In this Article

• Introduction
• What are the causes of night sweats?
• Menopause
• Idiopathic hyperhidrosis
• Infections
• Cancer
• Medications
• Hypoglycemia
• Hormone Disorders
• Neurologic conditions
• Patient Discussions: Night Sweats - Describe Your Experience
• Night Sweats Glossary
• Night Sweats Index

Infections

Classically, tuberculosis is the infection most commonly associated with night sweats. However, bacterial infections, such as the following conditions can also be associated with night sweats:

• endocarditis (inflammation of the heart valves),
  
  
• osteomyelitis (inflammation within the bones due to infection),
  
  
• abscesses (for example, boils, appendix, tonsils, perianal, peritonsillar, diverticulitis), and
  
  
• AIDS virus (HIV) infection.

Cancer

Night sweats are an early symptom of some cancers. The most common type of cancer associated with night sweats is lymphoma. However, people who have an undiagnosed cancer frequently have other symptoms as well, such as unexplained weight loss and fever.

Medication

Taking certain medications can lead to night sweats. In cases without other physical symptoms or signs of tumor or infection, medications are often determined to be the cause of night sweats.

Antidepressant medications are a common type of medication that can lead to night sweats. All types of antidepressants can cause night sweats as a side effect, with a range in incidence from 8% to 22% of persons taking antidepressant drugs. Other psychiatric drugs have also been associated with night sweats.

Medicine taken to lower fever such as aspirin and acetaminophen can sometimes lead to sweating.

Other types of drugs can cause flushing (redness of the skin, typically over the cheeks and neck), which, as mentioned above, may be confused with night sweats. Some of the many drugs that can cause flushing include:

• niacin [(Niacor, Niaspan, Slo-Niacin) (taken in the higher doses used for lipid disorders)],
  
  
• tamoxifen (Nolvadex),
  
  
• hydralazine,
  
  
• nitroglycerine, and
  
  
• sildenafil (Viagra).

Many other drugs not mentioned above, including cortisone,  prednisone, and prednisolone, may also be associated with flushing or night sweats.

Night Sweats - Describe Your Experience

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