Night Sweats?

nerdrock

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My boyfriend and I have both been having extreme sweating during the night lately. Nothing has really changed, we're both healthy, although we both smoke (1/2 pack/day each). We've set a quit date for March 1st but have only cut down a little bit (1-3 cigarettes less each per day).

Our bedroom is normally fairly cold. We live in an apartment building and our apartment is on the corner that gets the most wind exposure. We don't mind that it's so cold in there, we're both used to sleeping in a cold bedroom with a down duvet. The heater for the bedroom is under the bed along the wall, our bed is pulled out so that it's not close enough to the heater to cause any problems and there is a piece of wood between the mattress and box spring to keep anything from falling down into the heater. It has never been a problem before the past maybe month. Our duvet is down, but it's an all weather one and fairly light. We've comfortable with it on during the day if we're just lounging around in there and for the hour or so that we spend in there before actually going to sleep.

Mike has had it on and off all winter but it's becoming more frequent and the past week or so it's been every night. I didn't have a problem up until the last real cold spell we got here a few weeks ago. Now for the past week I've been waking up pretty much drenched in sweat as well. To be honest I thought Mike was exaggerating until it started happening to me.

I have no idea what's going on and it's getting unbearable, not to mention gross and expensive because I've had to change/wash our fitted sheet and duvet cover so much. We can't control the heat in our apartment, even if we could it's cold in the bedroom anyways.

The temperature doesn't seem to fluctuate much in the bedroom - meaning there doesn't seem to be a particular time of day when it's warmer or cooler in there.

Mike had a cold a few weeks ago but I never got it and he's was over it a couple of days later. Our dogs rarely sleep with us, when they do it doesn't seem to have any effect on the sweating. We just got Leiki, our cat, a few days ago. She'll lay on the bed, but doesn't go under the covers or anything like that and she's never on our bed all night.

Any ideas?
 

kailie

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Are either of you on any kind of medication? I get terrible night sweats, but it's a side effect of one of my medicatios.
 
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nerdrock

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Mike isn't, I'm supposed to be on two medications but I went off of them about a year ago because they were making me extremely "foggy" and it was hard to concentrate.

Last night was a bit better, Mike said he didn't sweat at all and mine was minor compared to what it has been. I woke up slightly damp instead of soaked, lol.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the weather. When it's been very cold outside is when it happens, yesterday was a fairly warm day. It's supposed to get quite cold again this week then then warm up (I hear +10 for Friday!), so I guess we'll see what happens when it's colder and I'll try to keep better track of it.
 

justjayde

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This will sound stupid but if you sleep naked - and you get cold? you will actually sweat. Not sure the reason WHY but generally it's the way it goes.

Also - if you are sleeping on foam - that can also cause sweating issues - the egg crate bed toppers or the foam mattresses...
 
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nerdrock

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We only sleep naked in the summer, well Mike sometimes does in the winter, but for me it's way too cold and I can't motivate myself to get out of bed when I have to work if I'm that cold.

Back in the fall one of our dogs was diagnosed with bladder stones and kept peeing on our bed, I bought a mattress cover that's plastic underneath and padded on top... I wonder if that's what's doing it... the heat from the heater could be getting trapped under the bed as opposed to travelling through the mattress like it used to? But still kind of weird that it hasn't really had an effect on us all winter until just a few weeks ago...
 

justjayde

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ABSOLUTELY yes!~ you need to put something thick between it and you - a towel or a thick blanket. That will do it!

Bed pads have the same thing in them - the plastic... and if I need to use one I have to cover it with a super thick towel folded in half or I sweat like mad.
 

zohdee

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How do you sleep with your blankets? I sleep in a cocoon so I get sweaty. I only have my mouth uncovered.

It is really funny to see me sleep. I will spend 15 minutes situating the blanket so my mouth has breathing room but the rest is all covered with blankets.

That and I have usually three cats in my bed and sometimes my daughter.
 

ducman69

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I'd get sheets that are appropriate for the temperature, and just hang a robe nearby so you have something warm to wrap up in in the morning. IMO, PJs can constrict bloodflow and bunch up when turning in the night.

A padded cotton mattress cover would be recommended, or even a synthetic like coolmax or similar.

Also when buying sheets, everyone thinks that the higher the thread count the better, but the high threadcounts can turn your sheet into a tarp that doesn't breathe. I like 6-800 count Egyptian cotton (not bledn), which isn't so overpriced online.
 
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nerdrock

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Right now we just have cheap flannel sheets on the bed, lol. I get paid this Friday (well Thursday night) so Mike will have laundry money so that he can do that on Friday while I'm at work.

Our sheets are also fairly cheap, lol, I think they are 400 thread count? At least, I'm pretty sure that's what the packaging said when I bought them. Our duvet covers are from Ikea, not sure if the thread count of those matter, but I'm not sure what it is anyways. Our duvet is a decent quality, down filled (even though Mike is allergic to feathers - as long as there is a cover on it he's fine). Previous to having the mattress cover on, the duvet was fine from fall to spring, never too hot or too cool and we could use it during the cooler summer nights as well.

I'm definitely suspicious of the mattress cover, although kind of wonder why the problem has only surfaced recently (for me anyways). Mike complained about it on occasion throughout the winter, but it would only be one night every few weeks to I just told him to suck it up, lol.

Since Sadie has had her surgery for her bladder stones and has not had any problems since having the surgery I think I'm going to take the cover off and see if that helps any - if it does, then we know what the problem was. If it wasn't, perhaps we will have to rearrange our bedroom so that the bed isn't right over the heater. The only problem with that is that we will have to put the bed against a wall again - we had big problems with that when Mike first moved in. I like to sleep against the wall, but I would always be waking him up when I had to go to work. He gets up in the middle of the night to pee, so he would be waking me up with that. We both argued more when the bed was up against the wall, now we hardly ever argue. I think we both need our sleep, lol.

