How can I stop my mother from sweating at night?

Justashes: Oh, my goodness! What an alarming story! It's a wonder that routine checkups with her OB doc would not have discovered that! Just shocking! Wow! Yes, to the OP- definitely check out your elder.

Do not want to be the "negative" one here, but we once worked with a wonderful and beautiful young women who got pregnant in her late 30's. She was about 5 months when she also started to complain that she is cold in the summer. They have tried hot baths, hot water bottles, etc. Eventually she went to ER and died. Afterwards they discovered that the baby had died and her body did not rejected / aborted the dead fetus. She was infected by the dead fetus. Maybe have your mom tested if there is not some sort of internal infection.

Cold and sweat are opposite reactions. If you're cold, how in the world do you sweat?

I am 75 and am also cold and continually sweat. I was someone who never sweated for most of my life, I had no idea how it felt for other people. Specialists have been unable to help and so now I only take prescribed medication and am adding one extra thing such as calcium, etc. every week to try and find the culprit myself. You could see if that would help for your mother.

It is common knowledge that it is best to go to sleep in a cool room. It is no wonder that she is waking up drenched in sweat. All of the ads in mags/tv tell us that it is best to sleep cool.

My 94 yr old Mom had this problem too and has had for several years, however in the past she was able to get up and change in the middle of the night. Now she rings her bell. SO I bought her a mattress warmer and Polar Fleece sheets. My sister got her a wool army blanket. So we turn on the mattress warmer before bed and she climbs into a WARM snuggly bed. We shut off the mattress warmer when she gets into bed and cover her up with the polar sheets and place the wool army blanket over her legs and feet with her comforter/spread over top. She now sleeps very comfortable and no longer has night sweats from dressing too warm and soaking everything from sweat. We also close off her AC Vent and place a plastic flow device over it preventing any air from blowing her way so we can enjoy the AC in our California home.

Lots of good suggestions from everyone.
Maybe need more information.
How long has this been going on, or is this a newer change in how she is?
Is it WHOLE BODY, or PART that's affected?
Can the sweats be timed to anything, like when she last ate, activities, meds, etc?
==COLD-SWEATS, Or HOT-SWEATS? ...Can you tell which hers are? Or both?
Might she be OK, but getting into a cold bed might make her feel colder?
Or, if she's feeling chilled, even only part of her, it takes too long for her to warm up once in bed...sometimes can take several hours to warm up on one's own....which might suggest she holds tension in her body, and has a hard time relaxing....which can cause one to be chilled and have hard time warming up.
If person gets slightly chilled for more than a few minutes, can have cold-sweats. They don't always get goose-bumps to indicate they feel chilled, just slightly chilled will do it, if left too long without warming. Then once in bed, with more heater, more layers of blankets etc., they get too hot--and have a hot-sweat.
Suggest: try adding a warming layer around back of neck, and around wrists, ankles, where body heat is lost fastest; this, when she's up and around and asking you for more heat, to keep ahead of her feeling the need to ask.
Some like a sleep-cap, to keep their head warm, too.
==INFECTION? Some infections specifically have night sweats [like pneumonia]. Could even be a UTI.
==IMMUNE SYSTEM ISSUES? Often also have temperature dysregulation--their body no longer regulates it's temperature adequately, so no matter where the thermostat is set, or heating blanket, there's always some sense that they need more or less heat, that sense can change in an instant.
==LOW THYROID? ...standard TSH may not find it, AND...the usually dosed synthetic T4 might not be converted to the usable T3, meaning that they can take all the synthetic T4 they want, it doesn't help, if they cannot convert it to the form the body needs to use.
Old-time Doc hints: IF the body core temp, taken 10 days in a row before the person gets out of bed, still sits below 98 degrees F., that indicates likely low thyroid...the lower that consistently is, the more likely, as long as the temps are being taken properly [in this case, under the armpit for 5 minutes].
==MED CHANGES, or NEEDED CHANGES: some meds can trigger body temp dysregulation. Too much, not enough, too fast taking someone off one of those, etc.
==METABOLIC ISSUES? Eating a balanced snack, something with good fats and good protein, might help keep the blood sugar more stable through the night.
Fats [especially] and proteins, take longer to digest, so help keep the metabolism more stable than carbs. Following a Ketogenic or Paleo type diet, has helped many ills get better. Please seek medical advice to do this properly..it's harder than most realize.
==CIRCULATORY ISSUES? Raynaud's phenomena can cause cold hands and feet, as well as discoloration.

