Night Sweats and Fibromyalgia: A Common Pair

Unlike other disorders that we talk about on WickedSheets.com blogs, Fibromyalgia is not a condition whose side effect is night sweats. We're here to tell you today is that it's the treatment of fibromyalgia that causes night sweats for many patients. Night sweats and fibromyalgia are a common pair.

Night sweats and fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that impacts the muscles and soft tissue. Symptoms include chronic muscle pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and painful tender or trigger points. Most physicians or health specialists believe that these symptoms can be relieved through medication, lifestyle changes, and stress management. However, Fibromyalgia sufferers are oftentimes plagued with additional illnesses (or co-morbidities) that can exacerbate their issues and so this is where the importance of good sleep hygiene is very important.

At Wicked Sheets, we believe that regular sleep patterns coupled with cooler, less interrupted sleep leads to cell restoration and more effective rehabilitation. Take an induced coma, for instance. Think about what's happening to the body during that sleep. Think about when someone might be put into an induced coma: after an accident where bodily harm was induced, after a fall where the brain was damaged, cell damage from a stroke? In all of these instances, cell restoration and neurogenesis (growing new neural networks) is of utmost importance to get our brain, tissue, and organs back to homeostasis (a balanced state).

You’ve heard us talk about fibromyalgia and night sweats before, when we interviewed fellow sheet aficionado and wicked sleeper, Susan Focke from Harbor Luxury Bedding. And the main takeaway from our conversation was that you need to keep asking questions, doing research, and being your own health advocate. But we wanted to take a deeper dive with this post and talk about the specific medications that are being used to treat fibromyalgia and why they are likely the culprit for your increased sweating at night. Even more so, why people think night sweats and fibromyalgia are linked because of the condition, when it's often the medication at the root of the sweating.

Medications for Fibromyalgia

Currently, the FDA has approved four types of medications for the treatment (of symptoms) of fibromyalgia:

• Antidepressants
• Anti-seizure medicine
• Pain Relievers
• Muscle Relaxers

Antidepressants are typically the first prescribed medication to a patient with a new fibromyalgia diagnosis. And not because they're depressed (even though depression is a common co-morbidity), but because antidepressants raise levels of chemicals, like serotonin and norepinephrine that help control pain. These chemicals directly affect a region in our brain, the hypothalamus, which helps us regulate hunger, thirst, and even some aspects of how we parent, but also (ironically) is the master controller of our body temperature and sweat production. Insert: NIGHT SWEATS!

Here is a list of antidepressants most commonly used in the treatment of fibromyalgia:

• SSRIs: Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, Prozac, Paxil/Pexeva, Zoloft
• SNRIs: Cymbalta (which can help with sleep modulation) and Savella

If you're interested in learning more about antidepressants and what they do to your body, watch our latest interview with Dr. Elizabeth Nicholson. Here she discusses SSRIs and Benzodiazepene, and their side effects, as well as just how important practicing good sleep hygiene is for the treatment of anxiety and related disorders. These connections go much farther than night sweats and fibromyalgia. There are many links to night sweats and hot flashes with medications and treatments of various conditions.

Wicked Sheets Puts Customers First

When it comes to how we got interested in night sweats and fibromyalgia, it was after many of our customers reported that  after they began sleeping on Wicked Sheets it became easier for them to slide into and out of the bed. Our fabric has a silky, smooth finish and stays tightly against that mattress so as not to tangle the legs when someone needs to use caution entering and exiting the sleep environment. After numerous consistent reports from Wicked sleepers, we took note and make sure that we share this (unintentional) bonus with other chronic pain or limited mobility sleepers.

As always, we love when our customers share these stories or their feedback, so keep 'em coming! We use them to create newer, better content and products that will help you or someone you love sleep better. Feel free to reach out with any comments or suggestions, but until then...be cooler, sleep wicked! And, don't let night sweats and fibromyalgia keep you up at night.