|
SUSAN LECLAIR |
Night sweats occur in
lots of people in lots of situations. The most
innocuous of them is what some researchers had defined as the 2 A.M.
type. Most commonly experienced as an over heated /mild sweating in
the head, chest, and elbows and knees (where the person would have
"bent" their joints), it is thought to arise from a combination of
temperature rising due to blanket coverings and the daily normal drop
in circulating steroids. These typically last for a few minutes; many
people can sleep through them or simply toss off some covers and go
back to sleep.
Hormonal night sweats as experienced by peri-menapausal women and men
undergoing the same drop in secondary sex hormones (sometimes known
as viripause) is quite similar to the 2 A.M. type. The locations of
the sweating are the same however, this is usually more severe.
People do wake up with discomfort (and anger at their sleeping
mate!). They can last for as long as 20 minutes. Taking off blankets
doesn't provide immediate help. These can happen multiple times
during the night. Estrogen in any form will lessen the severity of
these for perimenapausal women.
Systemic night sweats associated with disease usually involve the
entire body and are not confined to a specific hour during the night.
It is thought that there is a combination of the drop in body
temperature seen with the drop in steroids, an alteration in blood
flow especially seen if there is kidney stress, and the increased
metabolic rate that occurs with malignancies account for these. many
who experience these find relief when their disease is under tight
control. |
