What It Means When Taking Ibuprofen Causes Night Sweats

Of all the unpleasant bedroom experiences you can have, night sweats rank up there pretty high. Waking up drenched (did a rain cloud appear in your bedroom?) can leave you feeling confused as well as uncomfortable. 

Although night sweats tend to be commonly associated with perimenopausal and menopausal women, they can occur at any time and for numerous reasons in both men and women. And they happen more often to people at all stages of life than you might expect: According to statistics from the American Academy of Family Physicians, up to 41% of people have reported having night sweats to their primary care physicians.

What causes your body to suddenly perspire while you're asleep, though? The answer is, "It depends." As the Mayo Clinic notes, night sweats can be connected with everything from anxiety to valley fever. However, one uncommon cause may be especially important to think about if you take a lot of over-the-counter painkiller products: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) medications, including ibuprofen.

To understand the relationship between night sweats and ibuprofen, Health Digest turned to Dr. Jason Singh, the Chief Medical Officer and Physician at One Oak Medical. Dr. Singh explains that, though it's rare, some people's bodies react to ibuprofen intake with bouts of night sweats.

What is it about ibuprofen that can bring about night sweats in some individuals? Dr. Jason Singh explains that ibuprofen can interfere with prostaglandin synthesis and thermoregulation. As a result, he says, "This interference may disrupt the body's ability to control temperature, potentially leading to increased sweating, especially at night."

There's a lot of science at play in Dr. Singh's description. First, the prostagladins respond to damage to tissues in the body, which the Cleveland Clinic outlines as normal. Nonetheless, prostaglandins can sometimes go overboard and cause inflammation, which can lead to pain. In response to the pain, the individual takes an NSAID such as ibuprofen. The prostaglandin synthesis is halted, but that can throw the system off-balance, leading to a rise in core temperature (like a fever) and resulting in night sweats.

Again, this type of imbalance may sound like an unusual phenomenon, but WebMD lists ibuprofen as one of the many drugs that can prompt night sweats. Therefore, it may be worth reevaluating your regular use of ibuprofen if you and your doctor suspect a link between it and constant night sweats.

The good news is that though having infrequent night sweats is annoying, the condition isn't anything to fret about. However, for persistant night sweats, Dr. Jason Singh recommends seeking medical attention and a full blood work-up or hormone level check-up.

"What I tell my patients is if they experience unexplained night sweats, it's important to track symptoms, review meds, and consider environmental factors like room temperature and bedding," says Dr. Singh. "This approach helps rule out potential underlying conditions like infections, hormonal imbalances, or, in rare cases, certain cancers, ensuring proper treatment if necessary."

If you find that you still have night sweats after ruling out more serious issues and potential reasons, you may want to go back to the drawing board with your diet. The Sleep Foundation cautions against eating fatty, sugary, and spicy foods too close to bedtime if you constantly wake up looking like you just went for a dip.