If using something [low-tech] snuggly over back of neck, wrists, ankles and toes is not working, have you tried: heated blanket or heated mattress pad to pre-warm the bed, then shut those off once she's tucked-in?
For greater safety if there is wet happening, some have used a space blanket under the mattress pad, to reflect body heat back to the body, or placed one of those inside a duvet cover...they kind of crinkle-sound, but not badly, and help keep the body warm without using electricity.
Rice or bean-filled neck pillows can be warmed in the microwave to help around the back of the neck.
Some folks do well with a hot bath before bed, others feel it chills them worse.
Some do well drinking a small cup of hot beverage in the evening.
Does she like a bed jacket with a collar covering back of her neck? What if it were warmed up over a safe heating device, before putting it on her just before she gets into bed?

CAUTIONS: Those hot-strips one can get online or from pharmacy to warm sore body parts: can get too hot for elderly frail skin.
Heating pads often fail to hold a proper temperature, and can have hot-spots that can burn a person; frail persons may fail to sense that the device has over-heated, and can get blisters.

Divide house into heating/cooling zones: Can really help, some like their areas warmer, some like theirs cooler.
Some folks simply refuse to wear more layers, and insist on the whole room being at the temp they like. Different ways to help them regulate their body temp using clothing layers, instead of the whole room, is better.
Or, use a $40-$50 oil-filled radiator in their room or near them. We've used these for years to boost a room's heat, instead of turning up a central heating for the whole house or apartment. Set it only on 600 watts [the lowest toggle], then adjust it's rheostat. Can move to other room when need.

night sweats are related to a few medical conditions, including cancer. have her checked out.

My mother has had night sweats for years and years she is 93 and finds it very distressing waking up in a sweat several times a night .
We have seen doctors none have helped .she is now quite weak from not sleeping and these sweats .
Any ideas would be welcome

1rarefind, always check with your doctor if you are adding vitamins or any other items to their diet, as depending on what med's they are on, what being added may interfere. Blessings and many thanks for those that answer the questions and offer their opinions!

I was just thinking that you can check your options to see how you may partition off the house and have it warm in one section for the patient who needs the heat and the rest of the house can be cool for the rest of you who live there. Everyone else should never be made to suffer just because someone needs heat during summer when it's already hot. Endangering everyone else raises their risk for a heat stroke, and you don't need someone landing in the hospital or even the grave because of this.

As for the person who mentioned the product called vital pulse, I never heard of it that I can recall, but I'm glad it worked. I'm sorry I didn't know this sooner when my elderly friend was still living because he was also cold and had the heat on during summer. He's gone now and I'm just sorry I didn't know about this product because I probably could've told his nurse or healthcare aides. I'm also sorry I didn't know this before my foster dad was put into a nursing home and taken guardianship of by a lawyer, this would've most likely helped him if it's that good. I'm just sorry I didn't know about this product sooner. I'll keep a note of it and it very least I can try it out for myself. I'm sure the product would be good for anyone because I'm sure it must have some kind of helpful values besides memory and such. Having co Q 10, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it may help with healing in other areas. The younger you are the more you have of it, and you're even born with it. You just never know what you're going to find on the market these days, and thanks for sharing

My 90+ mother was always cold until we gave her something alled "VitaPulse". Not sure why that worked but it did (has CoQ10, NAC and PQQ in it). Choline helps with mental clarity. We always kept socks on her. Maybe gloves and a hat would work better than more blankets. Every person is different.

Notmycuz: I don't know how YOU stand it at 83 degrees! Phew! Must be hot as blazes!

freqflyer: Wearing socks to bed is a good way to get a fungus infection. I would advise against it.

Continuation since I ran out of room:

If you have a fan with remote control, you can give the patient one of those to control as they need it, make sure it's pointed toward the bed so the air hits them when they need it. If you have a room AC in the area, you can keep it at a comfortable temperature and give the patient the remote if the AC is in her room.

