Night Sweats: Proof the Internet and Science Still Have a Lot to Cover

I am attempting a whole second blog post in the same day. Ooh la la!

I will make it quick.

The reason I want to put this out in the Interverse is because I have been trying to do some research on this and have come up basically empty-handed apart from a handful of women's posts on discussion forums.

I suffer from night sweats. I am NOT in perimenopause or menopausal. I am not in poor health and do not have any illnesses to speak of. There is a slight possibility of low thyroid levels but that remains to be tested.

The only information pertaining to night sweats on the entire Interweb is related to menopause. There are a few sites that point to its relationship to breastfeeding and ovulation, but no one explains what is at play in those cases.

I have suffered from night sweats for a few years. In my case it happens about once or twice a month around the time I ovulate. This doesn't bother me so much but is still an irritant. Your body temperature spikes right after ovulation, which probably explains this. When I first started breastfeeding, I suffered from almost constant night sweats. Any time my babies would increase my supply (by feeding more often), it would get far worse. Now that nursing happens only about 5-6 times a day, I don't really get them apart from around ovulation now that I am menstruating again. However, for the first few minutes of EVERY feeding session, I break into a sweat.

Also interesting is that the sweating is partly concentrated around my chest and my ovaries (my gut, a very odd place to sweat).

I read one woman's blog on the Scientific American site (she appears to be the only person who has done any research into this), and she also finds a correlation with intense physical activity (especially in the evening) and night sweats. I play beach volleyball, usually late in the evening.

So if there are any scientists/researchers out there looking for an untouched subject to explore, PLEASE figure out what causes night sweats in healthy, physically active women who are breastfeeding and/or menstruating (not perimenopausal). Some very surface-level theories are already out there, but nothing conclusive and no solutions either. I would be deeply appreciative :)