We have a fairly decent sized bedroom considering we live in an apartment, however the layout doesn't give a lot of options. On one wall there is the closet doors (double doors) and the door to the hall, on the opposite wall there is the heater and the (giant) window. The other walls are just big enough to have the head of the bed against the wall and the night stands on the side with little room on either side of those. There is A LOT more room if we have the bed where we have it currently. Our bedroom is about as wide as the bed is long plus about 3 feet. We don't have a ton of furniture in there; the bed, two night stands, a chair, a dresser (tv sits on top of it) and the dog crate. If we moved the chair out we would probably have more room to rearrange things, but it is the dogs' chair and they really do enjoy laying on it when Mike or I hang out with them in there. They also have on in the living room, lol. I have had that chair since college, it was my roommate's and Sadie would sleep there as a puppy - my roommate gave it to me when she graduated and moved in with her boyfriend. So it does have some sentimental value as well. We would love to move the dog crate out of the bedroom, but we don't have any room anywhere else - other than the studio and that is out of the question.

Hopefully removing the mattress cover will solve the problem. We won't need to put it back on until our litter of puppies is due and the one we keep back is allowed to sleep with us on occasion. Hopefully that will be during the warmer months.
 

my4llma

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That happens to me, but my room gets the heat first. So to heat the other side of the house I get roasted. I keep my fan on.

Medicine can also do that.
 

gailc

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We keep our bedroom pretty cool in the winter and have flannel sheets on the bed but as the outside temps have been warmer the last couple of nights I wake up being too warm.
Granted I've had sweats but sometimes they are menopause related! This winter I bought a set of fleece type sheets but I many days they are too warm-might be that breathability factor.
Try to purchase a set of sheets that are all cotton instead of a ploy-cotton blend.
Also there are websites that sell sheets for night sweats. I find if I have a cotton pillow case cover instead of a flannel one that will help somehow by keeping my head cooler.
 

wharfrat

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Originally Posted by nerdrock

We only sleep naked in the summer, well Mike sometimes does in the winter, but for me it's way too cold and I can't motivate myself to get out of bed when I have to work if I'm that cold.

Back in the fall one of our dogs was diagnosed with bladder stones and kept peeing on our bed, I bought a mattress cover that's plastic underneath and padded on top... I wonder if that's what's doing it... the heat from the heater could be getting trapped under the bed as opposed to travelling through the mattress like it used to? But still kind of weird that it hasn't really had an effect on us all winter until just a few weeks ago...
Thats the reason..get rid of that plastic cover if possible. Its not letting your body wick moisture. Same thing if you put a warm damp washcloth in a baggie and seal it up. Soon you'll see condensation (sweat) on the inside of the bag. Its also bad for you, as it will not let your body regulate its temperature correctly. Hope that helps and good luck
 

gardenandcats

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I had the same problem when I used a new mattress cover that had plastic. I removed it and it stopped the sweating. I bet you this plastic is the problem.
 

feralvr

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Did you say how old you are?? Hot flashes yet??? But that wouldn't explain your BF night sweats.

I too have a waterproof mattress pad because of older dogs and just pets in general and a very expensive mattress I can't let get ruined. I definitely feel much more heat from the wet proof pad. I find if I keep it colder in the house at night this helps me out, in all areas of night sweats
 
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nerdrock

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I'm 25 and my boyfriend is 28, so no menopause here! lol

I'm definitely going to take it off when we do our laundry on Friday... I just want to give it a few more days to make sure that no one is going to pee, lol.
 

gailc

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In the Oprah magazine today there are new sheets by a company called "sheex". This spring they will be in the US at Bed Bath and Beyound stores as well as the Home Shopping Network. (hsn.com). The seem to be made out of some athletic fabric that wicks moisture away.
 

ducman69

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Ah, cool. I have seen plenty such materials used on mattress covers, but not in sheets.

For the multiple layers as needed for full sheet sets (bottom, top sheet, and pillow cases at minimum), I imagine it might be pretty expensive though when they come out (guessing in the $200s), assuming they are using the same type of material. After all, look how much Nike, Under Armor, and the like charge for those t-shirts.

Bet it would feel nice though!
 
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nerdrock

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Lol! We're also considering getting the Marital Fart Blanket or whatever it's called - I don't know what's going on with Mike but his are deathly and he does it a lot at night and in the morning before we actually get up.

I've had some other things pop up - medically - that have been around for a bit but that are starting to worry me now so I will also be going to urgent care, probably tomorrow afternoon after work. Let's hope that's nothing serious.
 

margecat

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All of my adult life, I have sometimes, when the room is too cold, woken up drenched in sweat. Sometimes, it's from a nightmare; most of the time, though, I think it's the cold. I think, due to the cold, and trying to keep warm, I ball myself up tight, and don't move around during the night--so I get sweaty. It takes a lot to make me break a sweat while awake, BTW.

Your problem may be due to medication, illness, etc. also. Also, what is the fiber content of the sheet(s)/duvet cover? I know that when I had a set of very high thread-count 100% cotton sheets, I'd wake up sweaty---I actually had to get rid of brand new sheets due to this. Also, do your sheets now have polyester in them, and didn't before, or has your sleeping attire's fabric content changed?
 

natalie_ca

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Given the fact that this is affecting both of you, it's not medical. It's something environmental.

Like someone said, when you sleep on plastic, it traps the heat and causes you to sweat. Go with a mattress pad, turn down the temperature in your room at night, and leave a window open just a crack.
 
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