Night sweats came first for me, subtle warmth in the middle of the night, easily blamed on the hot body next to me. Finally a growing acceptance that maybe I was the hot one heating up the bed. I became use to sleeping with the window open and having cold water next to the bed at night and the women at work gave my symptoms a name, “night sweats”.

At that point I haven’t really had night sweats I was just warming up for the real event. I started playing the cover game at night, blankets up, blankets down, up and down all night long. You will become aware that you’re playing this game in your sleep, because the vigorous kicking down of the covers and the recovery of the covers start to require at least minimal consciousness. This is not a really big deal, just a little annoyance that breaks your sleep. It does require some energy to pull the covers up and down over your body for most of the night so you may be a little tired the next day.

Running with the big dogs is releasing substantial amounts of water through your sweat glands at night. You notice that you’re forehead and neck is sweating and the water is starting to run down your face and neck onto your chest. Beads of sweat are probably forming on your arms and your inner thighs are wet. “I’m Hot”, is the only words spoken during these episodes, no other words are required. If you are sleeping with a partner, the answer to their question of concern is just that, “I’m Hot”; you’ll say it over and over again, punctuated with a few more “Whew’s”, until it passes. Going to the window and letting the cool breeze blow over your body, drinking cold water or wiping yourself down with a cool towel will help with these preliminary flashes of heat. The girls at work suggest ice water on the night table and some even claimed that a bowl of ice to rub over your wrist should be standard bedtime preparation.

Yes, I said preliminary. You’re running with the big dogs, but you are still in the yard. Every woman has different experiences, these episodes may last for several weeks, months or years. When these early symptoms begin, the frequency and duration of them are determined by your hormones. My personal opinion is that the real night sweat comes with gown drenching water. I don’t know why they call them night sweats; it’s more like a night drenching.