I can't express enough how vital it is to ice water and other drinks handy, specifically sport drinks and not pop. When you sweat, you also lose salt besides just water. Have you ever noticed that getting sweat in your eyes tends to burn? This is the salt in your sweat. This is why there's sport drinks on the market. You can even get popsicle sleeves and make popsicles out of your sport drinks. There was a time I found sports drink popsicles at a local store, and I was upset when I couldn't find them anymore because I desperately need them pretty bad. I then found popsicle molds online, which gave me an idea to start making my own. This really helps with internal cooling. I then started finding giant popsicles at a friend's convenient store. They are in a special sleeve you can refreeze if the Popsicles thaw out. Sometimes Popsicles that are in special sleeves may come unfrozen, and all you have to do is freeze them. You could keep frozen stuff handy for the patient or anyone else in the household, especially during summer when everyone needs something cold.

If you like to travel at night, sometimes you can find slushy drinks at local gas stations. When the patient wakes up hot, you can stop by a local convenience store that has slushy drinks and pick one up if you happen to be going that way.

There are a number of ways you can relieve sweating and overheating, I can go on and on and on because I have this condition myself. Sometimes when money is tight and community centers are open, it's sometimes away from home where we need the help. We have a community center here in our town, and I'm pushing for them to share cold and frozen snacks with more than just the children's program because everyone needs it besides the kids. There are more Popsicles there than those kids will ever eat, (and you know the staff are very likely back there eating the popsicles and frozen snacks themselves)! Putting the heat on by speaking up and raising awareness will start making people more aware of what's going on because sometime someone will put a stop to it. Anyway, I hope you're able to find a working strategy for the sweating and overheating problem, there are so many strategies I can't count. The final idea I thought of for summer is keeping a shallow pool handy for a quick cool-down. You can keep these in the backyard or if you have room indoors, you can keep them indoors. Cooling down in a shallow pool works wonders. You can also take the patient to the shower and run a cool shower for them. While they're in the shower you can change their bed and bring clean dry clothes for them to slip into. I hope I was able to share something that was helpful since there are so many strategies out there to help with sweating and overheating

Smschaff34,

Thanks for bringing up the point about the alcohol. I don't drink and I can tell you my parents dead. I'm not sure whether or not they ever sweated from it, I was always kept at a distance from them through their own choice to not bond with me, which makes me wonder why they didn't just give me up for adoption because they were constantly drunk. However, I knew of a neighbor who since moved in he was always drinking. Again, I don't know whether or not he always sweated from it, but I can tell you he said something about always being in physical pain. Apparently he was in some pain, which is why he drank more. I guess the more he hurt the more he drank, probably not knowing the alcohol was leaching calcium from his bones and causing osteoporosis on top of arthritis. Yes, it sounds like alcohol can do more nasty things then we know about, it destroys many things, including the human body.

Any number of things can cause night sweats, this can be checked into by a doctor and eliminations can be made until the cause is found. With me though, my auto nervous system is damaged because my drunken mother repeatedly made me soak in scalding hot bath water throughout my childhood. My problem actually started in my feet at a young age, making my feet feel like they were burning. This went on until it went dormant only to reappear later in life and went dormant again in my early adult life. I recall many times having to get up from bed at night to step into the shower and run the cold water for a few minutes, relieving the burning feeling in my feet. I then started having heavy sweats that worsened and then I started having episodes where I just didn't feel right when I overheated. My doctor diagnosed this condition as a rare condition because he's never really dealt with it, but I've since gained his support and understanding, and the support seems to be slowly coming more and more.

Besides the cold pack tricks I know to use for my condition, you can also look into cooling vests. There are actually only two affordable kinds, evaporative that you soak in cold water and the ones with the pockets where you can put certain sizes of reusable cold packs. There's also one more kind that takes the ice sheets, I have all three. Be very wary though of the evaporator have one, after about the first or second use it'll soak your clothes. The ones that take the reusable cold packs are actually better. You can fold them a certain way and keep them in the freezer so that when you need them you can pull them out and put them on. I leave mine on just long enough to cool me down so I don't get frost injury.

