Side Effect: Night Sweats

Night sweats refer to excessive sweating during sleep that soaks through bed sheets and can cause discomfort and interruption of sleep. Night sweats can be a symptom of certain types of cancer (such as lymphoma), or they can be a side effect of certain cancer therapies.

• Night sweats can be a common side effect from various therapies that block the production of estrogen when treating breast cancer or therapies that block the production of testosterone used to treat prostate cancer.
  • They can also be experienced in patients that have had surgery to remove their ovaries or testicles.
  • In some cases, chemotherapy treatment can cause early menopause in some patients which may lead to night sweats.
    
    
• Night sweats can also be a symptom of certain types of lymphoma.

Preventing night sweats in patients with cancer can be challenging, but some strategies that may help include wearing light and breathable clothing and maintaining a cool sleeping environment.

Treatment depends on the underlying cause. If it is a symptom of lymphoma, effective treatment of the disease should help to decrease related symptoms, including night sweats.

If night sweats are caused by cancer therapy, certain medications that may help alleviate symptoms include:

• Antidepressants – paroxetine (Paxil®), sertraline (Zoloft®), citalopram (Celexa®), escitalopram (Lexapro®), fluoxetine (Paxil®), venlafaxine (Effexor®), duloxetine (Cymbalta®)
• GABA inhibitors: gabapentin (Neurontin®), pregabalin (Lyrica®)
• Clonidine (Catapres®)

It is extremely important to note that breast cancer and prostate cancer patients who are experiencing night sweats and are on active therapy should never take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) without talking with their oncologist first.