Heavy sweating

opie1952
opie1952 Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin) #1
My father was diagnosed 2001 with stage 4 lymphoma. one of his first symptoms was sweating so heavy had to change cloths. He has been doing well all these years. Hasn't had to have chemo in quite a while, blood work has been good. His main complaint is the heavy sweating that comes on every day , usually in the mid morning hours. My mom passed away this past November, Dad has been trying to keep busy to avoid mourning but his sweating has been so bad it makes it hard to do anything. Does anyone have the same problem? If so ,what can be done? Has anyone found anything that helps? His Dddddddr.s don't seem to interested or concerned about it. Would love to hear some suggestions.

Comments

  • little_bruha
    little_bruha Member Posts: 1
    #2
    Heavy Sweating
    If I were you father I would get a second opinion. Just because he has been to one set of doctors doesn't mean he has to stay with them. When you look at other things going on in our lives don't we always seem to get more than one opinion in life? And don't stop till a doctor takes the time to actually listen to you and devotes themself to finding out what is wrong!
  • winthefight
    winthefight Member Posts: 162
    #3
    sweating
    Hi Opie,

    I agree with little br,

    Your dad should seek a second opinion. Another Oncol/Hemo should be the next step. In the beginning of my fight with NH lymphoma, I had a lot of sweating. I speak with other cancer patients that are currently in treatment, they too have a lot of sweating going on.

    I am quite concerned for your dad with this issue. Please please please seek another physician, have him/her to do a thoughral blood work on him and demand a Pt/Ct scans immediately.

    I don't mean to scare you but ruling out a recurrance is key. With the blood work, that can be a means of finding out if it is perhaps a thyroid issue.

    Best of luck, please send us an update on your father's situation. I will give a prayer for you.

    Be blessed.

    Win.
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #4
    I'm concerned too



    It never hurts getting a second opinion and in this case I absolutely would do so to rule out recurrance. This can be a recurrance symptom for NH Lymphoma for sure, that and tiredness in many cases. Get him in for a second opinion as soon as you can.

    I was treated for NHL 20 years ago and went through the heavy sweating before diagnosis of cancer. It continued for sometime through treatment but after a few months after chemo and rad. ended the sweating went way down. However I still sweat more than I ever did before diagnosis - especially during my sleeping hours at night but not as bad as before diagnosis. I am now on morphine for a back issue so that will make you sweat too and many drugs will also cause profuse sweating - what drugs is he on if any? I believe I read somewhere, can't remember where, that even stress can make you sweat heavily in some people - that might be something to check. Does he have regular checkups for recurrances? He should be followed if he isn't already. Have the doctors said he was in remission or is this a slow growing cancer that can be let alone and just watched? If it's the later then that in itself might explain the persistant sweating. You would think the docs could figure the sweating out given his medical situation. The other thing is that sometimes chemo can affect hormones, the thyroid as well and of course if the thyroid is whacked that's the control for many systems in the body - has his thyroid been checked lately? Just a few things you might want to ask your doc if you haven't already. I am not sure if any of the other glands can have sweating symptoms if they have gone wonky, remember chemo and radiation can affect healthy tissues too in time. Let us know if you find out what's up. Sweating sounds like a little thing but it's awful to deal with socially and just makes you feel off so would be great if he could get rid of it for sure. All the best. Blessings, Blueroses.
  • DaddysGirl09
    DaddysGirl09 Member Posts: 2
    #5
    I don't have any suggestions
    I don't have any suggestions since my dad did not live long enough for us to come up with a solution but excessive sweating was one of his symptoms too and his doctors told us that was normal for Burkitt's lymphoma, which was what he had. I thought it was odd that at the first hospital we were at that no one seemed very concerned that he so hot that his room was like a freezer! It was so cold it was unbearable and he was still so hot he acted like just wearing his paper thin jonny was torture. Then he went to another hospital that had more advanced treatment for his kind of cancer and he went to a special cancer ICU unit and they explained that excessive sweating was a symptom and that at the other hospital they might have seemed unconcerned about his wierd temperature problem because they would take his temp. after he already showed signs of being extremely hot, like after he already turned the air conditioning on full blast and started sweating. The new doctor explained that if they took his temperature right before he started sweating a lot then they would have seen that he had a temperature, but after he started sweating the sweating cools the body so they didn't detect a temperature at that point because the sweating was already cooling him down. Anyways, I would keep asking about the sweating until I found a doctor who addressed my concerns and offered some explanation of the sweating. With my dad, the first hospital didn't seem concerned about the sweating and really didn't pay much attention to my concerns, but at the next hospital I got some answers.

    My dad's sweating went down when he kept the room EXTREMELY cold. Also, we got him a huge fan and he was loving it! I tried getting a smaller fan and that did not work as well, but when we got one of those big square fans, that worked wonders. I think the breeze of the fan in addition to the air conditioning felt good. He didn't live very long after he found out he had cancer and the sweating started (he didn't even make it 2 weeks) so I'm not sure how his coping strategies for the sweating work long term. When he had to be somewhere where he couldn't control the temperature, like a waiting room, then he would sweat a lot and seemed miserable so I don't have any solutions but with my dad he just managed it as best he could by keeping the room unbearable cold (well, it was only unbearable to everyone else) and having a big fan seemed to help too.
  • markanthonyg
    markanthonyg Member Posts: 1
    #6
    Sweating

    I also still suffer from heavy sweating. I have considered Botox and sympathectomy surgery. But i found a medication that works for me and I take it as needed. Ask your doctor about Glycopyrrolate, an anticholinergic. It stops the sweats completely although it also has a side effect of dry mouth. Sweating is still after six years the longest lasting side effect from chemo. But don't let him suffer thru it. 

  • BedInBorough
    BedInBorough Member Posts: 1
    #7
    markanthonyg said:

    Sweating

    I also still suffer from heavy sweating. I have considered Botox and sympathectomy surgery. But i found a medication that works for me and I take it as needed. Ask your doctor about Glycopyrrolate, an anticholinergic. It stops the sweats completely although it also has a side effect of dry mouth. Sweating is still after six years the longest lasting side effect from chemo. But don't let him suffer thru it. 

    Medication

    I asked my doc about the medication you mentioned, and he had never heard of it. Looked in all his books and online and couldn't find info related to sweating. He's an old-timer, so he requested information from the pharmacy about it. I've since found more information from the UK about medications they use for excessive sweating. I know this is an old thread, but can you please tell me how the medication is working, how it's administered, anything to give me hope for a somewhat normal life. It's embarrassing to leave the house. 

Discussion Boards