuz there are lots of sugar & dairy temptations around that my resolve is caving into, that I don't have at my own house.... Not good for my bod... Must. finish. remodel!!! Being around the chems of remodeling does not make by bod happy either-sheesh.
Gotta find my happy liver support foods list-hmmmmm

[tanyalynn]

If you're eating stuff that you know is problematic, that itself could be pushing you over the edge. DH started getting night sweats again this past fall when we started cheating by eating gluten and dairy after the kids were in bed. I had other problems, so we've decided gfcf really _is_ worth it (again ).

http://www.mybodywisdom.net/pdf/Liver_Qi_Stagnation.pdf

This website has a short list of articles that, to me, seem to describe common TCM issues in a way that's easy to understand for someone new to the topic like me. I saw a lot of myself and DH in the three articles.

[prescottchels]

lol cheating after the kids go to bed, that's cute.
I definitely don't cheat on gluten anymore after one really bad episode. Now I react to it so strongly and so immediately, so I've found lots of other GF replacement recipes that rock!
Dairy is the hard one to say no to, cuz I don't react to it immediately so I let myself slide a bit more w/that one... but when it catches up w/me it's not so good... Like today when I started my period and had cramps from hell that even 3 advil had trouble taming.

So for anyone w/night sweats who wants to try eating to support their liver, here's some ideas I found online, again
garlic
onions
egg yolks
broccoli
cauliflower,
kale
brussel sprouts
more fruits & veggies in general to increase fiber intake
Cut down on deep fried and fatty food, smoked, cured and salted foods

[Kailey's mom]

I have that in spurts. I think it's when my body is getting way too overtired, its like a warning. I dont' know if that's right,but when it happens to me, I'm told I was also snoring loud, and I know I was getting to the point of exaustion.

[sbgrace]

Night sweats can be a sign of sleep apnea (well, caused by the stress apnea episodes put on the body). That was the case for me.

[prescottchels]

Definitely have been overtired and under some stress, though not stressed out, I don't think...
So many varying things goin on out there for all of us!
May we all sleep well and dry-ly!! Cheers!

[kiwiva]

Originally Posted by journeymom

And I'll just add that I suspect that peri menopause simply starts younger and lasts longer than the experts have discovered yet. At 30 y.o. a woman's last period might not be for another 20 years, but that doesn't mean that her fertility isn't winding down already. I think the process is very gradual.

I'm reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause and he talks about premenopause being the 20 years before menopause. The issue he talks a lot about is estrogen dominance (which is what causes the menopausal symptoms) and he believes that there's more of it and earlier because of all the xenoestrogens we are subjecting our bodies to. He suggests that many women need natural progesterone supplementation to counteract the estrogen dominance. I'm in the middle of the book, so that's what I'm getting thus far anyway.

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by kiwiva

I'm reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause and he talks about premenopause being the 20 years before menopause. The issue he talks a lot about is estrogen dominance (which is what causes the menopausal symptoms) and he believes that there's more of it and earlier because of all the xenoestrogens we are subjecting our bodies to. He suggests that many women need natural progesterone supplementation to counteract the estrogen dominance. I'm in the middle of the book, so that's what I'm getting thus far anyway.

Very interesting! So maybe my hunch is right. I look into that book.

I'm also looking into Screaming To Be Heard by Elizabeth Lee Vliet.

[prescottchels]

Kiwiva-I think I'm gonna look up that book too. Thanks for letting us know about it!