Night sweats

[Randy and Vanessa]

My husband had a double bypass on 2/14/12. He has been having night sweats, to the point where we have to change sheets, etc... From what I have read, pretty normal. No diabetes or other co-morbidities, however I was wondering if anyone has some thoghts on things we may be able to do to minimize this. Makes him really uncomfrotable. Thanks! Randy and Vanessa P.S. This is our first post and we have no clue what we am doing, so no "smilies" etc...

 

[Guest]

Yes, the night sweats are part of the recovery. Some folks have feelings of extreme cold, I know I did. Make sure he doesn't have a fever, anything over 101. Sometimes the fever spikes at night rather during the day. If he has fever, call his dr.

You'll catch on navigating and posting, so far you're doing great!

 

[bdryer]

Ahhhhh....the nights sweats and shivers. I remember them well for over a month post-op. I would saturate one side of the bed in the first half and soak the other side during the second half of sleep. Heaven forbid if, [which was always] you had to get out of bed for a nature break, cause the damp sheets cooled down and the soaked sheets were like crawling in with a discarded dish rag.

Had my surgery at age 55 last Mar 21. Know that for 4-5 weeks after surgery to expect, "The night sweats". Sounds like the title of an old horror movie. Indeed it is a horror show when you are going through it.

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi,

I also had the same experince as bdryer discribed above.
Hope he moves on past this phase quickly.

Rob

 

[Boston Tiger]

As others have said, the good thing about those night sweats is that they do go away in time. I would change my shirt during my nature calls, but that couldn't do anything about the soaking wet pillows and sheets. I think I even threw a towel on the bed one night so I could lie on something dry instead of those clammy sheets.

 

[normofthenorth]

I had no idea this condition was at all common after OHS. I know it mostly as a symptom of the dreaded endocarditis, which is even more dreaded for us folk than for average folk. One more reason why endocarditis is so tricky to diagnose, I guess.

 

[Mentu]

Oh boy, your husband is certainly not alone. For me, the night sweating was very predictable; about 3:30 AM I would wake to find the lower sheet soaking wet. I started buying those large absorbent pads with the plastic back used to train puppies to put under me so I could keep the bed from getting wet. My family doctor speculates that during recovery a lot of systems in the body must respond to the dramatic change in blood flow and one of those may be the body's temperature regulatory mechanism. After surgery it seems to sort of go out whack at times. I also found that reducing the temperature of the bedroom was somewhat helpful. Like so many other things, with time it improves.

Larry

 

[Greg a]

My husband had a double bypass on 2/14/12. He has been having night sweats, to the point where we have to change sheets, etc... From what I have read, pretty normal. No diabetes or other co-morbidities, however I was wondering if anyone has some thoghts on things we may be able to do to minimize this. Makes him really uncomfrotable. Thanks! Randy and Vanessa P.S. This is our first post and we have no clue what we am doing, so no "smilies" etc...

I am ANOTHER "me too" type guy on this and since this is your "FIRST POST"

A heart felt WELCOME to our OHS family glad you found the site most of the community are OHS brothers and sisters,(read no medical professionals) there are some minimally invasive surgeries as well so ask away, there is a wealth of knowledge here for the future .....


Bob/tobagotwo has up dated a list of acronyms and short forms http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8494&d=1276042314

what to ask pre surgery http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...68-Pre-surgery-consultation-list-of-questions

what to take with you to the hospital http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?13283-what-to-take-to-the-hospital-a-checklist

Preparing the house for post surgical patients http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...Getting-Comfortable-Around-the-House&p=218802

These are from various forum stickies and there is plenty more to read as well


And Lynw added this PDF on what to expect post op
http://www.sts.org/documents/pdf/whattoexpect.pdf

 

[Randy and Vanessa]

Thank you all soooo much! Very helpful info and nice to know he's not alone. Now, if I can only get him to stop trying to take the garabge out! lol :wink2:

 

[AgilityDog]

Oh HAIL no, he can't take out the garbage for at least 6 weeks. Nothing heavier than a gallon of milk, and I advise against lifting even that much!

And don't sneeze.

 

[Ovie]

Thank god this is normal, I too have been having night sweats. 2 nights ago I woke up on fire, than last night I woke absolutely freezing, which was not fun. The uncontrollable shaking made me very cautious about my sternum, took alot to keep that part of my body from shaking.

 

[Jkm7]

I had one episode of the uncontrollable shaking and that scared me a little. Thankfully it happened in the hospital and I could call for my nurse. Had that happened to me first time at home I wouldn't have known what to think of it. I was shivering and shaking like nothing I had ever experienced but it passed within ten or fifteen minutes.

 

[tobagotwo]

I had it really bad after my first AVR, but not at all the second time. The theory I had been given was that it was the body sweating out leftover poisons from the anesthesia. I may have had an entirely different set of drugs for the second one. You can look up night sweats in a search on this site. They are quite common and you really need to put something under yourself, because Ken is absolutely right: those sheets get really soaked and gross.

Best wishes,

 

[markp66]

Ovie, I had these also and thought it was an infection! But v normal although it's still a good idea to get blood tests (as u probably are) to check all is ok. I slept in a huge super kingsize bed (kicked my girlfriend out for a few weeks!) and had to alternate sides so the other could drive. Be careful about open windows, fans when too hot because if u sweat in the night u will wake up freezing and could even get ill!! Night sweats was prob one of the most annoying things post surgery! Again, something doctors don't really mention before!

 

[epstns]

Ovie - The chills were "normal" for me, too. For the first few weeks after surgery, I walked around the house wrapped in two layers of clothes plus a blanket. I was cold all the time, unless I was in bed and covered well. After about a month, it gradually subsided. I guess all of our internal systems take a beating during the surgery and due to the chemical cocktails we are given.

 

[Ovie]

Yeah, the body healing itself is incredible, but what I think we've all noticed is when the meds are being kicked out of our system from the body it can sure be cruel.

 

[sarahsunshine]

Night sweats are common (or so I've read). Please make sure you do get tested for an infection, however. A week after discharge is when Skyler's infection showed up - as fever and chills - and he needed to be re-opened to have it cleaned out. Please get it checked out just in case.

 

[robertlw]

Night sweats only lasted me a couple weeks. The first 3 days after surgery while still in the hospital would wake up sweating terrible. Also my head was itching like lice or something. Blamed it on the Perkoset but who knows. But also was very cold all the time especially at night. Felt almost like the flu or something. We blamed most of it on the anesthesia and pain pills. Now we do not think it was the pain pills, still taking a few Vicadin at night but don`t sweat anymore. 5 weeks out.

 

[normofthenorth]

Ju a small point about night sweats IN the hospital: Most hospitals -- and few homeowners -- cover their mattresses with waterproof sheets, for obvious and sensible reasons. As sensible as they are, they are MISERABLE to sleep on! I for one found myself going straight from chilly to sweaty and then to clammy with virtually no "just right" in-between.

I don't think there was anything wrong with my internal thermostat (lucky me!), and I was comfy at night as soon as I got home to a bed that "breathed". (I still woke up every 2 hours for quite a while, but not because of sweats or chills.)

 

[Michelle D]

I was so sweaty!!! It didn't matter how cold I put the air conditioner or how much or how little clothing I wore. They do sell sweat wicking sheets now, I don't know if they'd work or not. The only thing that kind of helped me was I'd turn the air down really cold (had my surgery in the summer) and I'd wear absorbant clothing so it could sleep longer without waking up in a puddle.