Constant Day and Night sweating

[Susan]

My husband is a 45 year old C6-7 quadriplegic disabled for 22 years. He uses an external catheter and voids on his own. He has been sweating day and night going on 2-3 months now above and below his injury (which has never happened before) and it's driving him crazy. We can't figure out what it could be. He's had blood lab tests and just had an ultrasound and a cystogram which everything looked good. Any ideas. Thanks Susan

[mikek]

I am post 33 years and suffered the same syptoms
a few years ago and I had a cyst on my spinal cord, it is also called a tethered cord and had surgery to remove it. The surgery left me worse but I know longer have sweats.There is a lot of info here on a tethered cord which effects many with older injuries. Good luck !!! Mike

[SCI-Nurse]

Susan -- As Mike mentioned it could be a symptom of something else going on with the cord itself. Has your husband's rehab MD suggested any further studies such as an MRI to rule out a syringomyelia (fluid filled cyst)? Besides the sweating, has there been any other functional changes or losses? Reflex sweating often happens to folks with SCI above the T10 level. It can be triggered by spasticity or another irritant in the body. The key is to find the irritant that is triggering it. You mentioned he has had a battery of lab tests to rule out infection. Since this is a new symptom it might warrant further work-up. PLG

[smokey]

I am 48yrs. old, 24yrs. post injury, c6-7 injury, used external condom catheter exclusively and had exact same sweating symptoms you describe 2 yrs. ago. A urodynamic study and cystoscopy indicated the inside of my bladder had "laid down" collogen from years of voiding by way of contraction of the bladder muscles. My bladder simply lost the ability to contract enough to void properly and I was getting dysreflexic every time I would have to void. It happened so slowly over a couple of years, it seemed normal to sleep with a towel and sweat every time I took a leak. One night my bladder wouldn't empty at all-thank god my wonderful girlfriend was able to cathterize me-as I was about 5 minutes from calling 911. That was the incident that pushed me to get a urology appt. quick. So now I cathterize myself maybe 4 times a day-no condom, no leg bag, no sweating, no UTI's. That's my story-hope you can resolve it quickly.

[lloydbcuz]

Originally posted by Susan:

My husband is a 45 year old C6-7 quadriplegic disabled for 22 years. He uses an external catheter and voids on his own. He has been sweating day and night going on 2-3 months now above and below his injury (which has never happened before) and it's driving him crazy. We can't figure out what it could be. He's had blood lab tests and just had an ultrasound and a cystogram which everything looked good. Any ideas. Thanks Susan

"I am Susans husband and this really has me baffled while at a stay at La Jolla VA they tried to paralize my bladder with Ditropan and cath every six hours which sent me into real major disreflexia, needless to say I went back to my old ways of voiding on my own. My problem now is being back to work the HMO's got me, I can't find DR. specializing in SCI!!they send me to DR's. with no knowledge it was all I could do to get an ultrasound and bloodwork done. I am now researching SCI DR's. in my group with no success at this point. I would like to thank you for these ideas so far. Lloyd"

[This message was edited by lloydbcuz on October 09, 2001 at 02:47 PM.]

[alan]

I sweat a little, and feel cold, when my bladder voids. It's always been that way.

I'm a C-5 who couldn't cath himself.

[lil' sis]

My brother Jon has regained(?) the ability to sweat below his injury. His injury occurred July 27, 2001, C-4&5 complete(?). About 2.5 months post we realized he was sweating below his injury when we took his shoes of and realized, pwew! What's up with this? He'll feel cold, but he'll be sweating constantly. There are no apparant aggravating factors to cause the sweating. Is this considered a "return" of function?

[SCI-Nurse]

'lil sis: Altered temperature regulation and reflex sweating is often seen with injuries above T10. This is due to autonomic nervous system dysfunction. We sweat to get rid of extra heat in our bodies just as we shiver to retain heat. Folks with a SCI have disruption in this normal pathway or balance between the brain and spinal cord. Often the reflex sweating is seen above the level of injury when the phenomena of autonomic dysreflexia is occurring but it is not unusual to see irregular patterns of sweating below the level of the injury during other times. This is an indication of return of reflexes. The person with a SCI often is in spinal shock at first with many absent reflexes. Spinal shock lasts anywhere from minutes on some to 2-6 weeks on others to still 6 months on a few others. Did your brother have sweating on the rest of his skin besides the feet? The fact that his feet were moist after shoe removal shows moisture was developing in the enclosed spaces of his shoes leading to foot odor. In addition to looking at sweating on areas below the level of injury, one must also look at any motor or muscle control and other sensation return to correlate it with recovery. Let his physician know the next time he goes in for a check-up. PLG

[lil' sis]

Thank you for your reply! Jon sweats over his entire body now, but there is no apparant additional motor recovery. He does, however, have a pins & needles feeling in his left leg and can feel his left toes intermittantly when someone touches them. This all started at about the same time the sweating did. What is "reflex recovery?" Is this a brain-spinal cord connection or is it a localized response?

I should also mention that Jon has been on Sygen for about 70 days with 100mg dosages, 2 times per day.

[Carl R]

great to hear that someone is trying the Sygen. I am curious if you guys had to request the drug or if the neurosurgeon suggested its use? How long did they wait before starting the drug? What hospital was he at?