Night Sweats

[sr71blackbird]

Dr Steve,
For years I have had a problem with sweating when I sleep. Lately it has gotten much worse, and I wake up soaked and my pillow and sheets saturated. I have tried using less blankets, and it still happens. I am over weight, 42 years old, there is heart disease in my family, and I have high blood pressure. I do not have heart disease. My mother was recently diagnosed with diabetes. I am on Lexipro for anxiety, and Metroplolo and Diovan htc for blood pressure. But the last two I have been on for over a year. Only the Lexipro I have been taking for 3 months. I was taking Ambien for sleep, but have not needed it for over a month. ow that I am typing it it seems that the sweating got a little worse after I stopped the Ambien, but I do not know it it was a factor. What could it be? Is it bad for me to sweat so much? I do not drink alcohol, but do have some water before going to bed, but not a large amount, like an 8 oz bottle of spring water. Thanks

[Dr Steve]

Dr Steve,
For years I have had a problem with sweating when I sleep. Lately it has gotten much worse, and I wake up soaked and my pillow and sheets saturated. I have tried using less blankets, and it still happens. I am over weight, 42 years old, there is heart disease in my family, and I have high blood pressure. I do not have heart disease. My mother was recently diagnosed with diabetes. I am on Lexipro for anxiety, and Metroplolo and Diovan htc for blood pressure. But the last two I have been on for over a year. Only the Lexipro I have been taking for 3 months. I was taking Ambien for sleep, but have not needed it for over a month. ow that I am typing it it seems that the sweating got a little worse after I stopped the Ambien, but I do not know it it was a factor. What could it be? Is it bad for me to sweat so much? I do not drink alcohol, but do have some water before going to bed, but not a large amount, like an 8 oz bottle of spring water. Thanks

BB:

Most of the time, nighttime sweating is a benign, but crazy annoying thing. A very common adverse effect to Lexapro (escitalopram, an antidepressant) is excessive sweating. I'd want to know if the sweating worsened after you started this medication (I see you've only been on the Lexapro for 3 months).

I'd talk to my health care provider about this, and let them examine you...they'll look for enlarged lymph nodes and may do some blood work. Assuming all else is normal, a switch of medications may be in order. Doubt it has anything to do with the ambien, since you've been off this for over a month. If they can't find anything at all, great. You can take some medication for this if you like, or you can ignore it (if you can). Medications used for excessive sweating include Robinul (glycopyrrolate) and Hytrin (terazosin). Both have a crapload of adverse reactions but do work for "hyperhidrosis" (excessive sweating). Obviously, talk to your primary care provider before starting anything new. :-)

Hope this helps.


your friend,



steve