Another product you can consider keeping on hand is anything frozen to help the patient in the night. About the most comfortable thing if you can't stand external cooling is internal cooling. You can even go as far as getting a nice thermal mug that holds about a half gallon to right around the gallon. Keep some ice trays handy and make the patient ice water for by the bedside. When the patient gets hot at night, she can get up and drink some of the ice water. The more ice you put in the water, the longer it tends to stay cold with the right thermal jug, I use foam insulated jugs and I actually have a piece of hose that's a remote straw. I cook them long enough from where the jug is setting to where I needed to go. The only thing you must be careful love is when you put down the remote straw, don't the water siphon out of the jug, first raise up the end of the straw pretty high until the water reaches back into the jug before laying down the remote straw.

Now when dealing with the bed, you can do one of two things with sheets. You can put one either on top of the top sheet or even underneath of it. If you can check your local fabric stores, you may even be able to have some terry cloth where you can make your own custom cut terry cloth top cover for your beds and such. I found some terry cloth by accident in the craft section at local Walmart. When I get some money built up again, I'll consider getting some of this since I need protective sweaty covering myself. You can make many things out of terry cloth material can make many things out of terry cloth material. This is about as good as sleeping with a towel, which is what I find myself doing since this is summer and I've been waking up sweating myself. This is why I suggested trying the reusable cold pack tricks, they really do help. If the patient's bed is against the wall or they happen to have the right side rails with blankets over them, you can put an extra blanket up along the side rail and put a frozen hot water bottle up against the rail wrapped in a towel. The patient can lay with her back up against the cold pack, or you can even take the cold pack as I previously suggested, and have her lay on her back and put it up against her side, but go as closely they armpit as comfortably possible.

The mattress top is probably wet too. When she goes back to bed, more sweat seeps into the mattress. The mattress cover may seep away some of the moisture - to the mattress surface. This may cause a mold problem.
My husband started sweating and then getting cold and by morning had usually gone through 2 t-shirts. His feet were getting cold so he tried a heated foot pad but then his feet sweat and got cold again. He didn't move around much at night - so more sweat would pool in one spot, seep through the mattress cover, and onto the mattress. You could hardly see any signs of sweat on the mattress cover as it was so good at pulling away the moisture. At the back/torso area and where he positioned his feet, the mattress would turn gold - as if he had wet the bed. Whether the room was hot or cold he still sweat. He tried more or less blankets but that made little difference. Maybe a better balance with medications is helping as he's at the snf. I just wonder if the medication changes may have helped in this respect. His room is kept at 75 now that weather is hot and humid. While still cold outside he had the room temperature set at 78. How are you managing to hold up through this?

You object to his cautioning *against* the ingestion of dangerous and illegal drugs?

but seriously ,
that s*it is going to blow your heart up .
POOF !!

happens all the time ..

Have her thyroid checked. My Mom was always cold and anything she touched was ice cold. An adjustment was made in her medication and now she is fine. Also alcohol will make you sweat and if she is imbibing late at night she will sweat in her sleep.

I know when I used the plastic chucks my mom would be wet with sweat. I started using the material washable ones and it was much better

My Mom goes through the exact same thing. She is very healthy at 91 and takes no medications. She has had this off and on since menopause. I have read that it could actually be hot flashes as a lot of women can still get them into your 90s. My Mom keeps her house at 75 year round and her hands are cold but the rest of her is warm.
I started taking my Mom to a massage therapist every 2 weeks to get a full body massage. It really seems to help plus my Mom loves it. This is something she and I do together. I take her shopping on the weekends and part of our shopping includes the massages and or manicures, pedicures and even facials. Mom is on a fixed income but I have been able to fit the little extras into her budget.
I believe too that the massages have helped to keep her healthy.

Even after menopause has long ended, night sweats can continue for years. I recently talked to my gynecologist about this and this is what she told me. My suggestion is to put your mother in wicking-type pajamas or nightgown. Use a ceiling fan or very light fan on low in the room (not blowing directly on her). Provide a throw over the covers for her when she goes to bed but remove two or three hours later. Night sweats generally occur in the wee hours of the morning - like 3am and later. Let her know she may have to fold the covers back if she gets too warm or put her leg(s) or arm(s) out to cool down, then pull the covers back over herself as the wave of heat passes. I am 62 and have been dealing with this issue since I was 49. I am through menopause but still have the waves of heat at night - some nights worse than others - and very occasionally a wave of heat during the day. During the day, I dress in layers so I can remove a sweater or jacket to unobtrusively cool down. Often, I wake up in the morning with socks and my robe on the floor (which I started out wearing when I went to bed the night before).

