Why am I experiencing extreme night sweats and huffing?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am an 18-year-old female. I have been having extreme night sweats. So much that I wake up from deep sleep and start huffing. Sometimes it is accompanied by a pounding, racing heart. (could be about more than 145 beats per minute). I also shiver at this time. And it takes about an hour or more to calm myself down, and then I am too scared to sleep because it might happen again.

Sometimes I also get hot flashes in the daytime, but they are easy to manage, and the symptoms are gone within 15 minutes. But the symptoms at night are worse, and they happen during deep sleep. I do have insomnia, and I do not drink enough water usually. No shortness of breath, just discomfort. Please tell me, what is it?

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and can understand your concern.

The pattern you are describing fits a cluster of symptoms that often come from a combination of autonomic system overactivation, sleep disruption, and low iron rather than from a structural heart problem.

Your previous heart evaluations being normal is reassuring, especially since the episodes only happen at night and resolve on their own. Night sweats with sudden awakening, a racing heartbeat, shivering, and a feeling of panic can occur when the sympathetic system suddenly surges during deep sleep. This can feel exactly like your heart is exploding, even though the heart itself is healthy.

Low iron can make these episodes more frequent and more intense because

It destabilizes the nervous system.
Reduces oxygen delivery during sleep.
Increases the chance of palpitations.

Also, issues like.

Insomnia.
Irregular sleep.
Dehydration.
Anxiety.

All can make the nighttime attacks stronger. Hot flashes during the day that settle within minutes also fit with transient adrenaline surges rather than a hormone deficiency at your age.

There are a few important points that you should remember,

Arrhythmias rarely come only at night and rarely show perfectly normal results on repeated tests and specialist evaluations.

A low iron level should be corrected properly because it is strongly linked with palpitations, restless sleep, nighttime awakenings, and increased heart rate.

Dehydration can easily push your heart rate above 140 during stress, especially in someone with a smaller body frame.

Insomnia and nighttime anxiety create a cycle where you fear falling asleep, which keeps your body in a high alert state.

However, for proper diagnosis, I need the following information;

Your iron or ferritin levels.
Your period cycles.
Your weight and history of weight change.
Whether you snore or ever wake up gasping.

If you have ferritin below about 30, that alone can fully explain palpitations, night sweats, and difficulty staying asleep. Treatment usually improves symptoms within weeks. However, you are not describing anything immediately dangerous, but you do deserve proper relief because these nighttime episodes are exhausting and scary.

I hope this information helps you.

Feel free to ask further queries.

Thank you.