If you are suffering from night sweats, you know they are not something to sweep under the rug. Waking up soaked, and in a bed that’s soaked, is extremely frustrating. Not only do you need to shower, you need to find another place to sleep that is dry. This is not a pattern that anyone wants to keep repeating. Where is the first place most people look when they have a health question? The Internet.
What To Consider When Researching Night Sweats Online
Researching night sweats online can be a good idea. After all, with a couple of clicks of your mouse you may find some answers or at least more information. However, there are some things to keep in mind when researching night sweats online, even when researching here at Help For Night Sweats.
There are many different diseases and health problems that can cause or contribute to night sweats. Night sweats also can be caused by environmental factors like too many heavy covers, or sleeping in a warm, stuffy room. In this case, someone may lead themselves to believe that they have a serious condition because they incorrectly self diagnosed when they should’ve gone to a doctor. The spectrum of diseases and other issues that can cause night sweats varies greatly from a disease as serious as cancer, to a small reaction to a medicine like prednisone.
This is the problem with researching any health condition online; it is easy to misdiagnosis. In conjunction with a doctor’s visit, it can be beneficial to research health conditions online so you can inform yourself, but it is important not to get carried away and self diagnose based on information found online. The vast majority of information about diseases found the Internet isn’t written by doctors or medical experts. Not to mention a doctor often needs to do specific testing to provide an accurate diagnosis and to help you find effective night sweats treatment options.
8 Possible Causes Of Night Sweats
- Menopause – Transition into menopause causes frequent and sometimes intense hot flashes, which may occur at night causing menopause night sweats.
- Infections – Infections can cause a fever, and at night fevers can cause night sweats. Tuberculosis, AIDS, and Malaria also are associated with night sweats.
- Hypoglycemia – Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar at night, can cause night sweats.
- Medications – Niacin, Viagra, and Prednisone are among medications known to cause night sweats.
- Hormone Disorders – Symptoms of many hormone disorders, including low estrogen, include sweating and flushing.
- Neurologic Conditions – Many neurological conditions lead to excessive sweating.
- Idiopathic Hyperhidrosis – A condition where the body sweats too much without another underlying cause.
- Cancer– Among fever and weight loss, night sweats are an early indicator of some forms of cancer.
How Your Doctor Can Help
Your doctor can evaluate your medical history and do proper testing to determine the cause of your night sweats. He or she can help you determine whether there may be a medical condition causing your sweating at night or if it is something less serious. Only a doctor can properly diagnose your condition. You may be able to narrow it down to a few possibilities, which can help your doctor, but only a doctor can order the tests you need to confirm a diagnosis.
There are many answers to the question “what causes night sweats” as there are many things that can cause night sweats. In some cases they can be caused by environmental circumstances or a phase of life and sometimes they are caused by something more serious including cancer. There is no reason to rely solely on information obtained through researching night sweats online, especially when you could possibly be facing something as life threatening as cancer.