I have also noticed that alcohol in the evening (beer, wine, mixed drinks) seems to make the waves of heat at night worse. Also spicy food. I have been trying to notice what I eat and drink and how it affects me so I can reduce the heat waves because it is very disrupting to my sleep. I am a small business owner and cannot afford to sleep in or nap during the day.

I forgot to mention how to keep her cool when she starts sweating sometime at night:

You can get a hold of one of those hot water bottles and instead of heating it up, freeze it flat in your freezer. Get one of the ones that doesn't sweat that much but still put a towel around it. Put it in the bed with her and have her lay on her back and put it against her side when she notices she's sweating. You can also get those other kinds of reusable cold packs that stay cold for many hours. You can look for them on eBay, which is where I found some really good ones. You can get certain sizes that'll fit in those thermal lunch bags and take back to bed with you at night. You can also keep somewhat washcloths in the lunch bag with the reusable cold pack, they'll stay cold as long as the reusable copack does. I highly recommend the cold packs that are hard when they're frozen, these are the ones that stay cold the longest from what I've noticed. There's a real good one I have right now called 'black blizzard'. This one can stay cold in the right kind of cooler for about two days. That is also such a thing as a reusable dry ice, they come in a sheet. You cut it to the size you need and I personally would use bottled water to soak thecloth cotton side, and when it's full, stick it in a Ziploc freezer bag to keep it moist. When you refreeze it, make sure reabsorbs all of the water it lost while using. After it reabsorbs the water then lay plastic side down back in the freezer.

I have a thermostat issue myself, mine happens to be my auto nervous system. Has your love one been exposed to excessive heat when they were younger? Some examples would be working outside in the hot sun, hot baths/showers or other hot conditions. This damages your auto nervous system eventually if not addressed.

Another thing you'll probably need to check is physical activity level if she's not running a fever. When you don't exercise, you can feel cold when you're inactive for too long. I'm heat intolerant myself, and I can get very sick from overheating.

When one's feet are cold it is difficult to fall asleep. Use a heating pad on low and once her feet warm up, you can remove it.

We are having this issue also. My husband feels warm to the touch, but he says he feels cold. What I have been doing is hugging him for a bit or until he falls asleep and he seems to stay warm the rest of the night. He does say he gets too warm in the middle of the night, but I haven't found a solution for that. He doesn't want to remove any of his covers for fear of getting too cold. Still looking for solutions. The other daily issue we have is that he feels he has severe headaches....pretty much all day long. I have noticed that when I get him out of the house he doesn't mention the headaches. I really feel it could be the dementia. Looking for answers there. Dementia is certainly a challenge at times.

I had the same problem with my husband..he would wear a coat or sleep with the blankets on when it was 90 degrees. I tried to explain the reason he felt cold was the sweat was trying to cool off the body but he felt cold because of it.
I have learned many things in this journey but the first is NEVER argue with someone with dementia. You will not "win" and you both end up frustrated.
There are sheets and PJ's that wick away moisture that might help.
Hand warmers and foot warmers might make her feel warmer.
A little stocking cap at night might also help.
Try to get her to drink plenty of fluids, dehydration can also make you feel chilly and if she is sweating a lot she needs to replenish the fluids. Might even want to do a Sports Drink once a day. (if it is something she can have)
All in all if her body temp is alright change the sheets, the clothes and don't worry about it. Next time you bring her to the Dr. you might want to discuss it.
But you probably will not be able to get her to stop bundling up until she declines a bit more and you have more control of clothing, bedding and the like.
I have found with each problem, sometimes the solution comes with a decline and that brings another problem. So I have learned to be thankful for the little problems as larger ones come.

Maddycat hits the nail on the head. You did not metion your mothers age but I am 56 and healthy and I am experiencing the same symptoms. It is the hot flashes and night sweats of menopause.

You could just take her outside in hot air & warm her up for short while in Phoenix. Oh yes when i get cold my teeth & nose get cold.
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